Sunnyvale, CA Bankruptcy Law Firms & Lawyers

Yes, if you file bankruptcy, you must list your student loans. However, unless you bring a separate case within your bankruptcy to show that it would be impossible to every pay your student loans, such as a disability that prevents you from working, you will not eliminate your student loan debt with bankruptcy, at least at this time.

You will have to report the transfer of your interest in the property to your father and if there was equity in the house that belonged to you then the trustee can set aside the transfer and sell the house and give your father his share of the equity and keep your share of the equity to pay your creditors. You should not have transferred the property without first discussing it with a bankruptcy attorney. You should discuss it now with a bankruptcy attorney to see if the transfer can be undone if necessary and if you would have enough exemptions to protect your share of the equity in the house. Transferring property is very dangerous. It is easy to sign a deed but the consequences of doing that are very serious. If the amount owed the bank on the property is more than the value of the property then it should be no problem that you transferred your interest since you had no equity but the problem will be if the mortgage balance is less than the value of the house because by transferring your share of the property you gave away your equity in the property. You might want to argue that you really had no interest in the property since you only held legal title and it was really owed by your father. The problem is that proving that may be difficult and you are taking the risk that the trustee in bankruptcy will go after the house. Again, make sure you go to a local bankruptcy attorney to discuss your case and that you obtain legal representation.

I would want to look at the docket history of your prior case to be sure of what the status is exactly. But it sounds like you filed a Chapter 7 case approximately 8 years ago and therefore would need to wait until 8 years has passed since the filing of your prior case (not the discharge) to be eligible for a discharge in a Chapter 7. You are already eligible for a Chapter 13 discharge if for certain reasons a Chapter 13 made more sense. Regarding this other January 2014 date, I'm not sure what the significance is, but you may be thinking of when something comes off of your credit report under your state's laws. You received a discharge approximately 7 years ago, the Bankruptcy case is not discharged. Also, it's filing dates, not discharge dates, that are looked at in determining these eligibility time frames.