Been Reading Now have questions

[rjk]

I have been reading on here in hopes that I did not have to do this. Well the nightmare has now happened. Husband had a great job great income and after 18 years got laid off. We did get a severance check which we have paid all our bills out of till he found employment. Well he pounded the streets and found a job at one third of his pay. He was working for a major company which decided to down size. Now starting from ground 0. He is also enrolled in school.

The last several years have been a nightmare between husband finding out he had a brain tumor, to the death of my mother , and some legal issues that we hade to paid for . Nothing bad. We have used all our extra monies. Up till this month have never in our life been behind on a thing. We kept our mortage up and the basic living needs current. We owe 4 payments on our car.

Question

1 Would we be able to file 7 and keep our home?
I do not see any way we can pay our CC but we can maintain our home and living expenses.
2 How long after we quick paying the CC do we have before we file
3 Do they always use the means test to figure out.
4 I we can not file 7 but have to file thirteen what if we have no money to pay back?

I do work and make about 24,000 now with this new job he will be makeing a little more than me. That is a big drop from whate he was making!

Thank you for your time.

RJK

[Drazil65]

Hi, welcome to reality. Yes, we have all been through it or going through it. I too found this forum and read everything for about 6 months in hopes we would never get there BUT guess what? The fact that I even went searching for a bankruptcy forum to "read" everything was a big dose of reality and obviously the writing was on the wall and it just took a little time before I could read the wall!

Just about everyone you are reading about was you, never late, never thought about bankruptcy, did whatever it took to stay afloat and keep the creditors happy and paid. First mistake, we too went through all of our savings, our retirement funds, and played the balance transfer game when my husband was laid off 2x's in 10 months from a very long time position and then from the job we thought he would have for a while (bad timing for that company as they went belly up 6 months after my husband started after being in business for 20 years). I was only working part time at the time because my husband had a great paying job and it worked for us with daycare. So as we kept the creditors happy we were sinking fast. We put them ahead of our family and made them the priority.

So, here we are almost 3 years after this period in our lives and husband went back to school full time and graduated this past May and is happily working in a great profession which he loves in healthcare and making good money (after 20 plus years in his other profession) and on December 13th it will be one year that we filed, closed and discharged on March 21st. Believe it or not this all culminated into one of the best decisions we could make for our family and yes we should have done it sooner!

If you do not reaffirm your house but do a stay and pay you can continue to make payments stay in the house as long as you do. We stayed for the last year but have recently sold it in a short sale and we move (downsized to a smaller place, much cheaper, townhome so no maintenance, with pool and tennis courts, something we did not have with our house...lol) in 2 weeks. Once you make the decision (and its a business decision for the business of your family) you will feel relief and you start doing what is best for you. Make several appointments with attorneys (free consults) and start interviewing them. There is a sense of control and freedom that comes with options and once you make the decision and start mapping out your timeline you will see you have options. You have come to the right place and there are many here that will guide you so welcome.

[AngelinaCatHub]

I have been reading on here in hopes that I did not have to do this. Well the nightmare has now happened. Husband had a great job great income and after 18 years got laid off. We did get a severance check which we have paid all our bills out of till he found employment. Well he pounded the streets and found a job at one third of his pay. He was working for a major company which decided to down size. Now starting from ground 0. He is also enrolled in school.

The last several years have been a nightmare between husband finding out he had a brain tumor, to the death of my mother , and some legal issues that we hade to paid for . Nothing bad. We have used all our extra monies. Up till this month have never in our life been behind on a thing. We kept our mortage up and the basic living needs current. We owe 4 payments on our car.

Question

1 Would we be able to file 7 and keep our home?
I do not see any way we can pay our CC but we can maintain our home and living expenses. Yes, pay through but do not 'reaffirm', and mortgage company will wish you to do. Then if things go worse, you are NOT stuck with the deficiency. 2 How long after we quick paying the CC do we have before we file
3 Do they always use the means test to figure out. No they don't. There are many online to practice with. Depends on what you have at hand in funds.4 I we can not file 7 but have to file thirteen what if we have no money to pay back? Go for 7. You probably will make it. I do work and make about 24,000 now with this new job he will be makeing a little more than me. That is a big drop from whate he was making!

Thank you for your time.

RJK

Drazil65
has excelent advice. I just filled in short answeres. 'Hub

[keepsmiling]

Hey rjk, if I haven't welcomed you yet let me do so now, and if I have, welcome again As Drazil says, your story is pretty typical of many here. None of us said, "let's live it up and then when push comes to shove we'll bk"... I do hope your hubby's health probs are cleared up now.

As to whether you can keep your house....it depends.
We need to know what it's (really) worth and how much you owe. If you have too much equity it could be a problem. That doesn't happen too often in this market but it does for some. We are sort of borderline with this ourselves. Same thing with the cars. You have exemptions you can read about here:http://www.legalconsumer.com/bankrup...-law.php?ST=LA

Keep on reading and learning and asking. And hang in there. We've seen lots of folks thru the storm.

[rjk]

Thank you for all the comments as far as the house the market here as most places are not good. We owe about 80,000 on the house and if we were to sell we may get about 120,000 The cars are not new both used on paid off 1998 truck and 2004 ford explorer with 4 payments left. Will do more research and reading before going in the the attorneys. Thank you so much. RJK

[tobee43]

Thank you for all the comments as far as the house the market here as most places are not good. We owe about 80,000 on the house and if we were to sell we may get about 120,000 The cars are not new both used on paid off 1998 truck and 2004 ford explorer with 4 payments left. Will do more research and reading before going in the the attorneys. Thank you so much. RJK

why wait. atty's give FREE consults! find one that best suits your needs. run it by them and see how you feel with what they say. they will know your local laws which will really be helpful to you. they will give you a step by step instructional on what and what NOT to do.

also, ditto what everyone has said here on this thread. all of us have been there and done that. it's good that you are now realizing you need to do something. don't spend anymore money ....so sense in throwing good after bad. i know this is really difficult to believe, but you will be fine. we have all landed on our feet...shoot my toes hit first which wasn't all that nice...but finally now we can walk and move ahead. you will too. best of luck and keep posting with questions there are so many here to help you!