Livermore, CA Bankruptcy Law Firms & Lawyers

It may vary in other Districts, but where I practice, your attorney is correct. There is no reason that you cannot shop for a car, set up the financing, with the contingency that it needs to be approved by the Trustee, get the approval and buy the car. Your trustee's office should be able to provide parameters of the what the trustee would approve.

In California there is an exemption referred to as the "wildcard" exemption that would allow you to protect your refund. It is C.C.P. Section 703.140(5).

The trustee's avoidance power isn't created by the bankruptcy law, the bankruptcy law merely allows the trustee to use (if she/he so chooses) the avoidance power that the creditor already has under state law. So, the way you, as a creditor, would use your avoidance power is to request that the bankruptcy court lift the automatic stay and allow you to pursue your avoidance power in state court. Of course, the trustee could block this motion, if she/he intends to use the avoidance power in the bankruptcy. Now it might seem that the trustee is abandoning a significant interest in the house, however, the debtor has a $132,000 exemption for his homestead interest - his equity is less than that, there is no interest that you can take as a creditor.