Robert L. Firth's Blog

Call Us (760) 898-2731

You are here: Home / Blog

Bankruptcy May Strip Off a Junior Mortgage

by

Summary

Do you have a second or third mortgage on your home? Imagine if you could stop paying that monthly mortgage payment. Imagine over the course of the next 3 to 5 years paying only as much as you could readily afford to pay on the balance of that mortgage. This is often only a small portion of the mortgage balance. Or, if over that time you could afford to pay nothing, you’d likely pay nothing on that mortgage balance. Then at the end of that time, whatever you couldn’t pay would get completely written off.  That’s what happens in a second or third mortgage strip under Chapter 13 “adjustment of debts.”

Qualifying to Strip Your Second or Third Mortgage

The economic environment that is most likely to result in stripping mortgages is one of declining or static home prices. That’s not currently the situation in most parts of the country. Yet, given the huge potential advantages, it’s still worth looking to see if you qualify.

To qualify, your home can’t be worth more than the value of the liens legally ahead of the mortgage being stripped. You want to strip your second mortgage? Your home’s value can’t be more than the sum of first mortgage’s balance plus any other senior liens. Examples of liens possibly senior to the second mortgage: unpaid property taxes, an income tax lien, a homeowner association assessment.

For example, let’s say a home is worth $200,000 and the first mortgage balance is $197,500. You have a second mortgage of $20,000. But say you are also behind on property taxes totaling $4,000. By law the lien on that property tax usually legally comes ahead of the mortgages. So the liens ahead of the second mortgage—$4,000 plus $197,500—total $202,500. That’s more than the $200,000 that the home is worth. The $20,000 second mortgage could likely be stripped.

How Mortgage Stripping Works

Procedures can vary. There is a place in your Chapter 13 plan where your bankruptcy lawyer indicates you are stripping a mortgage. See question 3.2 in the official Chapter 13 Plan form. In most bankruptcy courts your lawyer will also file a motion to strip the mortgage. He or she may instead need to file a more formal adversary proceeding—a specialized bankruptcy lawsuit. The primary issue in all of these procedures is usually the true value of the home. Other pertinent facts are the accurate balances and legal order of the prior liens.

Once those facts are determined, either by consent or the judge’s ruling based on the evidence, it becomes clear whether the mortgage at issue can be stripped. If it can, the mortgage debt turns from one secured by your home into a completely unsecured debt. That allows you to stop making the mortgage payments on the stripped (second or third) mortgage.

How Much the Stripped Unsecured Mortgage Gets Paid

Once the mortgage balance becomes unsecured, you pay it to the same extent as all your other general unsecured debts. As mentioned above, that is often not very much, and may even be nothing.

How much depends usually on what you can afford to pay on these lowest priority debts. That’s called your disposable income—your net income minus reasonable expenses.

However, often much of your disposable income goes elsewhere, not to your general unsecured debts. Other debts are considered legally more important—such as catching up on a first mortgage, vehicle loan, child or spousal support, or income taxes. These secured or priority debts usually get paid in full before anything goes to the general unsecured debts. If all of your disposable income goes to pay secured and priority debts (plus trustee and attorney fees), then there may be nothing left for the general unsecured debts. If so, you may pay nothing on your stripped mortgage balance.

Why You Usually Don’t Pay Any More on General Unsecured Debts

What if you do have some money left over during your 3-to-5-year plan to pay towards your general unsecured debts? This is important: you likely won’t end up paying any more on these unsecured debts if you strip a mortgage.  That’s because usually you have only a set amount of money available for all the general unsecured debts. Remember, that’s based on what you can afford to pay, minus what goes to higher priority debts and fees. That set amount of money just gets divided up among an additional unsecured debt—your stripped mortgage balance.

Example: You have $50,000 in general unsecured debts. You can afford to pay a total of $5,000 towards those debts during your 3-year plan. That’s a 10% payout. Now you strip a $20,000 second mortgage, so now your total general unsecured debt balance is $70,000. Your other circumstances haven’t changed, so you still can afford to pay $5,000 towards your unsecured debts. That money is just spread out over more debt (resulting in about 7% payout on them).

The result is that in this example you’d pay about 7% on your stripped mortgage, or about $1,400 of the $20,000. More importantly, you wouldn’t pay a dime more to complete your case than if you didn’t have that stripped mortgage. Then at your Chapter 13 case’s completion, the remaining mortgage balance would be wiped clean and the mortgage’s lien wiped off your home’s title.  

 

Bankruptcy Stops a Property Tax Foreclosure

by

Bankruptcy can help if you’re behind on real estate taxes. Chapter 7 by getting rid of other debts, Chapter 13 by buying you lots more time.  


Bankruptcy Stops a Property Tax Foreclosure

Filing either a Chapter 7 “straight bankruptcy” or a Chapter 13 “adjustment of debts” stops a foreclosure by your property tax authority.

Filing bankruptcy stops most forms of debt collection through the “automatic stay.” In particular the automatic stay stops “any act to… enforce any lien against property of the [bankruptcy] estate” Section 362(a)(4) of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code. The bankruptcy “estate” includes all assets that you own when you file your bankruptcy case. It includes your home.

A tax authority’s foreclosure for property taxes is the enforcement of the property tax lien. That foreclosure becomes illegal as soon as your bankruptcy filing imposes the automatic stay.

