pending inheritance

[carolen]

So 2 years into chapter 13...only 1 creditor and the attorney everything else outside of the plan. My father passed away 13 years ago, my husband and I moved into our family home. The house deed was written to include my mother, myself, and my two brothers in joint tenancy. One brother passed away 2 months ago, and now we have just found my mom has cancer. Not fair when your 91 but it is what it is and she will probably not make it until Christmas. She has a will which outlines what she wants done with her share of the equity in the house. So house is worth 500,000 , 100,000 mortgage that lives 400,000 that according to her will needs to be split between my brother, myself, and 90,000 to her grand children. I am trying to figure out what, and when I need to discuss with Chapter 13 and what I can expect... if I am still living in the house? or if we sell it to satisfy my mother's wishes. Any ideas? and thanks

[despritfreya]

When you say there is one creditor being paid in the Plan do you mean that only one creditor filed a timely proof of claim? If the answer is "no", how many creditors actually filed claims and what is the total amount of those "allowed" claims?

Des.

[carolen]

One creditor sued us and that creditor was the only one included in the plan. The other 4 even though they were listed, did not file claims and were actually beyond the date....last interaction with them was October 2010, we filed in December 2014. California has 4 year rule so they were beyond the date. We included them, but they did not file claims.

[carolen]

Sorry, and the allowed claim from the one creditor was 11,000.

[LadyInTheRed]

Your in good hands with despritfreya on the bankruptcy question, but I am concerned by your post for non-bankruptcy reasons.

I hope your mother is working with an estate planning attorney and that she understands what a Will does and does not control. Assets held in Joint Tenancy are not controlled by a Will. When a joint tenant dies, the asset becomes the property of the surviving joint tenants. That cannot be changed by a Will. Based on your description of the deed, the current owners of the house as of your brother's death is you, your mother and your surviving brother. Unless title is changed by deed (don't do that during your BK unless your BK attorney says it's okay), when your mother dies, you and your brother will be the owners until one of you dies at which point the survivor will become the sole owner. Also, your profile says you are in California. If your mother's house is in California, there are property tax concerns that should be considered before giving real estate to grandchildren instead of children.

[carolen]

My brother and I will honor her request for the grandchildren. It was 10,000 for each or 100,000. total. She rewrote her will a couple of weeks ago, I think she knew something was right with her. We realize the the joint tenancy ownership actually controls what happens but we will be honoring her wishes.

[carolen]

The other thing that I should mention is my husband is now on disability. I called the attorney today to tell him our income has been reduced, and in the spring the disability would stop. My husband cannot return to work. So our income will be social security, my small pension, and my husbands pension. Our annual income going down by about 50,000. My question to the attorney was do you think in the spring when we are more than half way through the chapter13 we could file for a hardship discharge? His repsonse was no we have to start all over again, and refile a Chapter 7.

[despritfreya]

From what I gather, you are projecting into the future. Lady has a handle on the joint tenancy issue. Talk to your attny but, if and when the issue arises, the dollars just don't justify making a big deal over an inheritance. Since the claims base is so small, if an inheritance becomes an issue just use some of the money to pay the claims in full and you become a 100% plan. You only have to pay all allowed claims, your legal fees (if any are still owed) and the Trustee's fee.

Des.

[LadyInTheRed]

My brother and I will honor her request for the grandchildren. It was 10,000 for each or 100,000. total. She rewrote her will a couple of weeks ago, I think she knew something was right with her. We realize the the joint tenancy ownership actually controls what happens but we will be honoring her wishes.

Good. It is nice when family members can work together to make things work. That too often is not the case.