Questions after reading some of the NOLO Chapter 7....

[JEM]

online you can read a few chapters for free.....

A few things that stood out to me....

The court can refuse to grant a Chapter 7 discharge if the debtor fails to explain how he or she got so deeply in debt ( In re Tanglis, 344 B.R. 563 (N.D. Ill. 2006).)

Is "we made stupid financial choices, and some overspending, paired with bad luck".....an ok explanation?


Property That Is Typically Nonexempt

cameras, camcorders
a second car or truck

the second TV may have to go if it has any value


Umm, so my camera and our 2nd and 3rd TV's may have to go? The TV's aren't plasma's. The one we have in our room is like 10 yrs old!

The other is about 2 yrs old...but it's just a "regular" TV that the kids watch.

And my camera? It is a DSLR--but it's 3 1/2 yrs old. It cost about $700 NEW. I couldn't get that for it now. A camera shop told me last year that they buy them for $200ish if you were going to trade it in.

I guess I'm just asking because this seems contrary to what I've read here. ???

[keepmine]

We have no idea what the issue was in the court case you site.
We've all discharge signficant credit card debt and seldom is an explanation requested.

As has been mentioned many times on here. Nobody wants old consumer products. Value them at gargage sale prices. They'll likley fall below whatever your state exempts. Even if they don't the trustee will abandon any interest in them. What will the trustee do with a 10 year old TV or $200 camera? Just not worth anybody's time or money to run a "Sanford and Son" operation.

No need to overthink this process.

[JEM]

We have no idea what the issue was in the court case you site.
We've all discharge signficant credit card debt and seldom is an explanation requested.

As has been mentioned many times on here. Nobody wants old consumer products. Value them at gargage sale prices. They'll likley fall below whatever your state exempts. Even if they don't the trustee will abandon any interest in them. What will the trustee do with a 10 year old TV or $200 camera? Just not worth anybody's time or money to run a "Sanford and Son" operation.

No need to overthink this process.

I just copied and pasted that regarding explaining how one got into debt from the portion it let you read online. It didn't give much more explanation than that. That's why I was curious.

I "figured" most of the household belongings would fall into the exemptions--but the book seems so highly recommended, I started second guessing what I "knew" up to this point.

[LimpDisc]

The NOLO book is based on the actual BK laws. This forum gives you real life experiences of the actual BK filers.

[LookingAhead]

We've all discharge signficant credit card debt and seldom is an explanation requested.

As has been mentioned many times on here. Nobody wants old consumer products. Value them at gargage sale prices. They'll likley fall below whatever your state exempts. Even if they don't the trustee will abandon any interest in them. What will the trustee do with a 10 year old TV or $200 camera? Just not worth anybody's time or money to run a "Sanford and Son" operation.

No need to overthink this process.

Thank you for this! The longer it's taking for us to get the money together to pay the lawyer (I just stopped paying credit cards a few weeks ago and met with the lawyer right after that) my husband is starting to freak out that someone is going to come to our house and take all of our things. He's starting to read a couple books he checked out from the library, which is good - I have skimmed through the one on ch. 7 only (the other is general bk and I didn't like it as well) but I keep telling him to just get on here and read and ask questions since it's more reality of how things will work out in the end. I keep telling him that it's very rare on here that people have their things taken from their home. So ready for all of this to be over with...

[justbroke]

The court can refuse to grant a Chapter 7 discharge if the debtor fails to explain how he or she got so deeply in debt ( In re Tanglis, 344 B.R. 563 (N.D. Ill. 2006).)

Is "we made stupid financial choices, and some overspending, paired with bad luck".....an ok explanation?

The reference is just wrong.

The quote from In Re Tanglis 344 BR 563, is misused. In TanglisTanglis is distinctly different from the overwhelming 95% of cases that pass through Chapter 7 without even being asset cases! Look at Tanglis for what it was. A married couple with $1,500,000 in unsecured debt. Yes, that's not a typo.

I hate NoLo for referencing Tanglis. That case was fact specific to a couple who were, in my view, hiding where all the money went.

[JEM]

The is just wrong.

The quote from In Re Tanglis 344 BR 563, is misused. In TanglisTanglis is distinctly different from the overwhelming 95% of cases that pass through Chapter 7 without even being asset cases! Look at Tanglis for what it was. A married couple with $1,500,000 in unsecured debt. Yes, that's not a typo.

I hate NoLo for referencing Tanglis. That case was fact specific to a couple who were, in my view, hiding where all the money went.

THANK YOU for explaining that!

It was very "alarming" to read just the excerpt that I bolded in my original post, and them give no more info as follow up. Your explanation makes total sense!

[ApresMoi]

The reference is just wrong.

The quote from In Re Tanglis 344 BR 563, is misused. In TanglisTanglis is distinctly different from the overwhelming 95% of cases that pass through Chapter 7 without even being asset cases! Look at Tanglis for what it was. A married couple with $1,500,000 in unsecured debt. Yes, that's not a typo.

I hate NoLo for referencing Tanglis. That case was fact specific to a couple who were, in my view, hiding where all the money went.

Ok, thanks...makes sense now. When I read that in NOLO, I had the same reaction (panic!). Good to know.

[viking64]

Just to add that the Trustee at my 341 asked everyone how they happened to get into debt. Very brief answers were satisfactory to him. "Medical debt." "Lost job." "Poor use of credit and foolish choices." (My answer.)

I remember reading about the 2nd camera, tv, etc. Yet, when the attorney gave us the forms to fill out - we were just asked to list total current value in various categories. Not "Living Room TV, 10 years old, $$; Bedroom TV, 8 years old, $$" I didn't use up exemptions, so I guess it didn't really matter. I can see it becoming an issue if the item has value and you are above your exemptions.