My Husband and I have been married 31 years. We both worked together in the transportation industry and have suffered a great loss of income due to the rising costs of fuel, insurance’s and other expense. We had to close our trucking business and we have not had income in over five months. We had great credit, but now have fallen behind in all our credit cards (8 of them approximately $65,000) behind in medical bills ($1500) and are now falling behind with our mortgage (just fell behind for the first time this month). We were never late paying anything but now with the loss of income we can no longer pay our bills.
We have a 2002 Ford pickup that we still owe $24,000 on — a 2000 Mack Dump truck that is getting ready to be reposed with an outstanding balance of $60,000. Our house is under major construction and is just a shell with no power, water, etc. Home is appraised at $408,000 and we owe $202,000 to the bank for a first and second mortgage. We cannot refinance — too much revolving credit and now that we have fallen so far behind there is no way to get a loan. We cannot finish the house so we put it on the market in hopes of maybe selling it.
We have seen several attorneys — most suggest a chapter 7. Our home has been on the market sometime now and we have reduced it several times just trying to get it sold and the loans paid off. The current asking price is $299,000. And still no luck selling it. If we file a chapter 7, we are very concerned we will not meet the $125,000 exemption and the trustee will then go the few little things we do have (own). We have a 2003 RV that we are living in since we started the remodel (lived in the RV 5 years), our work rig which is a 2000 semi truck and a 2002 trailer, and we own a 1999 Saturn car. The RV is our home and the work rig is our only possible chance for future income. If the Ford is reposed, then the Saturn will be our only means of transportation.
We don’t know if filing a bankruptcy is the best solution. If the trustee cannot get the $125,000 exemption and then takes away our RV (which is our home) and the rig (only chance for future income) we will most likely loss “everything” we own. House will end up going into foreclosure and back to the bank and then there is nothing left.
We do not know what to do. We wonder if we stand a better chance at not filing and just letting the creditors come after us for the debt, let the home go to foreclosure, and let the vehicles be reposed. Then keep our RV, our big rig, and our little Saturn and just try to start over or what? Even after talking to several attorneys — we still really don’t know what our best option would be. Sometimes we feel the attorney just wants us to hire him/her but he haven’t truly felt that any of them have given us all our options or they have not told us any solutions other than court/bankruptcy. This is an incredibly difficult situation we are in and at our ages 50 & 56 we need to make the right decision that will benefit "us" the most.
Another thought we ponder is to try and liquidate “everything” we own — negotiate a settlement with the creditors and then take what is left and try and start over?
In the event of a divorce, would we be able to split the assets before filing a chapter 7? Would we be able to file our own separate bankruptcy?
We would appreciate any suggestions you have and any information that you can share with us.
