Looking into wifes 2nd house after 341

[telco95]

Hello, My wife and I had our 341 meeting today. My wife has an additional house in her name, but it really belongs to her mom. The house is appraised at 18k, it is not liveable and probably not worth more than 8k with lot. The trustee wants to look further into this, and also requested some Etrade statements that we didn't have (lawyer didn't send over). What are the chances that he will acutally take the house? Will he look over our case again with a magnifying glass, or will he just look at the house and etrade statments? Everything went pretty smooth until the 2 house came up.

Also, instead of retain and keep for the house and vehicle, we asked our lawyer to go ahead and get the reaffirm contracts for these. Will it have to be approved through the court, or will their be no problem since we had our 341 meeting. Thanks

[despritfreya]

Did you not discuss the 2nd house issue with your attny? How was the ownership interest disclosed in Schedule A? Is title solely in wife's name, and, if so, why? Is there a mortgage on the property thus reducing any recover a Trustee might get?

The Trustee is absolutely going to look at your wife's property. His job is to find and liquidate assets - even if only worth $8,000.00 despite an appraisal of $18,000.00. If your wife has no equitable interest in the property (on title for say, estate planning purposes only and never contributed a dime to the property in any way), the Trustee will be hard pressed to take it BUT he is probably going to try to sqeeze some $$ out of someone. You have a better chance if mom is also on title. I truely hope you discussed this with your attny.

[tcreegan]

reaffirm 341 meeting not linked

Hi telco,

Also, instead of retain and keep for the house and vehicle, we asked our lawyer to go ahead and get the reaffirm contracts for these. Will it have to be approved through the court, or will their be no problem since we had our 341 meeting. Thanks

The reaffirmation and 341 meeting are not linked timewise. The reaffirmation is filed with the BK court and either your attorney has to sign off on it or the court has to approve it. Usually before discharge, but before case closing for sure.

Most lawyers, esp. experienced ones, will not sign off on reaffirmations. It exposes them to some liability.

Judges are anybodys guess. Varies from never to almost always.

Also, your lawyer can negotiate a new contract that you sign outside the scope of the BK. So even if you are not approved, you still have a chance to shoot yourself in the foot and sign a new contract.

FYI: Lenders do not have to reaffirm or offer a new contract. It is strictly voluntary for both you and the lender. If you do reaffirm, you can rescind it within 60 days.

But....Lenders may have to let you retain and pay.....if you are current on your payments and not in default of contract....the lender cannot repossess/foreclose on you. Courts have held that the BK filing is not an automatic breach of contract. Some state law also protects the retain and pay. Check w/ your lawyer and your lender.

Good luck with everything,

Tom in Colo