Georgetown, FL Bankruptcy Law Firms & Lawyers

Your bankruptcy attorney should have had you release the house to the bank during your bankruptcy.  You are not responsible for the debt, but the foreclosure may show on your credit report.  If you don't want to work with the bank to keep the house, your best bet would be a short sale or deed in leu.  

You have many good questions and the answers are complicated. First, all debts must be listed in a bankruptcy case. There is no such thing as not including a debt, mortgage or property in a case. Once you get a discharge of your debts, including the note for the mortgage, you do not owe them any money and payments cannot be listed on the credit report because you don't owe them any money. All the bank has now is a claim against the property that was pledged as security they cannot look to the maker(s) of the promissory note for payment nor include information about a discharged debt on a credit report. In the Southern District of Florida you would be allowed to reinstate the mortgage, assuming you could make the appropriate payments, in a Chapter 13 case. This is true even if you just finished a chapter 7 case, you just might not be entitled to a discharge of any debt. In addition, there is a Mortgage Modification program which is now beginning in our courts which might help a number of people get modifications where really needed. The way you stand right now is that the lender can only look to the property to be paid and can never look to you or your husband(assuming the debt was discharged and not reaffirmed). So if you both passed, there would be no liability by either of your estates, but the lender could sell the property to satisfy the lien/mortgage it holds on the property.

You should consult with a lawyer to determine, based on your state and your private financial information, whether 1) you are judgment proof, 2) if not, should you file bankruptcy, and 3) is there a valid defense to the debt besides inability to pay - which is 1 & 2. Best wishes to you.