Arizona Bankruptcy Attorney Blog

The Arizona Homestead Exemption is a useful exemption for pre-bankruptcy planning in Arizona.

But you have to qualify for the exemption before pre-bankruptcy planning even becomes an issue, right?

So that means you have to qualify for the use of the Arizona Bankruptcy Exemptions, right?

So you'll want to read this article by the Arizona State Senate about the homestead law in Az.That article is useful because it discusses the federal "cap" on state homestead laws, which applies sometimes in Arizona; and sometimes doesn't.

And you'll want to read the text of the statute that provides for the existence of the homestead in Arizona, yes?

Hint: that statute is ARS 33-1101. There are related statutes right around it that you should also study, of course, because nothing is ever simple in bankruptcy law in Arizona.

It's an interesting exemption statute, because it tries to neutralize the line of cases discussing the ability to "double-dip" exemptions under 11 USC 522 (m); the other exemptions in Arizona are two to a couple, one to a singleton, but the Arizona Homestead Exemption is one to a customer, whether single or coupled!

Now, the case law says that exemptions shall be liberally construed in favor of the debtor; but you shouldn't count on that; color inside the lines of the homestead exemption, because it's too painful if you don't. 

How will the Trustee in your bankruptcy case in Arizona value your homestead? Well, a lot of 'em use Zillow.com, because it's FREE!


 

Okay, Wall Street reacts badly to oil news.

And this is surprising in what way?

Now, here's the shocker: we'll have more bankruptcy in Phoenix, and Mesa, and Tempe, and Chandler Gilbert because of gas prices.

And that's for two different reasons, of course. For one thing, insolvency flows downhill; when you have to pay more for gas, you pay less at restaurants. Which means higher gas prices mean more restaurant bankruptcy filings.

Second, when you're up against the wall with your credit cards, and you have a choice between filling the tank and making a current payment on your credit cards online, you tend to fill the tank because you need to get to work, so you can buy future groceries and fill the tank.

And when you fill the tank, and you're one minute late making the online credit card payments, your interest rate goes up from 8% to 35%.

Honestly, it's as though stupid credit card companies were pushing people into filing bankruptcy cases in Arizona.

Should I send the credit card companies a case of Scotch? Maybe a box of cigars?

After all, I don't want to seem ungrateful for all the clients they send me, because I'm an Arizona Bankruptcy Attorney. 

p.s. Arizona is really full of wide open spaces, and it's somewhere between impossible and out of the question to try to live here without a car; Arizona is not Manhattan.

You heard it here first.

p.p.s. If you're a legislator, listen up: the automobile exemption in Arizona has not kept pace with inflation; raise it!

p.p.p.s. Actually, you need to raise the limits on the complete list of bankruptcy exemptions in Arizona!

There is a phrase sometimes used to address the issue of pre-bankruptcy planning in Arizona, and it always made me a little cranky because it was flippant, and it provided no guidelines whatsoever for an Arizona Bankruptcy Attorney trying to make decisions about a bankruptcy in Phoenix, or Chandler, or Mesa, or Gilbert, or anyplace else in Arizona.

The bad phrase?

"Pigs get fat, and hogs get slaughtered."

That would seem to suggest that the amounts of non-exempt property being converted into exempt property is the single most important guideline for the propriety of pre-bankruptcy planning.

And that would be wrong, insolvency breath!

The critical element in most of the better written cases, like In re Crater, is subjective intent.

That is, did the debtor who sold the non-exempt vehicle and used the $40,000 in proceeds to pay down her mortgage have bad intent (to delay, hinder OR defraud the creditor), or did the debtor have good intent (a desire to care for her children by assuring that they would have a roof over their heads).

You wouldn't think that there would be any real issues in this area, because the legislative history to 11 USC 522 of the Bankruptcy Code was very clear:

As under current law, the debtor will be permitted to convert nonexempt property into exempt property before filing of the bankruptcy petition. This practice is not fraudulent as to creditors, and permits the debtor to make full use of the exemptions to which he is entitled under the law. (Emphasis in original).
H.R. REP. 95-595, at 361 (1977), reprinted in, 1978 U.S.C.C.A.N. 5963, 6317; S. REP. No. 95-989 at 76 (1978), reprinted in 1978 U.S.C.C.A.N. 5787, 5862

But the minds of cranky creditors are nothing if not creative, and so many cases have arisen on this point.

And a lot of the bad case law on this issue came from jurisdictions that had "no upper limit" exemptions, and I can see why a Judge might not want to reward a debtor who had shoved five million dollars into a homestead in, say, Texas.

But this isn't Texas; this is Arizona.

