Will I Lose Everything When Filing Bankruptcy?

Hi. This is Roger Ghai, and I wanted to talk today a little bit about a very common question that I get from people thinking about filing a bankruptcy and that is, am I going to lose all of my property if I file a bankruptcy case? The answer, clearly, is no. You’re not going to lose all of your property if you file a bankruptcy case and the case is properly planned.
Now, to give you an example, we have, even for people who are filing bankruptcy in the state of Georgia, and this is true of other jurisdictions as well, if you file a bankruptcy case, you don’t lose the shirt off your back. For example, in Georgia, you’re able to keep your vehicle so long as there’s not more than $4,500 dollars in equity in the vehicle. You’re also able to keep, for example, if you’re filing alone and not with the spouse, at least $21,500 in equity in your home if you file a bankruptcy case.
You’re also able to keep personal items such as jewelry, up to $200 per item and not more than $3,500 total. You’re able to keep- for example, let’s say you were involved or had somebody that died in the family and you have a right to reclaim a wrongful death claim, you’ve got the right in Georgia to keep proceeds of that wrongful death claim so long as those funds are necessary for the support of a dependent.
Also in Georgia — In the United States, generally speaking, let’s say you have a retirement account and you’re worried about losing your retirement account if you file for a bankruptcy case. The law is this, and there’s a US Supreme Court decision on this, which is that you are entitled to keep your retirement account if you file a bankruptcy case. Now, there’s some limited exceptions to that but a limited exception might be a situation where you have three million dollars in a retirement account and you’re trying to wipe out a $100,000, in general, unsecured debt.
In that scenario, it may be contested as to whether you can actually keep all of your retirement account. You’re able to keep jewelry if you file- I think it’s $500 per piece of jewelry or up to $500 total in Georgia if you file for a bankruptcy. You’re able to keep up to $1,500 for tools of the trade in Georgia and there are many other exemptions are what we call them a lot- well, those are exemptions so if that’s the legal term but other protections that you have, if you decide that you’re going to file for a Chapter 7 bankruptcy.
If you are worried about whether you’re going to lose any of your property by filing a Chapter 7 bankruptcy, just call me at 770-792-1000 and I’ll be happy to discuss what your rights are.