Legal Question in Bankruptcy in Florida

Re: reaffirmation agreements

Almost certainly. You no longer owe the loan on the car, but the creditor may (maybe not, if you're lucky) have a lien, allowing the creditor to take the vehicle in satisfaction of the lien. But you may also have exempted part of the value of the car (look at your homestead deed) so that either you get back some of what the vehicle sells for or if it's worth less than the exempted value you get to keep it under certain circumstances. In any event, you've been off the hook since last year.

Re: reaffirmation agreements

You did not indicate whether you filed bankruptcy in Florida or in Virginia. It may make a big difference.

If you filed in Virginia, under the Ballance case, decided years ago by now retired Norfolk bankruptcy judge Hal Bonney, an excellent bankruptcy judge, I might add, you would be able to surrender the car and have no further liability on the theory that your primary liability on the note was discharged in bankruptcy but you, at that time, chose to keep the car. If you were not behind in the payments and had the car insured, you were not technically in default on the contract and the financing creditor was not then entitled to repossess because you were not in default and bankruptcy filing does not itself put you in default, despite whatever language may have been in the original note.

If, however, you filed in Florida and ask me whether the same is true, my answer is: beats me. I don't know without researching the question of the Florida bankruptcy courts' approach to that same question.

In any case, you should consult with the attorney who filed the bankruptcy for you. He or she should know.