And this means?

[jeb]

"You are only protected up to $1,000 of personal property (cars, furniture, bank accounts, etc.) unless you relinquish your personal 'homesteaded' home, which will give you an additional $4,000 (in my home state of Florida) of exempt property. Everything you own gets a value, and above the max $5,000 exemption, you must pay for."

I copied this from an article and it clears up some of the things I was having a problem getting my head around.

But some questions -

If one is upsidedown in their auto, owns no property and has old personal goods, does that mean they could have most of the exemption in cash?

Example, cash = $2000.00, other personal goods = $2000.00 - can file for BK and keep cash?

I have a little over $2000.00 in savings so do I need to continue paying bills until it is under the $1000.00 or can file with that much and keep it?

Also, if I understand it, this figure is on the date you file BK - if one stops paying bills 2-3 months before filing and accumulates more money, how does that effect things?

And what does it mean, "Everything you own gets a value, and above the max $5,000 exemption, you must pay for."

How do you pay for it?

Tks all - jb

[GreenInkOnPaper]

Yes, you can have your cash exempted as you illustrated. Now, if you own property THAT YOU WANT TO KEEP, you would have to "buy" it from the trustee. You can set up a payment plan, or just give the item(s) to the trustee to sell. Don't pay credit card bills to spend up your savings. Use it to pay for your attorney, day to day expenses, clothes, food utilities, rent. Go to the dentist and get your teeth cleaned. Go to the doctor and get a good physical. Put new tires on your car if needed. You may not accumulate money like you expect that you will. After you file, you can start saving again.

[jeb]

Tks Green - I am slowly getting a handle on all this.

Take care and have a great day - jb