Copake, NY Bankruptcy Law Firms & Lawyers

While I would need to know more about the debt and your finances, my general opinion is no.  $7000 is a small amount of debt in bankruptcy land, and you would do better negotiating a payment plan, or doing nothing, if you are judgment proof, as SSD benefits are not available for levy.

Yes, the bankruptcy will protect you. A secured creditor is still entitled to get its security back, however. The bankruptcy does not eliminate the lien. It does eliminate your personal liability on the debt. Thus they will only be able to get the property back. If you owe more than the property is worth, that excess has been discharged in bankruptcy. So they cannot garnish your wages, etc. If you do not sign a deed in lieu of foreclosure, the creditor will have to go to the expense of foreclosing on the mortgage to get the property back. If you do sign the deed in lieu, you will save the lender time and money. In either case you will not owe more. One exception for real estate is homeowner's association fees. Since those generally occur on a monthly basis, each month is a new bill. So every bill for condo fees or homeowner's association dues that occurs after you filed your bankruptcy is not covered by your bankruptcy discharge. It is a post petition debt. In most cases the person who gets the property back will end up paying the condo fees to clear up the debt in order to sell the property. The condo association or homeowner's association may not be willing to wait that long. If that happens, they may sue you and your bankruptcy won't stop it.