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Question
We filed for bankruptcy in 2002 and were discharged in 2003.Our home was listed as exempt in the bankruptcy.The trustee tried selling our home unsucessfully for a year or so.Our home started going through the foreclosure process.Right before the deadline we sold it using a foreclosure real estate specialist in 2004 so it wouldn't go through foreclosure.She negotiated with the mortgage company the amount owed.The amount owed was greater than the offer to buy the home.We received a 1099C for cancelled debt income which nobody informed us we would receive.We were told we owed $9000 in taxes.We have been trying to resolve this for the past year with the IRS.When I called our bankruptcy lawyer he said we never reaffirmed the debt and therefore should not owe anything.Our lawyer sent a letter to the mortgage company and are waiting.We are at the mercy of the mortgage company right now and don't know how long it will take .Its been quite a rollercoaster ride.I wanted to know if it sounds to you like we don't owe and any other suggestions as to what we should do?Laura
Your bankruptcy lawyer may very well be right (in saying that since you didn't reaffirm the debt it was discharged), but that depends on some facts you don't state in your question - specifically, under the pre-bankruptcy reform law in some states it was possible to do a "ride through" generally meaning that on a secured debt if you just kept paying the debt would in fact be reaffirmed if you just kept paying and did nothing insofar as reaffirmation is concerned. However, that works differently in different states. The best suggestion I can give you is to rely on the bankruptcy lawyer that you already hired.
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Answers by Expert:
John Hall
Expertise
Law school graduate, Juris Doctorate (J.D.) Degree; Over 25 years of experience throughout the United States in bankruptcy law matters (Chapters 7, 11, and 13 of the United States Bankruptcy Code) primarily representing individual debtors with consumer debt or small businesses; Experience has included all aspects of debtor/creditor relations.
Experience
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