Portland Bankruptcy Attorney

Bankruptcy Lawyer Portland Or

Portland Bankruptcy Attorney
CALL 503-380-7822
email-iconmap-marker
  • Home
  • Bankruptcy
    • Personal Bankruptcy
    • Business Bankruptcy
    • Zero Down Bankruptcy
    • Foreclosure
    • Chapter 7 Bankruptcy
    • Chapter 13 Bankruptcy
  • Estate Planning
  • About
  • Contact

Can I Keep My Car or Truck If I File a “Straight” Chapter 7 Bankruptcy?

November 25, 2010 by Chris Kane

So you’ve heard that in a regular Chapter 7 bankruptcy most people can keep their vehicle, but you are worried about whether you’d be able to keep yours. Here’s how this works.

The law protects, or “exempts,” certain things you own so that your creditors can’t take them from you. The idea is that when you file a bankruptcy to get a “fresh financial start,” you ought to be able to keep some basic assets, including a vehicle.

But this protection for your vehicle, the “vehicle exemption,” is capped in Oregon at $3,000 per person. That may not sound like much—try finding a reliable vehicle these days for that price! But it protects more than you might think.

  • If you owe on the vehicle (and the lender is a lien holder on the vehicle’s title, as is usually the case), that $3,000 exemption applies not to the full value of the vehicle, but only to its equity. Equity is the value you have in your vehicle AFTER you subtract the loan balance from the vehicle’s full value. Unless you are close to paying off the vehicle, most likely you don’t have much, if any, equity in the vehicle.
  • If you own two cars, but one has no equity because you owe on it more than it’s worth, you can apply your exemption to the one that has equity, and potentially keep both vehicles.
  • If you are married and together you own only one vehicle, you can combine each of your $3,000 vehicle exemptions, or a total of $6,000, applying that combined exemption to your one vehicle.
  • If you are married and own two vehicles, but one of them has no equity because you owe on it more than it’s worth, you can combine and apply your two exemptions to the other vehicle.
  • If you share ownership of a vehicle with someone else—a spouse, someone you live with but aren’t married to, or anyone else—and you file a bankruptcy by yourself, you can apply your $3,000 exemption to your share of the vehicle.

And maybe most important, the Chapter 7 trustees (whose job is to collect from you and distribute to your creditors any assets that are not protected by exemptions) are generally not super anxious to grab vehicles from you if the value or equity is just a little over the $3,000 mark. That’s not because they are being kind to you. They simply don’t want to go through a bunch of work getting the vehicle, selling it, often paying a sales commission, paying you the $3,000 exempt amount, and then figuring out how to divvy up the sale proceeds among your creditors (after paying themselves the trustee fee), If in the end the amount filtering down to your creditors is so small that it’s not worth all this effort.

This doesn’t mean that, if your vehicle is worth more or has more equity than the exemption, the trustee is not going to take it from you and sell it. But most of the time if the value is truly just a few hundred dollars more than the exemption, the trustee is not going to bother grabbing it.

Portland Bankruptcy Law Group has the experience and knowledge to handle your case. Our bankruptcy attorneys are extremely familiar with and are well versed in all aspects of bankruptcy law. Contact us today!

Filed Under: Asset Protection, Chapter 7

Welcome to the Portland Bankruptcy Law Blog

I'd like to help you overcome your financial problems. One good way to start is to provide you with accurate and timely information about the bankruptcy laws. I do that here through informative blog posts, with a new one published here every week. I've been doing this for years so there is a wealth of information for you here.

But please be aware that since you are unique person you need a highly personalized solution to your challenges. That requires the analysis and advice of a conscientious and highly experienced attorney. That's really the only sensible way to get the benefit of the many powerful and effective remedies that the law provides.

So I hope the information provided here is helpful to you. Please contact me for guidance to a much better place:

503-380-7822

Recent Posts

  • No link found between bankruptcy and employment prospects
  • Creditor found in violation of automatic bankruptcy stay
  • What are the short- and long-term credit impacts of bankruptcy?
  • Bankruptcy Attorney Portland, Or | Bankruptcy Lawyer Oregon | Christopher J. Kane P.C.

Categories of Blog Posts

  • Portland Bankruptcy Attorney
  • Personal Bankruptcy
  • Business Bankruptcy
  • Stop Foreclosure
  • Chapter 7 Bankruptcy
  • Chapter 13 Bankruptcy
  • Zero Down Bankruptcy
  • Filing Bankruptcy in Oregon
  • Testimonials
  • FAQ
  • Blog

FREE CONSULTATION

GET A FREE CONFIDENTIAL CONSULTATION THIS MONTH.
*Please see below.

CONTACT

Christopher J. Kane, P.C.

Address: 2207 NE Broadway, Suite 100, Portland OR 97232

Phone: 503-380-7822

Email: chris@ckanelaw.com


We are a debt relief agency.

We proudly help people understand their options and, if appropriate, help them file for bankruptcy relief under the Bankruptcy Code.

DIRECTIONS

CONNECT

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn
  • Twitter
Avvo - Rate your Lawyer. Get Free Legal Advice.
Best Bankruptcy lawyers in Portland
Best Bankruptcy Lawyers in Portland

* Using this form, or email, for communicating with us does not establish an attorney-client relationship, until we do that in writing. So please do not send confidential or time-sensitive information through this form or by email. You affirm that you have read and understand this disclaimer.
CAUTION: This website is to provide visitors with basic information about our firm, and information about how to contact us. Every situation is different, and no information on this website is legal advice on any specific question. You should not act on any of the information without first conferring with an attorney licensed in your jurisdiction. No attorney-client relationship or privilege is formed by visiting this site or by unsolicited email. Therefore, initial emails should not contain any confidential information. We may already represent parties adverse to you and cannot advise or represent you until we check for conflicts. We are licensed only in Oregon and offer our services only to those doing business in Oregon, unless we are associated with local counsel in accordance with other states laws. The applicable laws may have changed after the information on this website was published. While effort is made to keep the information current, you should not presume that all information is up to date. You must confer with an attorney to be sure you have current information.
Copyright © 2021 · Christopher J. Kane Attorney at Law · 503-380-7822 · Designed by Artizon Digital