Attorney Fees

[sarasota863]

Filed and discharged in ch 7 which included the mortgage, now foreclosure hearing(FL) next month. The bank is seeking in their lawsuit the house + $2,000 in attorney legal costs as well. Are we going to be liable for these? We already filed with the court a "Sugestion of Bankruptcy" form. Thanks!

[dp1969]

Did you post this in the Foreclosure Thread? I thought that after you surrender the house, the bank would be liable for all charges.

[sarasota863]

Attorney Fees

I thought so to, but my useless BK attorney offered conflicting advice. She said it depended how the lawsuit was worded. She said I should check the docs for "in rem" or "in personam". Neither terms are in the filing paperwork. So, I still don't know if we're going to have a judgement against us or not.

[dp1969]

Well, I hope we don't come up with the same problem. Our attorney said it was very "cut & dry". We had HELOC loan so we had to file BK & foreclose or the HELOC (bank) would come after us. I hadn't planned on anything else coming our way.

Good Luck and keep us posted.

[FreshLikeADaisy]

Sarasota, since a no-asset Ch7 discharges ALL dischargeable debts, and even an asset Ch7 leaves you pretty much clean after those assets are distributed, I don't get the foreclosure business you're going through, at all. Usually, a foreclosure notice includes a hearing date because you are entitled to one under the law. Most people don't even show up. Is this the hearing you're referring to? The judge may very well conclude that your Ch7 bk is cause not to foreclose, if you agree to surrender the property. And that doesn't address the issue of whether you stated your intent to surrender or reaff during your bk, nor the issue of what reaffirmation agreement you signed off on, if you signed any at all.

May I make a suggestion? There is a great deal of detail left unsaid in your post, and you're already involved in legal action that doesn't make any sense to you. You may want to consider spending the $$$ for a good attorney, either bk or real estate, TODAY. Probably bk, if that mortgage (or mortgages) was duly listed in your filing and was never contested, but a good real estate atty could help you too. I just don't think you can go it alone, and a bad atty is worse (IMO) than no atty at all, hence my suggestion you find a good one, and fast.

That, and maybe a moderator could move this thread to the Foreclosure section?

Good luck, Sarasota!!!!