Legal Question in Bankruptcy in Wisconsin

Yes, there is a chance that you can keep your home after filing under either bankruptcy chapter. Since the bank rather than you owns the majority of your home, however, your ability to remain there will depend upon your ability to keep the bank happy; they can start a foreclosure any time they are not. You do not mention whether or not you are staying current on your mortgage payments, but that will be the key to your remaining there, regardless of any type of bankruptcy filing in which you may participate in the future. If your mortgage is in foreclosure, a chapter 13 can force the bank to accept payments again, but only works if you have sufficient income to resume the payments. Chapter 7 bankruptcies rarely have any effect one way or the other whether a mortgage borrower remaining in his or her home; instead, that will depend upon the borrower�s staying current on the mortgage. This is equally true whether or not a bankruptcy was never filed. If you are also burdened with debts other than your house payments, a chapter 7 bankruptcy can help you remain in your house by discharging those other debts, leaving more money left over to make your house payments. Exemptions for business property can be applied to your home if you work out of it and that can indeed help you to keep your home after filing a bankruptcy, but this exemption is only useful to you if you own the home without any bank mortgages or liens which come ahead of your exemption. Otherwise, when you granted a lien or mortgage to a bank, you agreed to give up your exemption claim up to the amount owed to the bank. Although there is no law which requires it, some banks are agreeing to modifications of mortgages for borrowers who have fallen on hard times, even while foreclosing on those same borrowers. These efforts are rarely successful in my experience with many hundreds of recent clients� cases. While there is no harm in pursuing such options, one would be foolish to assume that they will be successful without an ability to resume some sort of a future house payment relatively close to your old payment. One small silver lining to the dark cloud of foreclosure is that owners can remain in their homes while the process proceeds through the courts. That process can sometimes take years. Some banks are also delaying commencement of foreclosures these days out of fears that there losses will be made even worse due to creating a huge surplus in the market for foreclosed homes, suppressing prices. If the homeowner remains in the home and rides out the recession, there is always a chance for luck to change in the future in the form of better employment, etc. , which may allow a chapter 13 filing to work. My comments in this online forum are offered for public educational purposes only and are not legal advice, nor do they create any attorney/client relationship between us. However, I may be able to formally represent you if you contact my Racine office and make arrangements to retain me. I also represent clients throughout WI.