Hamburg, NJ Bankruptcy Law Firms & Lawyers

You might want to discharge this lawyer and retain one in whom you do have confidence. Except the two years within which the Trustee must act, there does not appear to be any binding law governing how long they must wait before abandoning property. I think 6 months is kind of reasonable. You can support your motion for abandonment, if and when you make it, by having an appraisal showing that there is no value to the estate in its likely sales price.

Either Chapter 7 or Chapter 13 will accomplish your goals. It depends on your income levels and specific situation as to which chapter you should file.

The Statement of Financial Affairs, which is one of the basic documents that make up a bankruptcy petition, does request information about transfers. The purpose of it is to let the parties-in-interest, usually the Chapter 7 trustee, know whether transfers were made for less than the value of what was transferred or to repay a debt because that is usually a sign that someone transferred assets either to pay favorite creditors ahead of filing for Chapter 7 relief or in some scheme to keep it despite discharging debt. However, if a transfer was made and the debtor actually received money in an amount equal to the value of the property, it is unlikely that such transfer can be disturbed (i.e., "avoided"). Under your scenario, you purchased a vehicle for $1,000 and sold it (because you did not want to invest additional time and money into it) to your cousin who then paid you $1,000. As long as you fully disclose the transaction, in all likelihood, at most the trustee would just ask you to show that you actually paid only $1,000 and received the $1,000 from your cousin. The most important thing is that you fully disclose the transaction.