So filing bankruptcy stops a tax foreclosure. What happens next?

Chapter 7: Discharge Your Other Debts to Afford Your Property Taxes 

If you’ve fallen behind on your property taxes, it’s likely because you’ve had other debts that you had to pay. You didn’t have enough cash flow to pay both, and likely haven’t for quite a while.

Maybe if you wrote off (“discharged”) your debts through bankruptcy you’d have enough to start paying the property taxes. Chapter 7 is usually the quickest and cheapest way to discharge your other debts. (This assumes that you qualify, and that you don’t have other reasons to file a Chapter 13 case instead.)

Most local tax authorities don’t have the legal right to foreclose on your property until you are several years behind. Talk with your bankruptcy lawyer about this. You may have some time to catch up. On the other hand, tax foreclosure rules vary greatly, and they tend to be very strict. Once it’s too late it’s simply too late.  Find out for sure where you stand on any deadlines.

Your bankruptcy lawyer should also be able to tell you whether your tax authority would likely set up a monthly payment plan for you to catch up. If so, determine whether you could afford the catch-up payments after you discharge your other debts.  

In these situations filing a Chapter 7 would give you the help you need.

Chapter 7: Often Not Enough Help

But there are many situations when Chapter 7 does not solve the problem.

First, if a tax foreclosure is happening soon, you probably don’t have enough time to catch up.

Second, even if there’s no pending tax foreclosure you may need more help for the following reasons:

  • Even after discharging your other debts you wouldn’t have enough money left over to satisfy your tax authority.
  • The tax authority doesn’t provide a way to catch up, maybe because you’ve let the collection process go too far.
  • You had a deal to catch up earlier but just didn’t have the cash flow to stick with it. Now they won’t give you another chance.
  • Your mortgage lender requires you to bring the taxes current more quickly, on threat of its own foreclosure.

Chapter 13: Buy More Time and Flexibility

Under Chapter 13 you can bring your property taxes current over a period as long as 5 years. This extended period results in lower monthly catch-up payments, making more likely that you’d succeed with it. During this time you wouldn’t be at the mercy of the tax authority. While you’d be in the Chapter 13 case you’re protected against foreclosure or any other collection activity. You do need to fulfill the terms of your Chapter 13 payment plan, as you proposed and the bankruptcy court approved. But as long as you do, Chapter 13 saves you a long of anxiety. It gives you a measure of financial consistency and stability.

Chapter 13 can also save you money in very practical way. It is a very good legal mechanism for dealing with many other special debts, such as income taxes, child and spousal support, and vehicle loans. Your payment plan may allow you to catch up on the property taxes ahead of these other special debts. So you get current on your back property taxes more quickly than with a Chapter 7 case. That saves you interest on the unpaid property taxes, which are usually assessed at a relatively high rate. Drawing down the property tax debt faster also builds equity in your home faster.

Chapter 13: When Behind on Your Mortgage, Too

Unless you own your home without a mortgage, if you’re behind on your property taxes you’re likely also behind on the mortgage. Even if you are current on the mortgage, your mortgage lender is likely threatening its own foreclosure because you’re not current on the taxes. In both of these situations Chapter 13 is usually the best option. That’s because it is especially adept at handling both of these debts simultaneously.

Chapter 13 allows you to stretch out your mortgage catch-up payments up to 5 years (just like with the taxes). Most importantly, throughout this time you are protected from foreclosure by either the tax authority or your lender.

You do have to keep current on your Chapter 13 payment plan. But those payments are based on a realistic budget. They can be adjusted for both anticipated and unanticipated changes in your income and expenses.

You do also have to keep current on ongoing property taxes, so that you don’t fall further behind. Because that’s incorporated into your budget, this should not be a problem.  You want to be completely current when you finish your payment plan, and you’re required to be. Chapter 13 gives you the means to do so.

 

Chapter 13 Gives the Most Time to Cure Your Mortgage

by

Chapter 7 provides no mechanism to cure your mortgage. But Chapter 13 does provide a powerful, realistic, and practical way to do so. 

 

Chapter 7 “Straight Bankruptcy” and Chapter 13 “Adjustment of Debts”

Chapter 7 and Chapter 13 are the two main consumer bankruptcy options.

Most Chapter 7 cases only takes a few months—usually 3 to 4 months—from filing to completion. A Chapter 13 case usually takes 3 to 5 years. At first this extra length of time may seem like a disadvantage. However Chapter 13 puts this time to good use, accomplishing things that you can’t under Chapter 7.

Essentially, Chapter 13 gives you the 3-to-5-year period to cure your mortgage, while protecting your home throughout that time.

The Chapter 7 Shortcomings

Chapter 7 leaves you at the mercy of your mortgage lender if you’re behind on the mortgage.

Chapter 7 protects you from the lender for only the 4 months or so that it lasts. (The protection might even be shorter if the lender asks the bankruptcy court for permission to end the protection sooner.) During that time you may be able to work out a “forbearance agreement” with your lender. This agreement nails down the terms for curing your mortgage.

The problem is that you have precious little leverage in this negotiation. If you are not too far behind on your mortgage, your lender may be give you a few months, maybe up to a year, to catch up. But the lender has all the leverage and you have almost none. It could just begin or resume a foreclosure as soon as your Chapter 7 case is over. With that leverage it can make you try to catch up unrealistically fast, requiring huge extra catch-up payments each month. This makes more likely that you won’t succeed in always making the required payments. And at best, if you do make those large payments and do catch up, it’ll be a tough and risky experience.

