Will I have to sell my stuff

[ezgo68]

I am considering filing but have a couple of questions. In a 13 will we have to have an auction and sell all of our stuff? Do you have to list every little item you own when listing your assets or just the things worth a certain amount and above. Is there any chance we would lose our house. I saw that there is a $15,000 exemption for your homestead. Does that mean the equity? We have no problem paying our mortgage and utilities each month we just cant pay our credit card bills which are about $30,000 (approx. $900/month min. payment) Any info will be appreciated. Is there anyone on here that lives in Missouri. Thanks.

[bkbiker]

Hi,


In chapter 13 you will generally keep everything you own, in return for this you will have to make monthly payments for the next 3-5 years to the trustee.

If you have a lot of equity in your home, that would have to be worked out somehow.

Basically you will need to list everything you own and the value of this stuff; however most everyone will list the value as if sold at yard sale. Example 10 pairs of socks value $1.00

In voluntary chapter 13, you are in control of your case, if things become to stressful, one may always exit chapter 13 via dismissal. No one can keep you in voluntary chapter 13 bankruptcy.

Make sure you do some pre bankruptcy planning before you file.

Take care,
bkbiker

[anonymuse]

Check in the "Exemptions" forum to see what are allowable values for the state you live in. Most states are pretty generous. Plus you only calculate their worth based on thrift/garage sale prices.

[SinkingFast]

Very few attnys do an item by item list of your household goods and personal belongings.

Generally, clothes are about $200 for a husband and wife. All furniture, kitchen goods, and garage stuff are bulk listed under a general "Household Goods" posting.

The New Law does require some things to be broken out. Photographic equipment, hobby goods, collectibles, things like that. Generally the rest is just kinda lumped together.

Like BKBiker and Anon said, use yard/garage sale and 2nd hand store pricing. As our paralegal said, "Where do you buy an 8 year old sofa?" Check out Goodwill, eBay, and such as well for items you don't see while your out browsing for prices.

Wanted to add that we moved from Missouri. So we have to use MO exemptions. You get $3K/filer for Household and $3K/filer for Vehicle. You get to double that if both you and your spouse are filing. Homestead cannot be doubled.

Here's a link to the MO Exemptions:

http://www.bankruptcyforum.com/t259-missouri.html

They were just updated last summer. There's also a link there to the MO.gov website for further reference.

About Homestead,........ That's your equity after costs to sell the property. So take the FMV of your home, deduct roughly 10% for costs to sell, then deduct your mortgage(s) and that's your equity you have to protect with the $15K Homestead Exemption.