Question for my mum

[mmace1]

My mom has a 20 year old double wide mobile home which is appraised for $20,000. It's located (lawfully) on my Aunt's property. My aunt is selling her property, and in theory my mum will get $20,000 out of the sale. Will either this $20,000, or the $20,000 appraised value of the mobile home be taken if she declares Chapter 7?

edit: She's in Oregon, and at least according to one site:

http://www.assetprotectionbook.com/oregon.htm#homestead

The homestead protection limit is $23,000 for a mobile home on land which one does not own.

[jal1129]

That would depend on the state she is in and what the state exemptions are. $20,000 in cash more than likely she will not be able to exempt. The $20,000 value of the mobile home will depend on her state exemptions.

[SamanthaJones]

Some states, homestead applies to the sale proceeds.

So even if you sell your house you can protect the proceeds for a certain period of time after the sale, to the limit your state allows for homestead protection.

[lrprn]

My mom has a 20 year old double wide mobile home which is appraised for $20,000. It's located (lawfully) on my Aunt's property. My aunt is selling her property, and in theory my mum will get $20,000 out of the sale. Will either this $20,000, or the $20,000 appraised value of the mobile home be taken if she declares Chapter 7?

According to http://www.bankruptcyinformation.com/OR_exemp.htm , in Oregon the homestead exemption is "Real property, mobile home or houseboat you occupy to $25,000 ($33,000 for joint owners); if you don’t own land mobile home is on, to $23,000 ($30,000 for joint owners); property cannot exceed 1 block in town or city or 160 acres elsewhere; sale proceeds exempt 1 year from sale, if you intend to purchase another home."You're right that your mom can ensure her mobile home can't be taken by using the $23,000 homestead exemption. However, since she doesn't own the land the mobile home is on, she can't exempt the sale proceeds.

When you say "in theory", does that mean the land is deeded to both your aunt and mom and that's why your mom is getting $20,000 from the land sale?

In Oregon you mom can exempt $7,500 cash in her banking account + $400 wild card, so the personal property exemption and wild card amounts could be used to protect $7,900 of the $20K.

Since your mom's situation with owning a home but not the land and the potential $20K windfall is not the norm, she needs to schedule 3-4 free consultations with bk-specialty lawyers in her area of Oregon. It's the very best way to find out what her best options are given her unique financial situaiton, and she can feel out which of the lawyers she feels will represent her interests best.