The Chapter 13 Solution

In contrast, as mentioned above Chapter 13 gives you much more time, and protects your home in the meantime.

Instead of the catch-up payment amount being imposed on you, your personal realistic budget determines the amount. The payments can be stretched out over as much as 5 years. You may even be able to delay or lessen these catch-up payments if you have other even more urgent debts to pay. Also, if your circumstances change midstream, you’d likely be able to adjust the payments.

These and other advantages effectively lower the catch-up payments, making more likely that you’ll successfully cure the mortgage and keep your home.

Doing Your Part

You can rather easily lose the multi-year protection of Chapter 13 if you don’t fulfill some important obligations. To maintain the protection you have to:

1. Keep current on your court-approved Chapter 13 payment plan. Your catch-up payments are incorporated into the single monthly payment you make towards virtually all your debts. Not paying this to the Chapter 13 trustee each month gives your mortgage lender cause to ask permission to foreclose. It also gives cause for your case to be thrown out altogether. 

2. Keep current on the regular monthly mortgage payments. Chapter 13 gives you the means to slowly cure your arrearage. Falling further behind in the middle of your case seriously jeopardizes your case.

3. Pay your homeowner’s insurance on time. Don’t let your insurance lapse. That really scares your mortgage lender (and should scare you, too). Your lender would likely “force-place” its own insurance (which protects it but not you). It would then make you pay the exorbitant cost of this insurance, putting you that much further behind. This is also an independent basis for it to ask permission to foreclose.

4. Pay the property taxes. Falling behind on property taxes also gives the mortgage holder a separate basis for asking the bankruptcy court for permission to foreclose. The budget you work out with your bankruptcy lawyer will include money for these taxes, to prevent this from happening.

 

Bankruptcy Helps You Afford Your Mortgage

by

Bankruptcy frees up cash flow for your mortgage payments. Chapter 7 does so by writing off other debts. Chapter 13 does so more creatively. 


 

Both Chapter 7 and Chapter 13 Improve Your Cash Flow

A Chapter 7 “straight bankruptcy” case would very likely quickly write off (“discharge”) many of your debts. For many people it discharges most of their debts, maybe even all of them except their home mortgage. That frees up cash flow so that you can better afford to pay your mortgage.

A Chapter 13 “adjustment of debts” case is different but has a similar result. It would very likely reduce payments on most or all of your non-mortgage debts. The amount you pay monthly on your debts is often radically reduced. Plus Chapter 13 deals much better with a variety of dangerous debts. The end result is also to free up cash flow so that you can better afford to pay your mortgage.

Let’s take a closer look at these two options.

Chapter 7 Helps You Pay Your Mortgage

Are you current or almost current on your home mortgage, but only because you are not making required payments on some of your other debts? And/or are you not spending what you reasonably should be on expenses such as food, clothing, or doctor/dental visits?

Chapter 7 legally allows you to immediately stop paying most of your debts. This is accomplished through the “automatic stay,” which stops virtually all collection activity against you. (Section 362 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code.)

Then, under Chapter 7 the bankruptcy court discharges these debts 3 to 4 months after you file your case. (Section 727 of the Bankruptcy Code.)

So if you’ve been struggling to pay your mortgage, Chapter 7 gives you huge relief. You immediately don’t have to pay some or all of other debts that you’ve been paying. So you can better afford to pay your home mortgage.

If you’ve not been paying creditors you should have been, Chapter 7 stops them from coming after you later.  This prevents them from suing you and garnishing your wages, taking away your ability to pay your mortgage later. So you get long-term relief.

Also, you can better afford to pay essential home obligations, like your property taxes and homeowner’s insurance. If you are behind on either of these, Chapter 7 helps with this immediately and long-term.

Chapter 13 Helps You Pay Your Mortgage, Helping Both Less and More

A Chapter 13 case may help your cash flow differently than Chapter 7. Usually you do continue paying something to all your creditors (although not always). However, if you have certain special debts, Chapter 13 helps your cash flow much more than Chapter 7.

Chapter 13 also helps more than Chapter 7 if you are behind on or struggling to pay your mortgage, your homeowner’s insurance, or the property taxes.

Let’s look separately at these two ways Chapter 13 help more than Chapter 7.

Chapter 13 Helps Your Cash Flow More if You Have Certain Kinds of Debts

Chapter 7 does not discharge all debts. Back child and spousal support, other divorce-related debts, recent income taxes, and student loans usually are not discharged. If you owe any of those, you will have to continue paying them. In the case of child/spousal support, the filing a Chapter 7 case does not stop its collection at all. (Section 362(b)(2) of the Bankruptcy Code.) With the other debts, collection against you can resume 3-4  months later when the case is completed. (Section 362(c)(2).)

In contrast, filing a Chapter 13 case does stop the collection of these “nondischargeable” debts. As with Chapter 7, the “automatic stay” protection against collection ends when the Chapter 13 case is finished. But with a successful Chapter 13 case that usually doesn’t happen for 3 to 5 years.

More importantly, Chapter 13 provides a great way for you to pay these special kinds of debts in the meantime. You do so based on a reasonable budget, while being protected from all of your creditors. So when your Chapter 13 payment plan is finished, you have paid off or brought current your nondischargeable debts. You no longer need the “automatic stay” protection.

