Do I Get to Keep the Wedding Ring, Part II

I previously blogged about the wedding ring issue, but I'm going to try it again, and this time I'll try to make it more direct.

1)You will absolutely get to keep your wedding ring in an Arizona Chapter 7 Bankruptcy case if you decide you want to do so;

2)The only issue is how much dough you have to pay the Arizona Chapter 7 Trustee if you want to keep your wedding ring;

3)In 98 per cent of all cases, the wedding ring is worth only $2,000 replacement value, so if wife and husband "stack" their exemptions on her ring, they keep it without paying the trustee anything, as long as the trustee doesn't object to the exemption-and if he does, the trustee will be objecting to value, not the ring itself;

4)Your wedding-ring-specific homework, IF YOU THINK THE RING MAY BE WORTH MORE THAN $2,000, is to go to three pawn shops and ask how much they'd give you for the ring. Then write down the number they offered you, and the name of the guy who offered it, and the date and time and address and name of the pawnshop;

5)Then go to a high-end consignment jewelry shop and find out what they think the price on your ring should be so it will sell in a reasonable time in their store, and write down the same items;

Now you have several expert opinions of the current value of your wedding ring.

ONLY AFTER YOU HAVE COMPLETED THE FIVE STEPS LISTED ABOVE ARE YOU PERMITTED TO HAVE WORRIES AND CONCERNS ABOUT YOUR WEDDING RING IN A CHAPTER 7 BANKRUPTCY.

Because until you do the above, you have no clue at all what the ring is worth.

Once again, are you going to be able to keep the ring?

Absolutely!

As long as the ring is really worth less (replacement value or fair market value) than $2,000, or, if it's worth more, you are willing to pay the trustee the difference between value and the exemption, YOU GET TO KEEP THE WEDDING RING.

Example: Your ring is worth three thousand dollars, really truely.

The trustee has it appraised, and now he objects to the exemption, because he believes it's worth more than the $2,000 stacked exemptions.

The normal resolution of the matter is that you offer the trustee the amount of "overage" represented by the ring, and that's the end of it.

BUT WAIT: some trustees may require that the ring go through the auction cycle; in which case you'll be there and bid in your two thousand dollars of exemption as the first bid, and than match any better or higher bids.

CONCLUSION: this is a non-issue in 98% of my cases, and is only an issue if your ring is worth more than $2,000, FOR REAL. Unless you are a gem appraiser, you have no idea whatsoever what your ring is worth. So don't borrow tomorrow's trouble; today's is plenty enough. Wait until you know what the ring is worth to panic. And then don't panic. Just plan.

Note: I have never had a client lose a wedding ring when she was determined to keep it, even if it was worth considerably more than the exemptions when they were stacked. So do breathing exercises, or meditate, or pray. But don't come unglued until there's some reason to come unglued. Because you absolutely will get to keep that ring, without question. Very probably without paying to keep it, or by paying some modest amount (a thousand or two)to the trustee, or by paying an indeterminate amount at an auction where you have a bidding advantage because you start at a bid of $2,000 because you've "stacked" the husband ring exemption, and the wife ring exemption, all on her ring.

Note again: the RETAIL cost of NEW jewelry has very, very little relationship to the actual replacement or fair market value of pre-owned jewelry. Wedding rings cost a fortune when new, but they're a drug on the market during a depression.

And it's all just a matter of money.