Several Qs about foreclosure & bankruptcy

[KevFinnerty]

I'm going to answer question 2 only since everyone has answered most everything else. Is it possible to file Chapter 7 by July 31? The U.S. Federal Government has made it much more difficult for anyone to file. There are a few things that need to be done to file. You have to pay the entire attorney fee upfront before they will file. You also have to go through debt counseling from a credit counseling service which can cost anywhere from $50-150. The attorney fee can be anything from $1000 and up. So if you can't find enough money to even pay one month I doubt you can come up with enough to file bankruptcy either.

Thanks, yeah, I know I can't pay the atty fees. There is a legalaid thing in my area that told me they do bankruptcy filings for free. The problem is trying to get to see them, I can't reach them over the phone (their actual atty phones are always jammed with calls), but am going to try in person on Monday as they say people can come in and just sit in the office and see if something opens up. I am concerned that the level of representation I would expect to get for free may be what it is worth (nothing) though. Also at this point, my filing would probably not be able to happen until after the 31st, foreclosure may already have started, but I think (am not 100% positive) I can still file. I have to talk to another atty (free consult) on Monday morning. Or maybe I can beg, borrow, steal $$ from a friend or relative to at least pay for a real atty. Also am trying to sell bunch of stuff but that I really need those $$ just to live on. I really screwed up by letting things go so far. I would welcome a visit from Furio to put me out of my misery.

[mrskal]

The foreclosure process is going to take a while, so dont base everything on that. Mine has started already, and by the time I would have to leave is a minimum of 7 months from the filing. If you want to keep the house, short sale the house etc...you have time to do it.

[KevFinnerty]

Thanks, I think the time it takes varies from state to state, even how motivated the bank is to move things forward, or how backlogged their attorneys are.

I figure I should have at least 3 months before it would go through to completion, I dunno. The biggest pressure with foreclosure though is that if I went the route of trying to sell the house myself, that really needed to be jumpstarted at least 2-3 months b4 the filing even starts, because of all the issues associated with "lis pendens" and how that affects sales. I may only have a week before that kicks in.

Good luck to you in your situation btw.