will we lose our 5 acres?

[goingunder]

if we file a chap 7, what about land? we have a mobile home which we would not reaffirm, but my husbands dad gave him 5 acres a few years ago. we hold the deed to it, in our name. there are no loans on it , but im still afraid we could lose it. anyone know? thanks

[HHM]

You are right to be afraid, unless you have some wild card exemption or some other exemption to cover it, it will certainly be up for grabs to the Trustee if you file Chapter 7.

How much do you expect the land worth?

You might be able to do a 722 redemption if you can handle the payment. In situations where you have a non-exempt asset that you would like to keep, you may find a lender willing to do a 722 redemption loan (it's more common with cars, but works the same here). Basically, you come to an agreement with the trustee for how much the trustee wants for the land (factoring out the costs the trustee would incur to sell it himself), and then get a loan, secured by the land, to pay off the trustee. The obvious drawback in your case is, now you have to make payments on a land you once owned, free and clear. However, it's either that, or you lose the land outright.

[goingunder]

thanks, here is another question...

i was afraid of that one other major question??? my husbands name is on my father n laws bank account, as being able to write checks on that account. we DO NOT use his money, it is incase he needs us to write a check for something for him. will his account be in jeapardy? we certianly dont want to drag him into this. i tried to get him to remove my husbands name, but he thinks its nothing to worry about since my husband is just listed as a user, and not the account holder?

[HHM]

i was afraid of that one other major question??? my husbands name is on my father n laws bank account, as being able to write checks on that account. we DO NOT use his money, it is in case he needs us to write a check for something for him. will his account be in jeopardy? we certainly don't want to drag him into this. i tried to get him to remove my husbands name, but he thinks its nothing to worry about since my husband is just listed as a user, and not the account holder?

Some people on this forum have had direct experience with this situation. Sometimes its nothing to worry about, sometimes it screws everything up. In your case, it will probably be nothing to worry about, since it sounds like your husbands name is only on their as a precautionary matter, and doesn't actively manage the account in any way.

Regarding the land...what will happen will all come down to your state's exemptions. However, I don't know of any state that has a "bare" land exemption...you may have a wild card exemption that might work, but that will depend on how much the land is worth. At the very least, you can exempt some value of the land, (assuming you have a wild card exemption, or some other applicable exemption).

What is your time-line for filing BK. If you can hold out a year or more before filing, you may be able to transfer the land out of your name. But if your going to file within a year, don't do anything stupid with the land, like trying to incumber it with a loan, or transfer deed...that will cause a heep of trouble with your BK.

[goingunder]

that is exactly what i was trying to say about the checking account. it is just precautionary reasons for him being listed. we dont have his checkbook or any access to the account unless he gives us a check for something he needs. thanks for getting what i meant. as for the land. property values here are 1500-2000 an acer. my guess. i guess if we lose it , we lose it. i dont know if we are going to have to file or not , just yet. my husband drives a truck for a family members trucking company. so we are "kinda" self-employed. its just so confusing... but we are not going to be able to pay all the bills this month. fuel costs and repairs have really gotten us behind, not to mention loads arent that great this time of year. this is our first year at trucking and we were totally unprepared for the slow times. no savings, having to put repairs on cc, ect. part of me knows we should file, but another is scared to death to do it. because nothing is our case is the normal situation. im just afraid we will get thrown into a 13 and have payments we cant afford, and be just as bad off as we are now, or worse. i have been reading this form for a week now and have learned so much. and that is doesnt always turn out better...

[SinkingFast]

I used to be on my Mom's acct for the same reason. As a precaution. If she was ever sick and in the hospital, I could write a check to pay her medical insurance. Or whatever she needed done.

Our attny was not comfortable with that so he had me remove myself from her acct. Just as a precaution during the BK. Our attny said we didn't want to give the Trustee any cause to think he could just swoop in and take money from Mom's acct. So that's what we did.

[Spartan]

If I remember correctly, if you take the federal exemption, you have up to $9000 plus of unused homestead exemption that you can use to cover any asset. Since you are not going to use your homestead exemption, b/c you are in mobile home, then perhads that over $9000 unused homestead exemption can be applied to protect the land.


Just a thought. Worth checking out. You may still be able to keep your 5 acres of land.

[wrinkleigh]

If you keep the manufactured home -- then you could claim homestead and keep it if you had negative equity.

In my case -- this is what we are planning to do. We owe more on the manufactured home than it is really worth, but we really dont want to lose it.