By forcing these special creditors to accept payments based on your budget, you protect your ability to pay your mortgage. 

Chapter 13 Helps You Catch up on Your Home Mortgage, Insurance, and Taxes

If you are behind on your mortgage payments, Chapter 13 provides one of the best ways possible to catch up. You have 3 to 5 years to catch up. You do have to continue/resume making your ongoing monthly mortgage payments. The arrearage catch-up payments are incorporated into your single monthly Chapter 13 plan payment. As mentioned above, that plan payment amount is based on your reasonable budget. Other more urgent obligations (such as catching up on child support or maybe a vehicle payment) can sometimes go ahead of catching up on your mortgage for a while. So Chapter 13 can be quite flexible.

If you are behind on homeowner’s insurance, that’s a serious problem. That alone is grounds for foreclosure of your mortgage. The lender will very likely impose its own very expensive “force-placed” insurance, wasting a lot of your money. This often aggravates your already difficult situation. Chapter 13 eases your cash flow so that you can afford to pay your insurance. To the extent force-placed insurance is already in the arrearage amount you owe, Chapter 13 provides a reasonable way to pay it.

If you’re behind on your home’s property taxes, that also is a separate ground for foreclosure. Whether the taxes are part of your mortgage payment or you pay it separately, Chapter 13 can solve this problem. As with homeowner’s insurance, if your lender already paid the taxes, you catch up on that along with the mortgage arrearage. If you pay taxes separately, you catch up with the taxing authority directly, as part of your 3-to-5 year payment plan. Both your mortgage lender and the taxing authority have to cooperate, as long as you fulfill your Chapter 13 obligations. 

Conclusion

Chapter 7 helps very directly, by discharging other debt so that you can better afford to pay your mortgage. Chapter 13 helps by providing a better way to deal with especially dangerous debts that Chapter 7 doesn’t handle well.

 

Protecting Excess Home Equity through Chapter 13

by

Chapter 13 can be a highly advantageous way to protect your home equity if that equity is larger than your homestead exemption amount.  

 

The Problem of Too Much Home Equity

Our last two blog posts were about protecting the equity in your home through the homestead exemption. Two weeks ago was about protecting the current equity; last week about protecting future equity. The blog post about protecting current equity assumed that the amount of equity in your home is no more than the amount of your applicable homestead exemption. For example, if your home is worth $300,000, your mortgage is $270,000, that gives you $30,000 of equity. If your homestead exemption is $30,000 or more that equity would be protected in a Chapter 7 bankruptcy case.

But what if you have more equity in your home than the applicable homestead exemption amount? In the above example, what if you had $30,000 in equity but your homestead exemption was only $25,000? Your home could conceivably be sold by the bankruptcy trustee if you filed a Chapter 7 case. Your creditors would receive the proceeds of the sale beyond the homestead exemption amount. Presumably you need relief from your creditors. But clearly don’t want to give up your home and its equity in return for being free of your debts.

What about getting that equity out of the home through refinancing the mortgage? Well, what if you don’t qualify to refinance your home? You may not have enough of an equity cushion. Or your credit may be too damaged. Or maybe you’d qualify for a refinance but it still wouldn’t get you out of debt. That would not be a good option. So what do you do instead to protect your home and that equity?

The Chapter 13 Way to Protect Extra Equity

If your home equity is larger your applicable homestead exemption, then filing a Chapter 13 case can usually protect it.  Chapter 13 “adjustment of debts” protects excessive equity better than Chapter 7. Essentially Chapter 13 gives you time to comfortably pay your general creditors for being able to keep your home.

Why do you have to pay your creditors to be able to keep your home? Remember, if your home equity is larger than your homestead exemption, the alternative is having a Chapter 7 trustee sell the house to get the equity out of it to pay to your creditors. Chapter 13 is often a tremendously better alternative, as we’ll explain here. Also, see Section 1325(a)(4) of the Bankruptcy Code.

Gives You Time to Comfortably Pay

Consider the example above about having $5,000 of equity more that the amount protected by the homestead exemption. Chapter 13 essentially would give you 3 to 5 years to pay that $5,000. This would be done as part of a monthly payment in your Chapter 13 payment plan. $5,000 spread out over 3 years is about $139 per month. Spread out over 5 years is only about $83 per month. Assuming this was part of a monthly payment that reasonably fit into your budget, wouldn’t it be worth paying that to your general creditors if it meant keeping your home and all of its equity?

It’s likely more complicated than this in your personal situation. You may be behind on your mortgage payments or owe income taxes, or countless other normal complications. But at the heart of it Chapter 13 can protect your equity in a flexible way. It’s often the most practical, financially most feasible way.

Chapter 13 is Flexible

To demonstrate Chapter 13’s flexibility, let’s add one of the complications we just mentioned: being behind on your mortgage. Chapter 13 usually allows you to catch up on your mortgage first. So, for example, most of your monthly plan payment could go to there during the first part of your case. Then after that’s caught up, most of the payment could go to cover the excess home equity. The creditors would just have to wait.

