stopping a bankruptcy

[rooster0330]

Is it possible once you file to pull all the paperwork and not go through with the bankruptcy. I am a little nervous we want to file chapter 7, and I think we are ok with exemptions, to keep our home and cars...but I am a little nervous because we are little close in the equity and amount of the exemptions. So, my question is once we file and if the trustee decides to sell, house/cars, can we pull the paperwork and not go through with the bankruptcy!

[HHM]

Nope, once you file a chapter 7 bankruptcy, it cannot just be "undone". Do you have an attorney?

[rooster0330]

we have a name of an attorney, just did not make the initial phone call yet....I am worried because we are very close with the exemptions! Between the first and second mortgage on the house it is $250k I am in new jersey so we would use the federal exemption which would be 40,200. (?) for married. so that would bring us to approximately $290k, zillow is saying our house is work 293k - 297k so we would have between 4-7k if we use that estimate. How do they figure how much your house is worth. I really want to keep the house, and the cars, the car the same thing, it is worth 17k according to kbb and we owe 13K with the exemption 3k + (can you double that exemption also for being married?) we have about 1-2K that would be questionable. this is why I am so nervous. We don't really have the disposible income every month to do a chapter 13...the economy has hit my husbands business very hard! We would pass the means test for a chapter 7.

[HHM]

Well, before you get in a tizzy, go see an attorney and get your questions answered.

Generally, no one loses anything in bankruptcy. Being close or just over on an exemption will not cause you to lose the property. Also, there are ways to allow you to keep the property that is non-exempt.

You are adding more stress to yourself by trying to figure this out on your own, go meet with some attorneys and get some clarification.

[whipster1]

Zillow is not a good valuation. Use your tax assessment or get a local real estate person to do a comp analysis. Here in TX the county assessment is all they use