Preferential payment - need help asap

[catwhisperer]

Hi,
Went to court today for the summary judgment that was going to inevitably be against us for the balance due on our repossessed trailer. The judge CONTINUED our case!!! We told him we are filing bankruptcy within the next week and he continued the case. This will avoid the judgment being against us!!! We've learned our lesson and were relieved to have a merciful judge and will file by August 7. When we give a copy of the case to the judge he will not file the judgment.l
Anyhow, we have a different question. We just borrowed a total of $1250 from two people that we are going to pay back on August 17 when a commission check comes in - it was a temporary gift, just some friends helping us out. If we repay them on the same day we file, is that a preferential payment? I have a sick feeling it is but there is no way on earth these two people can be listed as debtors. What will happen with this?

[no_it_all]

I dunno, but if I am reading your post correctly it <sounds> like you are filing on August 7th. Then you go on to say that you will be paying some friends on the 17th when you receive a check, the same day you file (??). Are you filing the 7th or 17th of August?

I would <assume> that if you file on the 7th of August, you will <not> have paid your friends back and therefore, not have a preferential payment to declare. If you indeed pay them back before you file, it could be considered preferential and the trustee <could> ask for the money back. Good luck and glad to hear that things are starting to work for you....NIA

[alh]

I guess a related question is will that commision check be exempt. Since it something you will be owed on the 7th (if you file then) just because you recieve it on the 17th does not mean it will be. You will probably need to double check the exemptions rules in your state just to be sure.

[catwhisperer]

I guess a related question is will that commision check be exempt. Since it something you will be owed on the 7th (if you file then) just because you recieve it on the 17th does not mean it will be. You will probably need to double check the exemptions rules in your state just to be sure.

Sorry, I don't always give good detailed info. The commission check is for a real estate commission - NO guarantee that is will go through - things can go wrong - but it should go through on the 17th. We are going to file on August 7, we already wrote a check to pay the person back - post dated to August 17. The RE commission should be $2000, the payment to our friend is $1000.
Don't even tell me that they are going to take a check that will pay our rent, groceries, utilities???? Do they take people's paychecks?
I saw somewhere where we could put the $1000 we paid back into a wildcard - does this hold true for when we use the Federal Exemptions?

[alh]

Didn't mean to scare you. Just wanted to make sure that you knew what might happen (I'd have to research the exemptions) so that you could do appropriate pre BK planning to maximize those exemptions.