QUESTION

Will the property be subject to liquidation in order to pay some of the debt?

Asked on Jun 05th, 2012 on Bankruptcy - Florida
More details to this question:
If you were to own a piece of vacant land in the state of Florida with another individual and file chapter 7 bankruptcy for credit card debt will the property be subject to liquidation in order to pay some of the debt? Or no because it is owned jointly with another person who has nothing to do with the debt? The debt is greater than the value of the property at this point.
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2 ANSWERS

Burton J. Green
I assume that the person you own the property with is not your spouse. Most likely you own the property with this person as either a tenant in common or as a joint owner. Either way your 1/2 ownership interest in the property is a part of your bankruptcy estate. The bankruptcy trustee will want to liquidate your portion of the property if it has enough value for distribution to creditors. It does not matter how much debt you have. The bankruptcy trustee is required to liquidate your property and distribute whatever is recovered to creditors. The trustee will probably negotiate a purchase with your joint owner for your 1/2 interest. If that cannot be done the trustee will make a decision on whether there is enough value in your 1/2 interest to sell or file a partition action on. If it does not have enough value to matter to the trustee, he will probably abandon the property when he closes your case and ownership will then be yours again.
Answered on Jul 10th, 2012 at 3:20 PM

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Criminal Defense Attorney serving Deltona, FL at R. Jason de Groot, P.A.
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Chances are that the trustee in bankruptcy will get in touch with the other owner and try to sell your interest in the real estate to him or her. The trustee could also bring suit to have the property partitioned. When you file a chapter 7 bankruptcy, it is as if you hand over to the trustee all of your property which is not exempt from the claims of creditors, to sell it and pay your creditors a pro rata share of the proceeds. That is why chapter 7 is called a "liquidation" estate.
Answered on Jun 29th, 2012 at 10:57 PM

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