If someone is filing ch7 and has a car worth $16,000 but only $11,000. of it can be saved, is the Trustee likely to take the entire car, or will they

Anonymous, It depends upon the judicial district in which you are filing, the trustees in your particular jurisdiction and the specific trustee you draw for your case. Some trustees will be aggressive about this - either you pay-into your bankruptcy the equivalent of your non-exempt equity, or they will force the sale of the asset; others will recognize that the net to your creditors will be nominal-to-non-existent, and as such take no steps. First, you may wish to look at your exemptions to be sure that you've spread the wildcard exemption out in such a way as to make all assets unattractive to a trustee to administer. Second, you should prepare and be ready to provide the trustee a liquidation analysis - something showing the trustee that to liquidate this car, he'll spend $X of the non-exempt equity on hiring a broker to sell the car, $X on his commission, and that the net to creditors will be nominal. As stated above - some trustees won't care and may push you to pay in the full $5,000, others can be swayed with a good liquidation analysis. Lastly, I've seen some courts offer to let a Debtor buy their non-exempt assets with payments, but it is usually over a very, very short period of time - less-than 12 months at best, with the best trustee I've encountered. Check with your bankruptcy attorney to see what the local practice is. If you don't have an attorney, you'll need one with the issue of non-exempt equity on the table. David L. Gibbs, Esq.The Gibbs Law Firm, APCSan Clemente, Californiadavid.gibbs@gibbslaw.com *Due to the limitations of the Lawyers.com Forums, The Gibbs Law Firm, APC's (the "Firm") participation in responding to questions posted herein does not constitute legal advice, nor legal representation of the person or entity posting a question. No Attorney/Client relationship is or shall be construed to be created hereby. Further, information you provide to the Firm through this website is not confidential - it is available publicly to anyone visiting this website. The Firm shall have no obligation to keep the information you provide herein confidential in any context. The information provided herein by the Firm is general, and requires that the poster obtain specific legal advice from an attorney. The poster shall not rely upon the information provided herein as legal advice nor as the basis for making any decisions of legal consequence. As required by 11 U.S.C. §528, we must now disclose that, "We are a debt relief agency. We help people file for bankruptcy relief under the Bankruptcy Code. Assistance we provide with respect to Debt Relief may involve bankruptcy relief under the Bankruptcy Code."