Can my husband withdraw money out of his IRA for a car even though we are in bankruptcy

The short answer to your question is that yes you can use your retirement funds to buy a car, but I will go through the legal explanation below. Technically, the Trustee has until 30 days after they conclude the Meeting of Creditors (341a Meeting) to object to any exemptions that you have.   So assuming you properly listed the IRA and exempted it, and the Trustee concluded the Meeting of Creditors after your meeting a week ago (which is usually the case, unless the Trustee requested additional information or intends to pursue any assets that you have), then you may use your IRA funds any time after that 30 day period if the Trustee does not file an objection to your exemption by that time. Generally speaking, retirement accounts are exempt and Trustees do not typically object to them unless they are very high amounts (like over a million dollars), so it is likely fairly low risk that there would be any issue with you using the funds now.   But of course if the Trustee did successfully object to your exemption, you might have to turn over the retirement funds to the Trustee.   But again, that is a very unlikely scenario. What your attorney was likely telling you was that it is not a good idea to use your IRA to buy a car, regardless of the bankruptcy case.   If you take an early distribution on your retirement, you will both pay a penalty for the early withdrawal (if you are below the age at which the IRS allows withdrawal) AND that withdrawal will be considered income on which you will have to pay taxes.    So overall, since retirement funds in general are protected and to be used for retirement, plus the costs for early withdrawal, it is usually a bad idea to use them for anything other than retirement.    That being said, as you mention, you do need a vehicle and sometimes you need to use retirement for these things.  Just be aware of the costs of doing so.