Protecting Your Excess Equity “For Free”

Sometimes you don’t have to pay your general creditors anything at all to protect the equity beyond your homestead exemption.  Consider the example we’ve been using with $5,000 of excess equity. Now, using another complication mentioned above, assume you owe $5,000 in recent income taxes. That tax is a nondischargeable” debt, one that is not written off in any kind of bankruptcy case. It’s a “priority” debt, one that you’d have to pay in full during the course of a Chapter 13 case. If you pay all you can afford to pay into your Chapter 13 plan, and it’s just enough to pay your $5,000 priority tax debt, nothing gets paid to your general creditors. You pay the priority tax debt in full before you have to pay a dime to your general creditors. If there is nothing left for the general creditors after paying all that you can afford to pay during your required length of your payment plan, you likely won’t need to pay those debts at all. 

This means that you saved the equity in your home by paying the $5,000 into your plan to pay off the tax debt. That’s a debt you’d have to pay anyway. You’d have to pay it if you didn’t file any kind of bankruptcy case. You’d have to pay it after completing a Chapter 7 case because it does not get discharged. And it also has to be paid in a Chapter 13 case. But in a Chapter 13 case you fulfill your obligation to pay the $5,000 (in our example) to protect your home equity (the amount in excess of the homestead exemption), whether it goes to the pay the tax or goes to pay the general creditors. Under the right facts you save your home and pay nothing to your general creditors.

Conclusion

Chapter 13 can be an extremely favorable way to keep a home with more equity than the homestead exemption amount. At worst, you’d pay the amount of equity in excess of the exemption. But you would do so based on a reasonable budget, with significant flexibility about the timing of payment. At best, you wouldn’t pay anything to your general creditors, when the money instead goes to a debt you must pay anyway, like the recent income tax debt in the example.

These situations depend on the unique circumstances of your finances.  See a highly competent bankruptcy lawyer to get thorough advice about how your circumstances would apply under Chapter 13.

 

Protecting Future Home Equity through Chapter 7

by

Protecting present home equity is a sensible focus when considering bankruptcy. Protecting future potential equity can be even more important. 

 

Our last blog posts discussed how to protect the equity currently in your home through the homestead exemption. We discussed property exemptions in bankruptcy in general, and federal and state homestead exemptions in particular. Overall we showed how your homestead exemption can preserve the equity you presently have through a Chapter 7 case.

We mentioned that you can also protect your future home equity through these same tools, but we didn’t describe how. This is worth more attention.

Future Home Equity

Chapter 7 bankruptcy fixates on the present. It deals with debts you have at the moment your lawyer files the Chapter 7 case at the bankruptcy court. In particular, Chapter 7 usually is not interested in new assets you acquire after the date of filing, For example, the money you earn when you go to work the day after filing is outside bankruptcy jurisdiction. Again, for most purposes bankruptcy looks only at what you own on the date of filing.

This is also true as far as your home is concerned. Chapter 7 fixates on how much equity you have in the home at the moment of filing. That is, we look at what the home is worth then, and how much debt there is against it. (The debt includes all valid security interests against the home: mortgages, property taxes, income tax liens, etc.)

But those factors that determine your home equity—the home’s value, and the amount(s) you owe against it—change. They change all the time. The home’s value goes up and down (but mostly up) with the market. The debt on the security interests change every day with interest and every time you make a payment. Generally after filing bankruptcy and getting your financial house in order, you’d make progress paying down home debts. With the home value usually going up and debt against it going down in the years after filing bankruptcy, most people build equity in their home.  

Future Home Equity Greater than Present Homestead Exemption Amount

There’s a good chance that at some point—if you keep your home long enough—the amount of your home’s equity will exceed the applicable homestead exemption.

Take this example. A home is worth $300,000, the mortgage is $260,000, with a remaining equity being the difference, $40,000. Assume the applicable homestead exemption is $50,000. That covers the $40,000 in equity.

Now let’s say that in 3 years the home value increases to $335,000, and the mortgage is paid down to $250,000. The amount of equity at that point is the difference: $85,000. That’s $35,000 more than the applicable $50,000 homestead exemption (assuming that hasn’t been increased in the meantime).

If this homeowner filed a Chapter 7 bankruptcy now, the $40,000 in present equity is protected by the homestead exemption. But what if the homeowner doesn’t file bankruptcy now but waits 3 years to do so? The home equity will at that point have increased well beyond the amount the homestead exemption would protect.

Future Equity is Even More Important than Protecting Your Home Now

Sure, when you’re considering bankruptcy, your focus is on the present. As far as protecting your home equity, mostly all you want to hear from your bankruptcy lawyer is that the equity is covered now. Is the home equity going to be protected?

But as you think about whether you should file bankruptcy, Chapter 7 or Chapter 13, and when to do so, potential future equity is arguably an even more important consideration.

Most directly, there are simply likely more dollars at stake in future equity vs. present equity. In the above example, the person was protecting $35,000 in home equity when filing bankruptcy now. But by the same bankruptcy filing he or she was protecting $85,000 in future equity. Isn’t protecting that future $85,000 at least as important in protecting the present $35,000 in value?  

Conclusion

When you consider whether to file bankruptcy, you’re thinking about both the present and the future. You want relief and a fresh start now so that you can have a more financially peaceful and prosperous future. When thinking about your home, Chapter 7 allows you to preserve your present modest equity now so that it’ll have the opportunity to build it into much larger future equity.

Protecting Your Home Equity through Chapter 7

by

You can protect the equity in your home if the amount of equity is no more than the homestead exemption applicable to residents of your state. 


