Bankruptcy

Filing for Bankruptcy ? Listing Your Real Estate

By David Leibowitz, Illinois and Wisconsin Bankruptcy

When filing bankruptcy, one of your most important assets (a fancy word for property)  is your real estate. All interests you have in real estate must be listed on Schedule A of the bankruptcy paperwork.  You think this is easy? Usually it is. But here are some pointers.

Be sure you know what interest in real estate you have when filing for bankruptcy

When couples are filing bankruptcy, they may own property  in several different ways, all of them having different consequences:

• Joint tenancy
• Tenancy by the entireties
• Tenancy in common

Not only that, but some places, real estate may be community property.

It’s very important to list exactly what you own.  You are supposed to list what the value is of your particular interest in each asset.   If you are filing a bankruptcy case individually, but you share ownership of some real estate with somebody else, list the value of your share of the real estate.

Another tricky issue arises when you own property in partnership with someone else.  In this case, don’t list your property on Schedule A.  The real estate belongs to the partnership and you have a partnership interest which is personal property. The same thing is true if your real estate is owned in a limited liability company or trust, which is often the case.

It’s also a good idea to be really sure who has what liens against the property.  When in doubt order a title search.

More about real estate next time.

Full post as published by Bankruptcy Law Network on April 04, 2010 (boomark / email).