Liquidation Alternative Test

The liquidation alternative test is a somewhat confusing aspect of bankruptcy law. It requires debtors to repay unsecured creditors for any amount above the exemptions allowable for their property. Let me give a basic example.

Let’s say your house is worth $100,000 and it is owned outright with only you on the deed. With no mortgage or any other liens, you have $100,000 in equity. Under the bankruptcy code, you can exempt roughly $25,000 of this equity. This leaves $75,000 in equity that is not exempt. If you were to file a Chapter 7 bankruptcy in the scenario , the United States Trustee could theoretically liquidate your house and use this $75,000 in unexempt equity to pay your creditors! Obviously, this is not a good option.

The alternative to liquidating your home would be paying back your unsecured creditors up to the $75,000 in unexempt equity. Now, in this example , that may prove to be impossible as it is a lot of money to repay. However, in many examples the unexempt equity is much less. Let’s try a different but similar scenario.

Let’s say your home is still worth $100,000, but you also have $40,000 remaining on your mortgage. You also have a $10,000 tax lien . Finally, let’s say that you have a $15,000 home equity loan. That is $65,000 in liens on your $100,000 home. If this scenario you have $35,000 in equity of which $25,000 can be exempted. That leaves $10,000 in unexempt equity under the liquidation alternative test. In this scenario you can repay up to $10,000 to your unsecured creditors to satisfy the test.

If you owe $75,000 to your unsecured creditors, the balance of $65,000 is discharged in the chapter 13 bankruptcy.

So, it will be very important to determine several things when looking at the liquidation alternative test. The easiest thing to determine is what you owe. You can simply do that with mortgage statements and tax statements.  The trickier thing to figure out is what your home is worth. That may require a formal appraisal or a realtor assessment. Once you have both of those numbers, it will be easy to determine.

It should be noted, the liquidation alternative test does not just apply to real estate. Any property that you own that goes beyond your ability to exempt it  is potentially an issue. This may include cars that are owned outright, savings in a bank account, collectibles or antiques, or basically any other property. However, homes are the most common issue.

If you were considering filing bankruptcy, call us at 412-414-9366 to set up a free consultation , I would be happy to sit down and determine if the liquidation alternative test or anything else will be an issue with your filing.

The Bankruptcy "Liquidation Test"

The value of your personal property is always important in bankruptcy. Your property can be protected and exempted from your creditors in bankruptcy, but the exemptions are limited. For instance, if you own a $100,000 house, but owe $90,000 on the mortgage, your $10,000 in equity can be adequately protected from your creditors. However, if you own the same home outright, without a mortgage, your $100,000 in equity is too great to fully protect, depending on the exemptions being used (different exemptions can be used in different circumstances, but that is the subject of another post).

So, what happens when your property is not fully protected? You do NOT have to surrender the property. Instead, you may file a Chapter 13 bankruptcy and submit to the so-called "liquidation test". This test is enumerated in the bankruptcy code under section 1325(a)(4). The liquidation test requires that unsecured creditors (such as credit cards and medical bills) must be paid at least as much in a Chapter 13 bankruptcy plan as they would be paid in a Chapter 7 liquidation, minus any administrative or sales costs.

In practice, this means you must repay your unsecured creditors, dollar-for-dollar, the amount your property would be worth were it to be sold to pay off your creditors, minus whatever is exempted, whatever it is secured by, and whatever costs would be involved in the sale. For instance, if your home is worth $100,000, but you owe $50,000 on the mortgage, and the homestead exemption is $26,000, you must pay your unsecured creditors $24,000, minus estimated sales costs. If you owe your unsecured creditors $24,000 or less, they will be paid in full. If you owe them more, they will be paid a portion of what they are all owed, out of the $24,000 pool.

It should be noted, the exemptions for personal property, such as furniture, clothes, jewelry, tools and household goods, etc. are normally more than sufficient. Also, retirement accounts are usually completely exempt. It is homes, rental properties and cars owned outright that cause the greatest problems with exemptions. It will be important to disclose all property you own to your attorney to guarantee that it all accounted for and protected.

The liquidation test sometimes makes it important to get an appraisal of your home. Appraisals can cost several hundred dollars, but it may be worth it if the results save your thousands (or tens-of-thousands) under the liquidation test. If you only roughly estimate the value of your home, you take the risk of the trustee challenging your case. Precise numbers and amounts will reduce uncertainty.

Contact us if you believe the value of your property could cause a problem with the liquidation test. I will be happy to sit down and review your situation during a free consultation. We can determine if your property will be fully, or partially, exempt. We can plan a Chapter 13 bankruptcy to protect your property if it cannot be protected. We may even determine that your property is not worth liquidating, which will allow you to file a Chapter 7 bankruptcy.