Help! Issue arrising

[francoboy]

Well we finally have our lawyer paid and began working on the filing. We were gathering my husbands stock that he inherited from his grandfather. Because we don't get much from the dividend checks, we assumed that the stock was not worth much. Well, it turns out that it might be worth more than we thought.
It certainly won't be worth enough to get us out of trouble, but it could be enough that he would have to give some up. He will be finding out in the next couple days what it's actually worth.
My lawyer said it is possible for me to file alone. My husband is only an authorized user on all but one of our CC. The one he is joint owner of has gone through judgement already and they are accepting a small payment a month and not moving forward on the judgement. The other debt in his name is a loan we intend to keep paying and our 2 cars we intend to keep paying. The cars are worth way less than what we owe.
This is making me a wreck. I don't want to file ch 13. We truly are living paycheck to paycheck now even without paying our cc each month. Mu husband took a job loss 3 years ago that has just killed us.
I guess my question would be, what are the pros and cons of just me filing? Any other advice?
Thank you so much. I am tired of being stressed.

[LadyInTheRed]

I might change my mind if I knew the numbers involved, but if I were you, I would want a truly fresh start and would file jointly and get all debt discharged. If only you file, your husband will still be on the hook for two underwater car loans and a judgement. There is no guaranty that the creditor will keep accepting small payments. If the stock is worth enough to pay off the car loans and judgement, that would be different.

Filing with a non-exempt asset does not mean you have to file a Chap 13. You can file a Chap 7 and turn the non-exempt portion of the stock over to the trustee. You didn't think the stock was worth anything before, so it shouldn't be a big deal to give it up.

[AngelinaCat]

I agree with LITR. We were trying for a Ch13, though we were a borderline CH7 case.. When I lost my FT job, we then had no choice but to file CH7. Even though we ended up being being an Asset case, due to Florida's lousy exemptions, and we had to make payments once a month for a year to the trustee for a year to buy back our non-exempt property from the BK estate, it was well worth it to be done with it in a few months, rather than dragging it out over five years. Like you, we were living paycheck to paycheck.

Good wishes!