Your home is in Texas, you live in your home, and you’re qualified for bankruptcy relief. Can you keep your home?
Nearly all people I see in debt consultations in that situation have no problem keeping their homestead as they go through the bankruptcy process.
There is a homestead exemption, which protects your home from your creditors.
Typically, the only reason a Texas resident loses a house in bankruptcy is that their situation changes somewhere along the way and they no longer can afford to keep paying their house payment.
Big difference for Texas residents
Although bankruptcy is federal law, the exemptions you get to use are different in each state.
The exemptions available to Texas residents are probably the most generous of all of the states. For that reason, make sure that you are getting your information from a Texas bankruptcy attorney when you have a question about what is protected in your bankruptcy case.
If the information in this chapter seems different from what you are reading on the Internet, then it was likely written by an attorney that practices bankruptcy in a different state.
There is a general rule in bankruptcy and outside of bankruptcy: If you want to keep your possessions, then you must continue to pay for your possessions. So, if you want to keep your house, you simply keep paying for it.
What if my house is paid off?
In bankruptcy, you protect your house by claiming them as exempt under specific exemptions. In a typical bankruptcy case for a Texas resident, everything is protected and the person who files bankruptcy gets to keep everything that they own.
If a client owns something that cannot be protected and claimed as exempt in a Chapter 7 bankruptcy, then the person has the option of either not filing bankruptcy or choosing a Chapter 13 bankruptcy so they can keep their property even though it is not protected by an exemption.
Find Out If Bankruptcy Will Work For Your Situation
Keeping their stuff is a big concern for people who consider bankruptcy as a means for getting their debt problems under control.
Since there is so much riding on this issue, be sure to talk with someone that understands the exemptions available to people that file bankruptcy in Texas.
Take the first step in getting your questions answered by calling us to schedule a free, no-obligation consultation.
