Not paying mortgage, possible divorce, tax penalties discharged and other questions

[womanonfire]

I see that I may have missed responding to flashoflight. And thank you for posting this by the way. I caused me to actually research what you posted.

If you go pro se and when it goes bad:

I think you meant if it goes bad. Of course it can. But it may not.

1) You cannot withdraw out of the chapter 7, especially since the trustee will have a payday with the non-exempt equity.

You can most certainly convert a 7 to a 13. This may help you and others: https://lundinonchapter13.com/Conten...kToFN_325.01_5.

Also according to alllaw, you can convert if "Your property is worth more than you thought. If you can’t exempt your property because you underestimated its worth, you might want to convert to Chapter 13 because it lets you keep your property. https://www.alllaw.com/articles/nolo...7-13-case.html

Another article to quote: "Chapter 13 bankruptcy is also advantageous for those who have significant ‘non-exempt’ assets. For example, in North Carolina a married couple filing jointly can protect up to $70,000 of equity in their home. If a married couple has filed a chapter 7 mistakenly believing they have little or no equity in their home only to find out there is $90,000 of equity, they may convert to a chapter 13 and pay out the value of that non exempt equity ($20,000) over time rather than having the trustee sell the home to satisfy creditor’s claims. Please note that in this example the couple would also have the option of paying to the trustee the $20,000 (or a negotiated sum) in a lump sum payment to prevent the home being sold." https://www.natlbankruptcy.com/conve...13-bankruptcy/

How in the heck doesn't anyone come up with $20,000 in a bankruptcy though? Things that make you go hummm...

2) Your case will pique the interest of the trustee and he will take every last non-exempt dime from you even if it takes years (8 months is certainly not a problem) vs. the other $70 simple pro se no asset chapter 7 that he processes in a few minutes. He will hire his own law firm out to pursue your non-exempt money and rack up legal fees. The trustee is an adversary who will have a payday at your expense and will not help you. Since you are not represented, it will be even easier for him.

That was my original thought and the entire reason that I wanted to file a chapter 7. If the Trustee sees that she might be able to to reduce the debt owed to the mortgage creditor through my claims of recoupment, to free up money to pay off the other creditors, then awesome!

Also you assume way to much. Yes the Trustee has a job to do but not all are out to rape you. And the judge doesn't always rule in their favor and neither do the appeal courts. Please have a look at this complicated pro se case whereby they won against the Trustee. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/...cv-00361-0.pdf

3) Many/most BK lawyers will not take somebody else's case including pro se at any price. If they do, they will charge you a lot more than if let them prepare the initial bankruptcy petition.

Well that is even more reason to study and work hard right?

Pro se/Upsolve is great for simple chapter 7 cases. Your case is not even close to fitting that definition. Since you are not making housing payments, perhaps those funds can be redeployed to pay for a lawyer. Most people use the funds that would be spent on monthly debt payments to raise the funds for a lawyer.

I'd rather spend the money on taking care of myself during this stressful time thank you very much.