Legal Question in Bankruptcy in North Carolina

Your aunt cannot take you off the deed. And I don't know why she is controlling your father's part. Is she some kind of a trustee, perrsonal representative or power of attorney?

You have to convey your interest in the land to someone else. I don't know what the property is worth or what your interest is worth. Someone can buy this from you and you won't have to wait, but if you just give your interest away, then you have to wait 1 year.

What your lawyer told you is correct and I don't know why you feel you need another lawyer unless you are trying to commit fraud. If you do that and lie and the bankruptcy court finds out about that (they are going to ask you), then the bankruptcy court will dismiss your bankruptcy petititon. So please, do this legally and do this right.

Its easy to get a copy of the deed. Where is the land located? Go to the register (some states call this the recorder) of deeds in the county/state where the land is located. Look under the grantees using your name or under grantors using the name of the property owner. Or have your bankruptcy lawyer do this.

Then you will know in fact whether you are on the deed and the steps that you need to take to have your name removed. If you structure this as a sale of your interest for the fair market value and have the documentation to prove it there should not be a problem with the bankruptcy court. Otherwise, you will need to wait a year.

You say "on the deed" which implies that the owner of property, with no liens, executed and delivered to you a deed of conveyance to you that vests some interest in real estate. Recording is an effective delivery for these purposes. Thus the deed image is available with the county recorder and is a public document. If it has not been delivered or not recorded, then you are not vested with ownership. The reason this is important is that any interest that you own as of the date of filing a petition in bankruptcy is property of the estate and you must be able to exempt it or the trustee (in a Chapter 7) can take it and sell it to distribute the funds to unsecured creditors. The trustee can avoid any transfer, made without consideration, which occurs within 4 years of the filing of bankruptcy, that is, he can have a "return deed" set aside and sell the property anyway. In some cases, he can go back further if there is the intent to defraud creditors in a transfer for less than value.

However there are options that are legit in bankruptcy. 1. File a Chapter 13 and if your payments equal the non exempt asset, you keep the asset.

2. File the Chapter 7 and let the trustee take the property, or even sell it to family. 3. Sell or take a lien on the property to reduce your equity to what you can exempt. You still have to account for the money taken on the sale or mortgage. One way is to put the money, within limits, into a retirement account. A qualified retirement account does not count against exemptions.

It is important to know all the facts and details. There is not enough information in your question to address your real problems. You lawyer should have discussed these concepts with you. If this is new information, you need to seek an additional opinion.

Your aunt cannot take your name off a deed. If you own a piece of property, only you can do that. If you are on property, and give it away, that can (1) prevent you from filing, (2) get the recipient of the property sued if you do file, or (3) land you in jail if you don't disclose it. This could, in some cases remain a problem for years.

Instead of wondering, talk to your lawyer. In many cases, people screw themselves trying to figure these things out. It may be, depending on the value of your interest, that you could keep it in bankruptcy but might lose it if you transfer it.

Regardless of what the outcome in, the worst two things you could have done were (1) conceal it from your lawyer, and (2) signed away the property without legal advice.