Legal Question in Bankruptcy in California

Re: Chapter 13 to Chapter 7 conversion.

You are entitled to keep a portion of the equity in your house under a Chapter 7, called the "homestead exemption." This amount is $50,000 for a single person, $75,000 for a member of a family unit (i.e., a married couple or a parent with children), and $100,000 for someone over age 65 or disabled.

As an example of how this works -- if your house is worth $250,000 and you owe $205,000 on it, you have $45,000 equity, which would be protected by the homestead exemption.

Re: Chapter 13 to Chapter 7 conversion.

Thank you for your posted inquiry.

I hate to give you the lawyer's answer, but the answer to your question is "it depends". The code has exemptions for your equity in property. Equity is calculated as your home's value minus any liens/loans. Your exemption amount depends on your marital status, your income, any disabilities, and your age.

Because you did not specify any of these details, I can't speculate, but I invite you to provide me with more details, or check out the law yourself and calculate what your particular situation might entail.

California gives debtors a choice between the state law exemptions found in CCP 704 and a set of bankruptcy-only exemptions in CCP 703.140 that mirror the bankruptcy code exemptions in the federal law when the California law was adopted.

I hope that this information helps, but if you have more questions, need more information, or feel that you need legal representation, please feel free to email me directly at [email protected]. I�m happy to help in anyway that I can.