 

Our last two blog posts outlined 15 separate ways that bankruptcy can protect your home now and/or in the future. We’ll be explaining each one of these ways in 15 separate blog posts. Here is the first one—protecting present and future equity in your home through Chapter 7 “straight bankruptcy.”

Property Exemptions in General in Bankruptcy

When you file a bankruptcy case, your assets are protected through a set of “exemptions.” “Exemptions” are categories of your assets that are protected for you from your creditors. Each category usually has maximum dollar limits. (See Section 522 on “Exemptions” in the U.S. Bankruptcy Code.)

Exemptions work somewhat differently in Chapter 7 and Chapter 13. Focusing today on Chapter 7, this is a “liquidation” form of bankruptcy. This means in theory that the Chapter 7 trustee takes—liquidates—anything you own not fitting within an exemption. 

However, the practical effect of exemptions is that most people filing under Chapter 7 get to keep everything they own.

The Homestead Exemption

The homestead exemption determines how much equity in your home you can protect from your creditors. As long as the amount of equity is no more than the homestead exemption amount, your home is safe in a Chapter 7 case.

As a quick example, assume your home is worth $300,000, you owe $265,000, so you have equity of $35,000. If the homestead exemption applicable to your state is $35,000 or more, your home is protected.

This means that your Chapter 7 trustee can’t take the home and sell it to pay the equity over to your creditors.

If you have too much equity, you wouldn’t be filing under Chapter 7. Not if you want to keep your home. See next week’s blog post about preserving home equity that’s more than your homestead exemption through Chapter 13.   

Federal vs. State Exemptions

Bankruptcy law provides a set of federal exemptions, while each state has its own set of exemptions as well. All have a homestead exemption. Can you use either the state or federal homestead exemption? If so, which should you use?

At the outset, since bankruptcy is a federal procedure why is state exemption law applicable at all?                                                    

The U.S. Constitution made bankruptcy a federal procedure to make it uniform throughout the country.  See Article I, Section 8, Clause 3 of the Constitution. But there are many areas in bankruptcy where state laws apply. One such broad area is property law. In an interesting compromise, Congress gave each state the power to require its residents to use that state’s set of exemptions instead of the federal ones. Section 522(b)(2) of the Bankruptcy Code.

So 31 states have decided you must use the state law exemptions. In the remaining 19 states you can use either the state or federal bankruptcy exemptions. Since the list is shorter these 19 states that give you a choice are:

Alaska, Arkansas, Connecticut, Hawaii, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Texas, Vermont, Washington, and Wisconsin.

The Amount of Your Homestead Exemption

The homestead exemption amounts vary greatly state to state. For example, Kentucky’s homestead exemption protects only $5,000 in value or equity for an individual homeowner. On the opposite extreme, Nevada’s homestead exemption is $550,000. Plus a number of states—including Texas and Florida– have no dollar limit at all (although do have acreage limitations).

This can get quite complicated. For example, Kentucky residents can chose to use the federal homestead exemption instead of the modest state exemption.  But in all states you can’t pick and choose between the various federal and state exemptions. Section 522(b)(1) of the Bankruptcy Code. If you are in a state where you can use the federal homestead exemption, you can’t use any of the state exemptions that might be better for another category of assets. In the example of Nevada and Florida residents, who have such a large or unlimited homestead exemption, if they use that advantageous state homestead exemption they must use their state’s exemptions even if the federal ones may be better in other property categories.

Also, you can’t move to a new state and immediately claim that state’s generous homestead exemption. You must be “domiciled” in your new state for 730 days, or two years. Section 522(b)(3) of the Bankruptcy Code. 

Finally, your homestead exemption might be limited by a federal cap on the amount you can clam if you bought your home within 1,215 days (3-years and 4 months) before filing bankruptcy. Section 522(p) of the Bankruptcy Code. Effective April 1, 2019 (and for 3 years thereafter), this cap amount is $170,350. This is relevant only if your state homestead exemption is larger than this relatively large amount.

Need Legal Advice

There are other potential complications, depending on your situation. For example, what qualifies as a “homestead” to which you can apply the homestead exemption? What if you’re not on the title but instead buying a home on contract? What about leasehold interests you may have?  What happens if you own the property with your spouse, or with somebody else?

Your homestead exemption situation could well be very straightforward. But it may not be, even when it seems like it is. You need to get legal advice about this. It would be one of the first topics you would cover with your bankruptcy lawyer, and hopefully get reassured about.

Bankruptcy—including Chapter 7—can be a great way to protect present and future equity in your home. But it’s crucial to know for sure which homestead exemption applies to you, and whether it will definitely protect your home.

 

More Bankruptcy Benefits for Your Home

by

Besides helping with your mortgage, bankruptcy protects your home against other liens—from judgments, income taxes, and homeowner associations.  


Last week we gave you 7 ways that bankruptcy can either save your home now or protect it going forward. Here are the remaining 8 ways (#8 through #15), mostly involving involuntary liens placed on your home by special creditors.

8. Judgment lien “avoidance”:  

You can get rid of a present judgment lien that’s on your home’s title if it “impairs” your homestead exemption. This means that it “eats into” the equity that is protected by the exemption. Judgment lien avoidance turns a secured debt that you’d have to pay to protect your home into an unsecured one. See Section 522(f)(A) of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code.  You could then usually write off (“discharge”) that unsecured debt in a Chapter 7 “straight bankruptcy” case. Or you could pay little or nothing on that debt in a Chapter 13 “adjustment of debts.”  

