Milton, FL Bankruptcy Law Firms & Lawyers

Yes, the Bankruptcy Court can take your car. Otherwise you could keep your fully paid for Rolls Royce and your creditors would not get anything so you can keep your luxury car. You are allowed an exemption of $1,000 for a motor vehicle. If you file a joint bankruptcy with your spouse and the car is titled jointly, you can each apply a $1,000 exemption to the car for a total of $2,000. In Florida if you do not own real estate there is also a super exemption of $4,000 that you could apply to the car ($8,000 for a husband and wife). If you cannot cover the entire value of the car with the allowable exemptions, you can either pay the bankruptcy court the value that was not covered by exemptions with funds acquired after the bankruptcy was filed or you can surrender the car to the Bankruptcy Court. The Trustee will then sell the car, pay you the amount of allowable exemptions and use the rest of the proceeds to pay creditors. The bankruptcy law doesn't really care whether you can come up with the funds to pay the court if the car is worth more than you can claim as exempt property. The lawmakers who created the law determined how much you can keep. In Florida they determined that $1000 equity in a car was as much as a person declaring bankruptcy is entitled to keep. Most people who file for bankruptcy protection have loans against their cars or lease their cars. As a result they have no equity in a car and have to pay off their car loan to keep the car.

You should check with your employer to find out the amount they needed to garnish. If the Order is more than you think should be garnished, you should check with the Court and/or the attorney for the creditor.

A spouse can give consent for the other in this kind of transaction. You don't say why you signed the quit claim deed or if it was part of a larger context e.g. a legal separation. If you were on the mortgage before, there would be no reason for you not to be on the mortgage again, unless there was either a written agreement to the contrary or a court order. Talk to a lawyer.