Legal Question in Bankruptcy in North Carolina

Re: do the courts take awaymy my furniture for a chapter 7

I am not a NC attorney, so the answer is in general.

All states use a system of exemptions in bankruptcy, which allow you to exempt a certain dollar value of furniture, personal goods and other items in bankruptcy. The value you assess to your furniture (and other property) is the value which a willing buyer would pay a willing seller for a quick sale - or in other words what you could get at an auction or a garage sale. It is not the retail value of the furniture. The bankruptcy trustee can take any property you have which is in excess of the exemption value. In practice, the trustee only wants property which has substantial value. The purpose of the taking is to sell the property and pay unsecured creditors with the money. In order for the trustee to take the property, the trustee has to figure in how much it will cost to come and get the property, get it appraised and how much it will cost to sell the property. After figuring these expenses, the trustee has to figure that the property must sell for enough to cover those expenses and still bring enough at the sale to make it worth all of the time and trouble. In general, the trustee rarely takes furniture. Most bankrupts do not have highly valuable furniture, or the finance company already has a lien against the furniture, which means that if the finance company isn't paid that they will come and take the furniture.