9. Prevent future judgment liens:  

Bankruptcy stops ongoing or future lawsuits against you. See the “automatic stay” of Section 362(a)(1) and(6) of the Bankruptcy Code. First, ongoing lawsuits are usually frozen in their tracks so they can never turn into judgments. Second, any creditors which have not sued you beforehand usually can’t ever do so (with some rare exceptions). So they can’t get a judgment, and can’t ever record a judgment lien on your home. Since not all judgment liens can necessarily get “avoided” under #8 above, it can be very important to file bankruptcy with your bankruptcy lawyer before a creditor gets a judgment.

10. Prevent upcoming income tax liens by discharging the tax debt: 

Similarly, in many situations bankruptcy prevents the IRS or your state from recording an income tax lien against your home. Section 362(a)(4 and 5). Under either Chapter 7 or 13 you can discharge older and otherwise qualifying tax debts. During the bankruptcy case the IRS/state can’t record a tax lien. And it can’t do so afterwards because the tax debt no longer exists. So, your bankruptcy filing prevented the tax from being secured against your home, which would’ve created serious disadvantages for you. As a result it’s highly preferable to file bankruptcy before a tax lien gets recorded.

11. Prevent upcoming income tax liens by paying off the tax debt:  

If the tax debt is newer or otherwise doesn’t qualify for discharge, pay the tax through Chapter 13 filed through your bankruptcy lawyer. Section 1322(a)(2). You pay the tax based on your realistic budget instead of the IRS/state’s imposed one. You can delay paying on the tax while you pay more important debts (such as to catch up on your mortgage). You don’t pay ongoing interest and penalties (since the debt is unsecured). Again, during the case the IRS/state can’t record a tax lien. And it can’t afterwards because by then you’ll have paid off the tax. You’d have prevented IRS/state from gaining the significant advantage against you of a recorded tax lien.

12. Prevent or address a child/spousal support lien against your home:  

Discharge your other debts with a Chapter 7 or 13 case so that you don’t fall behind on support payments. Or if you’re already behind, catch up on your support obligations with a Chapter 13 payment plan. As long as you pay as you’ve agreed, no new support lien can be imposed on your home. And your ex-spouse or support enforcement agency can’t foreclose on any pre-existing support lien. Your home is protected while you catch up.

13. Protect your home from your homeowners’ association:

If you’re get behind on homeowner association dues and/or assessments, your HOA gains tremendous power over you. You can regain the upper hand by filing a Chapter 13 case. You have to pay the back dues or assessment(s) if you want to keep your home. But you have as much as 5 years to catch up through a Chapter 13 payment plan. Throughout that time the HOA can’t foreclose or take other collection action, as long as you’re paying your plan.

14. Buy time to sell your home:

In many different situations, bankruptcy gives you more time to sell a home. You may need more time to get it ready for sale, or may want to move later for personal reasons. Chapter 7 usually delays a mortgage foreclosure, or similar actions against your home by other lienholders, for a few weeks or months through Chapter 7. You can likely get much more time to sell, sometimes as long as 5 years, through Chapter 13.

15. Resolve accounting disputes with your mortgage lender:

If you fall behind on your mortgage, it can be shockingly difficult to get on the same page with your lender about how much you owe. This is especially true if you have a history of being behind over an extended period. This accounting confusion has been a serious problem for millions of homeowners over the last decade or two. So, in 2011 a new procedure was created (mostly for Chapter 13) to efficiently resolve such disputes. See Rule 3002.1 of the Federal Rules of Bankruptcy Procedure. It’s a very handy tool when you’re trying to save your home and your lender is not cooperating.

 

Bankruptcy’s Many Benefits for Your Home

by

Bankruptcy can save and protect your home in many different ways. One of these may be just what you need. Or you may use them in combination.   

 

We’ve got 15 distinct ways that bankruptcy can either save your home now or protect it in the near future. Here are the first 7—the remaining 8 we’ll give you next time:

1. Home equity protection:

 You can just about always protect any equity you have in your home through bankruptcy. You can do so through Chapter 7 “straight bankruptcy” if the amount of equity is no more than your applicable homestead exemption. (This is based on state or federal law, depending on your state.) Even if you have no equity in your home now, bankruptcy can protect equity that you build up going forward. See Section 522(b)(2), (b)(3), and (d)(1) of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code.

2. Home equity larger than homestead exemption: 

If your equity is larger your applicable exemption, then a Chapter 13 “adjustment of debts” can usually protect it better than Chapter 7. That’s because it give more time and a better way to preserve that equity while under bankruptcy protection. See Section 1325(a)(4) of the Bankruptcy Code.

3. Free up cash flow for your mortgage payments:

If you’re not behind on your mortgage, write off your other debts to have money for your monthly mortgage payments. Talk with your bankruptcy lawyer to find out which debts will likely go away, and which may not. He or she will also help you create a post-bankruptcy budget. Hopefully it will showing that you can afford the mortgage after getting rid of the other debts. See Sections 727 and 1328 of the Bankruptcy Code.

4. Catch up with a forbearance agreement:  

If you’re not far behind on your mortgage, write off your other debts through Chapter 7. Then catch up on your missed mortgage payments through a forbearance agreement with your mortgage holder. Instead of paying other debts, put your money into saving your home. A forbearance agreement gives you a specific amount of time to get current, usually through designated extra payments.  

