Keeping boat in Ch13

[Limitman]

I am thinking about Ch13 bankrupcy. I have a truck which I owe $7000 but it's worth $15000 and boat that I owe 25000 and it's probably worth a few thousand less than that. I know I will have to account for the equity in the truck but is it possible to keep the boat? My monthly payment for the boat is $270. I also own a home that I bought at $130000 and still owe $127000. Do to current market it's not worth that much now. I really would like to hold on to the boat if possible, I know it sounds kind of stupid. Thanks

Mark

[floridian]

i cant keep my motorcycle, because its a luxury item... i wonder if a boat is in the same category?

[Limitman]

Yeah I was afraid of that......

[relief13035]

I can only imagine how many boats are sitting in the repo yards nowadays.

[BNKRPTinNC]

This is my first post but thought I would "pipe in" as I had a similar situation. My 2003 5th wheel trailer was part of my bankruptcy and no-one raised an eyebrow as to whether or not it should be kept. Trustee objected to some old credit card debt but the judge pushed right past that and confirmed plan. I don't know if ours was an unusual case but this has been the best thing, financially, that we have done. Even with garnishment of more than half of my salary we are still able to bank my wifes earnings, granted they aren't all that much, and still have some left over from my paycheck at the end of the month and all bills are paid.

[HHM]

This is my first post but thought I would "pipe in" as I had a similar situation. My 2003 5th wheel trailer was part of my bankruptcy and no-one raised an eyebrow as to whether or not it should be kept. Trustee objected to some old credit card debt but the judge pushed right past that and confirmed plan. I don't know if ours was an unusual case but this has been the best thing, financially, that we have done. Even with garnishment of more than half of my salary we are still able to bank my wifes earnings, granted they aren't all that much, and still have some left over from my paycheck at the end of the month and all bills are paid.

What was your monthly payment on the 5th wheel?

In any event, a trustee will probably object to the OP if he uses the monthly payment as an expense in his chapter 13 plan. It's not an issue of "keeping" it per se...you can keep it. The issue is whether you can pad the budget elsewhere to allow you to continue to make the payment.

[Limitman]

Well thanks for the advice, I guess my next move would be seeing and attorny and see what they say.

[Limitman]

So I should be able to keep the boat as long as when I come up with my repayment plan I don't include that as a living expense.....I can certainly do that cause my sister makes the payment for the boat anyway right now.

[HHM]

So I should be able to keep the boat as long as when I come up with my repayment plan I don't include that as a living expense.....I can certainly do that cause my sister makes the payment for the boat anyway right now.

Correct.

Now, you will have to disclose the fact that you own the boat and the creditor will be listed in your BK, but the BK is not going to care about it so long as you don't try to include the boat payment as an expense in your budget. The lender should not care so long as they get their money each month.

Thus, you should have very little problem keeping the boat.

[UpsideDownMI]

I was under the impression that you would have to pay your unsecured creditors an amount at least equal to the payment and equity to be able to keep a luxury item in a 13.

[BNKRPTinNC]

What was your monthly payment on the 5th wheel?

In any event, a trustee will probably object to the OP if he uses the monthly payment as an expense in his chapter 13 plan. It's not an issue of "keeping" it per se...you can keep it. The issue is whether you can pad the budget elsewhere to allow you to continue to make the payment.

Payment was around $225 per month.

[BNKRPTinNC]

What was your monthly payment on the 5th wheel?

In any event, a trustee will probably object to the OP if he uses the monthly payment as an expense in his chapter 13 plan. It's not an issue of "keeping" it per se...you can keep it. The issue is whether you can pad the budget elsewhere to allow you to continue to make the payment.

Around $225 per month. Thought for sure we were going to have to give it up. Payment thru the plan, if I'm reading it correctly, is $133 per month. Owed about $14K but was reduced to $8K which @$133 for 60 months will pay it off. We didn't have much, 2 cars (2003 Honda CRV, 1998 Mitsubishi Mirage) 1 PU truck (1994 Chevy) the trailer and the house. Thought we were going to have to give up a vehicle also but that didn't come up either and the CRV was included in the plan. As I said this has been an extraordinary experience and not at all what I expected. It definitely has afforded us the opportunity to get back on our feet as we have been floundering for 2 years trying to work things out. The threat of foreclosure pushed us over the edge.

[HHM]

Ok, I see. Your attorney did a cram down and probably argued that unsecured creditors will get more by allowing you to cram down the 5th wheel and pay through the plan than you surrendering it and adding the deficiency to the pool of unsecured creditors.

Or, you are in a very liberal districts that allows any secured debt to be counted (which, by a strict reading of the BK code, is what it says.)

[Limitman]

Well hopefully I can keep the boat due to the fact that there is no equity in it per se.....it wouldn't be worth for them to try to sell it off.

[krielly]

Well, the thing is, the equity isn't the issue. The issue will be that the trustee could see the money you are paying for the boat, as money you could be paying into your plan instead.

We were able to allow our 5th wheel payment, and our $3500/yr seasonal campground site as well when we filed our Chap 13 in October 05. However, we filed old law, and in order to keep both, we agreed to go with a 5 year plan, instead of a 3 year plan.

Laws have changed, of course, so I'm not sure what will happen in your case. good luck to you!!!!

K