Talking About Filing Chapter 7 or Chapter 13 - Dallas,TX

It sounds like you really need to talk to a lawyer!!

It used to be that one could keep ONE house when filing for chapter7, because of a tiny minority of people scamming the system (less than 1%), it was used as an excuse by a previous administration to change the law. Now it's POSSIBLE to keep your home filing Ch7, but not guaranteed. Ch13, one is guaranteed to be able to keep your primary residence IF certain prereq's are met.

HOWEVER, for the likliehood (or not) pertinent to your particular case, you need to speak with a bankruptcy attorney. Typically their fees are rolled into either your repayment plan (CH13), or are fairly minimal (apx $800 or so) if doing a simple 7 and can be done on a payment plan.

None of us can answer specifically in your case, since we don't have your financial information, and most of us don't have law degrees.

Is it sometimes possible in 7? Yes. Usually? No.
It it guaranteed in 13? Yes, IF x, and y, and z.

You won't know until you meet with an attorney.

In regard to chapter 7 you will not necessarily lose your house.
Depends on where you live and the amount of equity in the home and your ability to continue paying the mortgage after bankruptcy.

Residents of New Jersey may elect the federal exemptions, which allow an individual to keep up to $17,425.00 in equity and a married couple to exempt twice that amount or $34,850.00.  Where less than the exempt amount is put down to purchase a house, it can take years for equity to build up beyond the amount of the exemption because the bulk of payments in the first several years of a mortgage are charged to interest.

Take, for example, a married couple who purchase a $120,000.00 house with a $10,000.00 down payment and a $110,000.00 thirty-year loan.  Ten years later, if the value of their house remains stable, assume they have paid $15,000.00 in principal, the rest of the payments being interest  . Now they have $25,000.00 in equity in the house, which is less than the $34,850 they may exempt.  In Chapter 7, this couple may keep their house because the full amount of their equity is exempt.

But if in the example above the home owner is a single individual, the equity ($25,000.00) exceeds the allowable exemption ($17,425.00) by $7575.00.  Here the trustee may sell the house, give the debtor $17,425.00, and distribute the remainder to the creditors  In this example, however, the trustee would probably choose not to get involved because the administrative costs of selling the house could easily eat up the remaining $7575.00 in equity above the exemption.  But if this debtor's equity were $80,000.00 instead of $25,000.00, the trustee would certainly sell and make appropriate distributions.  This would also hold true in the married couple example above.

Note that Chapter 7 does not excuse homeowners from paying the mortgage.  A debtor who wants to keep her home must continue to pay the mortgage, which is a secured debt.  Filing a Chapter 7 petition will not ultimately prevent a bank from foreclosing if payments are delinquent.  For certain debtors, Chapter 13 is a way to catch up on mortgage payments.  But Chapter 13, unlike Chapter 7, requires debtors to repay a percentage of their debts.

When we filed we were able to keep our home and cars. All other debt was gone. They told us we would be able to get anything for 7 years, but the credit card companies swooped in sending and sending us new card offeres. But we stayed strong and said NO! And to this day we only use cash for our purchases. Ask questions before you do anything! God Bless.

I might be late, but my husband filed for Chapter 7 and got the discharge and we are able to keep our house

If he's in TX (I'm assuming since you are) then he will be able to keep his house just as long as he keeps making payments to the mortgage or owns it outright. Your homestead no matter what the value is, is exempt from the maximum value of property you are allowed to keep. If he owns a bunch of stuff other than the homestead that all-together is over the limit, then the excess property would be sold by the bankruptcy officer. In chapter 13 he can keep everything that he wants to but must be included in the re-payment plan.

I just did all this and the man told me that if a person owes more on the house then it is worth and the house is not in foreclosure then they can keep it.