The biggest fear when filing bankruptcy is that you will lose all of your possessions because you had to file bankruptcy. This could not be farther from the truth unless you have substantial assets. If some of your assets need to be liquidated you still get the chance to keep many of your possessions by exempting them in your bankruptcy case. The method of exempting assets is where your bankruptcy attorney needs to work for their money. If you paid very little in bankruptcy attorney fees you should not expect a lot of help in dealing with your case. The good attorneys will charge a decent amount for their services. This is where things can become sticky if you are really broke and you need to file bankruptcy you tend to want to get a cheap attorney. However, if you are trying to exempt something like a car that is paid off then you needs to make sure your attorney is willing to do the tough work to exempt your assets.
In order to keep your car or any possession like a house you need to either show it has little value that the trustee would not want to take it or you want your attorney to exempt any asset( money) that is of value. If you have a classic car that you like to cruise in then you would try to exempt the amount that it is valued at if it was to be sold at auction.
How much can I exempt for my car?
This is a common question and can only be answered by an attorney in your state or by reading the bankruptcy laws of your state. However, you can use the federal exemptions for vehicles but you need to make sure that the federal exemptions give you more than your state exemptions. As an example, a Michigan bankruptcy attorney would tell their client they need to use the federal exemption list because the federal exemption list is more liberal.
