How does a Chapter 13 default affect jointly held property?
Question Details:
A sister and brother have ownership of cottage. Brother's wife files for Chap. 13. Can this cottage be an asset and later taken away if defaulted?
David Hamilton / Dwyer & Associates
Answered 3 years ago
This attorney is licensed in New York
View Attorney Profile
First of all it is important to determine exactly who owns it.
The bankruptcy trustee, U.S. trustee or creditors cannot access, place a lien on, or repossess anything that a person has no ownership over. Just because someone is married to someone else, does not give them legal ownership over half of their spouses property.
If the brothers wife is not named on the deed, then she does not own it and the bankruptcy trustee could exercise no control over it.
