Need help with Ch7 Exemptions in Michigan

[mrzatl]

I am a long time resident of Michigan. I own two pieces of property in northern Michigan free and clear; one 5 acre parcel valued at approx. 25-30k and another 5 acre lot with dwelling valued at 65k. My wife, age 62 is disabled with Lung cancer and receives approx 1600/mo. for s.s.a. disability and I am 63 collecting Social Security benefits of 1500.00/mo. I served in the armed forces between 1965 and 1968. Have a first mortgage on a home of about 175k and a second of 31k. The house is worth 150-160k. Own a car worth 6500-7k owe about 3500.00. Owe Credit cards of 50k+ What can I keep in a chapter 7 bankruptcy? Anything?

[justbroke]

The question will be... are those properties, in the Upper, titled as Tenants by the Entireties! If they are, you may be able to exempt them if only one of you are filing and you don't have joint creditors. Otherwise, the Michigan exemptions are... pitiful. You could choose the Federal Exemptions, but I don't know if there's enough to keep all your property.

If you're thinking of filing, you probably should get a few consultations with several attorneys to see what options are available to protect your property.

[miindebt]

Seems like you could sell those properties and deposit any allowable amounts into exempt retirement funds and then hold off filing bk until the correct time has passed to exempt the deposited funds (one year?).