Wanting to convert

[faroff]

filed for 7 originally and now wanting to convert to 13. All we are
looking to do is keep our house and car. However a property i thought
was foreclosed on and was gone suddenly pops up that it is mine coz
of quitclaim deed back to me. I never asked for a quitclaim deed??? I
can't afford this property and my primary. Does this hurt my shot at 13?

[Pandora]

You can keep your house and car in a CH. 7 - is someone telling you that you cannot - and if so, who is that someone? Are you doing a pay and stay or did you reaffirm? What is your reason for wanting to convert to a 13? If its just to keep the house / car... again you can do that in a 7 as well.

As to the quit claim - who quit claimed property back to you and when? You had to have signed something accepting the quit claim or at the very least, received notification it was being done. Someone cannot just quit claim property to someone else without that person accepting it. The only possible way I can see that being done is if your lender quit claimed it back to you and slid in the terms/wording in some sort of monthly statement i.e., "the fine print".

Look on your county records to see if anything is recorded, and if so - what dates, by who, etc.

[faroff]

Hi Pandora. Thank you for responding to me. Our attorney suggested we convert to 13
to keep the house as there is a new law where the extra liens on the house can be stripped.
At least that's our understanding.

The property in question was originally foreclosed on in May and I checked the county property
records and sure enough there was a quitclaim deed in Sept. where the house was back to me. I
never knew anything about this and certainly never signed anything to attest to this. I would have
never been aware of this if the Ch.7 trustee had not objected. There's also a hearing in a couple of
days where the mortgage company is asking the court to lift the stay of relief so they can foreclose
again. I would appreciate your thoughts. Thanks.

[Pandora]

Faroff -

As far as stripping the junior liens, its not a new law, its been on the books for a while . Didnt your attorney discuss all of this with you prior to you filing CH. 7? That's a worry - your attorney should've discussed all options with you prior to filing either Chapter, to see which was in your best interest.

To strip a 2nd lien, the value of your house must be less than what is owed to the 1st mortgage holder; if its over the 1st mortgage, you cannot strip the lien. A certified appraisal is the key, although some trustee's will accept a BPO, however a true walk-through of your home is best.

As to the quit claim issue - I dont know when you filed, but thats something that your lawyer should have asked you to obtain from the county or checked on when doing paperwork - at least ours did, however every lawyer may not be so in-depth.

I'm sure someone will pop on and post regarding this issue that can assist you more than I can regarding the quit claim deed - although you should find out who quit claimed it back to you and when. Sounds like the lender did it - question is, do you have any statements that state something to the effect of " if we dont hear from you by XX days, the property will be deeded back to you..." ???

[faroff]

Thanks Pandora. When we first initially spoke to our BK atty. we wanted to go to 13 in order to
keep our home. Then he discovered there were more than one lien on the house making the total
owned over $600K and the house value was less than $300K. Anyway our atty. said due to a "new"
law he could look into getting those liens stripped and we could go for a conversion to 13. We had a
BPO and the house came in at $260K.

Most of the objections the 7 trustee has are in regard to the former llc's I had set up, but there were
no funds in there. Everything and anything he objected to can be easily explained. He even found a property
in another county he claims I own, which I definitely do not! I'm not worried about his objections as I feel
confident they are all easily explainable and I am certainly not hiding any money. I wish I had some money!!!

On the property w/the QD, I filed for BK 9/15 and the QD was done the 1st week of Sept.Our attorney had
received a list of all the liens or judgments I had on me and I had told him this property was foreclosed on back
in May, which it was! Somehow or another this mortgage co. quitclaimed the property back to me. Can they do
this without my knowledge or consent? I never signed anything to this effect , and no I did not receive any statements
whatsoever stating that if that did not hear from me what their intentions were. Very confusing to say the least.
Thanks!

[Pandora]

On the property w/the QD, I filed for BK 9/15 and the QD was done the 1st week of Sept.Our attorney had
received a list of all the liens or judgments I had on me and I had told him this property was foreclosed on back
in May, which it was! Somehow or another this mortgage co. quitclaimed the property back to me. Can they do
this without my knowledge or consent? I never signed anything to this effect , and no I did not receive any statements
whatsoever stating that if that did not hear from me what their intentions were. Very confusing to say the least.
Thanks!

Quit claiming should be made illegal - and yours is the perfect reason why. Anyone can quit claim (the "grantor") to anyone else (the "grantee"). The issue that arises from doing so is that the "Grantee" must accept the quit claim. If it worked like so many think it does, quit claim would be a miracle antidote to debt issues, but it simply doesnt work that way. You can quit claim to the lender, they'll just quit claim it back to you - and so on and so forth.

Know you stated the lender filed a request to have the stay lifted to foreclose (again) but remember that even though its the banks right to foreclose (not their duty) there is no magic formula to get them to change the title from you to them. It will still remain in your name until the title/deed changes, making you responsible for it. Somehow the house must've not been foreclosed upon - are you maybe confusing the notice of intent to foreclose with the actual sale of the home / change of title?

You stated your original home has several liens on it that you were not aware of - obviously thats a concern you should be addressing and find out when those liens were issued and what reason. You had to be notified at some point in time via the mail.

All of these things are issues you should definitely be asking your lawyer to review and go over with you.