5. More time to catch up:

Chapter 13 gives you 3 to 5 years to catch up on your mortgage. This is generally much more time than you’d get through a forbearance agreement. With the catch-up payments spread out longer, they’re much smaller, and so more affordable. Throughout those catch-up years your mortgage lender can’t take collection or foreclosure action as long as you follow the agreed payment plan. See Sections 1322(b)(2) and 362(a)(4) and (5) of the Bankruptcy Code.

6. Prevent property tax foreclosure:

Pay back property taxes through a Chapter 13 payment plan. Again, you have 3 to 5 years to catch up, and protection from tax foreclosure in the meantime. Plus your budget will includes money for future property taxes so you won’t need to worry about that going forward.

7. “Strip” a junior mortgage.

“Strip” a second or third mortgage from your home’s title, thus greatly reducing your overall mortgage debt. If you meet the required conditions, you can stop paying the second and/or third mortgage payments. You’ll likely end up paying none or only a small part of a “stripped” mortgage balance. As a result the total debt on your home will get closer to the home’s value. You’d be able to create future equity faster as the home’s value increases in the future.

 

Cramdown on Furniture and Other Personal Property Debts

by

Cramdown lowers vehicle loan payments and the total paid on the loan. But you can also get similar benefits on other personal property debts. 


 

Our last 4 blog posts have been about Chapter 13 cramdown of vehicle loans. For most people filing a consumer bankruptcy case, their vehicle loan is their largest and most important personal property debt.

But cramdown can also apply to debts secured by personal property other than your vehicle. Some examples are furniture and appliance loans, secured credit cards, and pawnbroker loans.  Cramdown on such debts can reduce both monthly payments and the total you pay on the debt. Often both your immediate savings and the long-term savings are significant. If you’re behind on payments you’d likely not need to catch up.  

If the secured debt is large enough, or if keeping the collateral is important enough, the opportunity to cram down the debt may be reason enough to file under Chapter 13 “adjustment of debts” instead of Chapter 7 “straight bankruptcy.” Or if you have decided on Chapter 13 for other reasons, the savings on your non-vehicle personal property loan(s) will likely help you have a successful Chapter 13 case.

Cramdown Divides a Debt into the Secured and Unsecured Portions

Bankruptcy law divides an undersecured debt into secured and unsecured portions. See Section 506(a)(1) of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code. (“Undersecured” means that the collateral securing a debt is worth less than the amount of the debt it is securing.)

Chapter 13 cramdown allows you to create new payment terms based on the secured portion only. Besides the reduced amount of principal being paid, the payments usually stretch out over a longer period. The interest rate is often also reduced.  These all usually result in a reduction in the monthly payment.

Then you pay the remaining unsecured portion usually only to the extent that you can afford to, if at all. That generally reduces the amount you pay before you own the collateral free and clear at the end of your case.

For Example

Assume you bought bedroom and living room furniture a year ago for you and your kids. You had moved to a new job and thought you could easily afford the monthly payments. You financed the entire $5,000 price of the furniture, at 15% interest, and monthly payments of $200. The first payment was not due until 6 months later.

But now a year from the purchase, the income from your new job has not turned out to be as much as you’d expected. Plus some old income tax debts have caught up with you. So now you’re filing a Chapter 13 case.

What happens to the furniture debt? It’s an undersecured one, with the depreciated furniture now worth only $2,500 while the debt is still $4,500. (That high balance is because of the 6 months of no payments and then irregular payments the following 6 months.)

You’d pay the $2,500 secured portion of the debt over the 36 months of the Chapter 13 payment plan. The annual interest rate would be lowered to around 5%. The resulting monthly payment is only $75 per month.

The remaining $2,500 unsecured portion of the furniture loan would be lumped in with your other general unsecured debts. You’d pay it only to the extent that you had money left over during your payment plan after paying your other more important debts (such as your unpaid income taxes).

So here’s the end result. Without bankruptcy cramdown, you’d have to pay the $4,500 balance plus about $1,000 of interest, a total of about $5,500. With Chapter 13 cramdown, you’d pay $2,500, plus only about $200 of interest, resulting in a total of as little as $2,700. (This assumes paying nothing on the unsecured portion.)

Just as importantly, paying only $75 per month instead of $200 would ease up on your cash flow. That would give you crucial money each month for either necessary living expenses or high-priority debt—such as taxes). This could make possible for you to meet your Chapter 13 goals—such as paying off the taxes you must pay.

Cramdown Timing Condition on “Any Other Thing of Value”

There is one timing condition related to personal property debts secured by other than a “motor vehicle.” If you bought “any other thing of value,” cramdown is not available for 1 year after its purchase. Section 1325(a)(5) of the Bankruptcy Code, and the “hanging paragraph” referring to that subsection, found right below Section 1325(a)(9).  Cramdown is available after that 1-year period has passed.

 

Our Latest Articles

About

Attorney Robert Firth works with clients throughout the Coachella Valley and all courts throughout Riverside & San Bernardino Counties. We regularly work with clients in Palm Springs, Palm Desert, Indio, La Quinta, Rancho Mirage, Indian Wells, Desert Hot Springs, Yucca Valley, El Centro and Imperial County.

Our Location

68910 Adelina Rd.
Cathedral City, CA