And the Arizona Homestead Exemption is $150,000, unless it's subject to the Federal Exemption Cap, which is a topic for a different day.

And I've discussed this issue in my new Arizona Chapter 7 Blog, with a few more citations to authority!


 

Has anybody else tried to post a pdf on a blog, whether it's an Arizona Bankruptcy Blog, or anyplace else?

For a simple back-country Arizona Bankruptcy Attorney with no computer skills, it's challenging.

On the other hand, sometimes you run into sites that make computer skills unnecessary. One of those is a site called scribd.com, and if I did this correctly, you are about to see a pdf reader embedded on this very blog, and you will be able to see the materials posted the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Arizona concerning exemptions in most Arizona bankruptcy cases.

Now, here's a link to that site so you can check for changes; to get there, just click on the debtor bankruptcy faq entitled "exemptions, what are they?"

And if the scribd.com site does what it says it does, you can read the currently posted list of exemptions below!

Arizona Exemptions

My loyal readers know that I'm unconvinced about the new approach taken by some Arizona bankruptcy trustees on the Arizona tool of the trade exemption as it relates to computers.

But I ran across this video about Blackberries, Apples and Windows when I was reading a fine business blog by Nancy Rapoport, and it made me think.

And laugh my head off.

Enjoy!

My loyal readers all understand that one of my life's ambitions is to educate everyone on the Planet Earth about bankruptcy law. And that this blog is one reflection of that ambition.

And I want to make the process as transparent as possible, so in my companion blog, the Arizona Bankruptcy Lawyer Homework Blog, I try to walk a potential Arizona Debtor through all of the steps that will occur in a bankruptcy case in Phoenix, Scottsdale, Chandler, Mesa, Paradise Valley or anyplace else in Arizona (for that matter, it's pretty close to what happens in a bankruptcy all across the United States, although the exemptions and personalities will differ).

I just built a brand new blog, called Arizona Bankruptcy Resources. It is a simple list of resources from all over the Internet to provide assistance to a potential bankruptcy debtor. I tried to make the posts short, and to link to the best resources I could find.

And I'll build in additional resources as I run across them, or they cross my mind!

As of today, the resources for people thinking about bankruptcy that I've plugged into the little Arizona Bankruptcy Resources Blog are the following:

-Educational Bankruptcy Videos, including a bundle from the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Arizona, as well as about 90 that I produced, with more on the way;

-List of Exempt Property in Arizona, also from the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Arizona;

-List of the Top Bankruptcy Attorney Directories so you can compare the best bankruptcy lawyers in Arizona as though they were books on Amazon, for board certification, Martindale Rating (AV is best), AVVO score (10.0 is best), specialized training, lectures, attorney endorsements, and client reviews;

-I've written an Introduction to Bankruptcy Law and Practice in Arizona, or Bankruptcy for Arizona Bankruptcy Dummies, which includes a link to the Bankruptcy Statutes, the Bankruptcy Rules, and the Bankruptcy Local Rules for the District of Arizona;
 
-bankruptcy resources including a Median Income Calculator, a Means Test Calculator, and similar tools;

I will be adding additional resources to my new Bankruptcy Resource Blog as soon as I get a Round Tuit, but I'm pretty happy with this first cut at the ball, and I hope you like it, too! Mind you, I'm also fond of my website, but my little Bankruptcy Resource Blog has a lot of useful gadgets and info!

You've looked at the memo from a smart, experienced bankruptcy trustee. And you know darn well he's right about one thing: furniture has to be itemized, not lumped (some bankruptcy trustees have told me they would prefer lumping in their cases, but you need to assume you'll draw a non-lumping bankruptcy trustee).

We know this partly because I've written about it so frequently in the past; for instance, I talk forever about how to fill out the schedules, because that's an important point.

But then we get to the tools of the trade exemption statute in Arizona, and the precise language of that statute.

And when I worked for Chief Bankruptcy Judge Caldwell he told me that analysis always began with the language of the statute.

So here is the language of the statute.

Can you guess what I'll be saying to our current U.S. Bankruptcy Judges if we get an objection to exemption on the tools of the trade statute applied to a computer?

We'll discuss this further. As soon as my brilliant associate Nina the Unpronounceable gets a Round Tuit, I'll start posting the cases which analyze the tools of the trade exemption in Arizona, which should be construed liberally in favor of the debtor. Or you can just look 'em up on fastcase.com, which is easy to use and...fast!

I probably won't bother posting the long line of cases on whether an automobile gets to be exempted in Arizona as a tool of the trade (realtors always ask about that), because that issue was resolved by an amendment to the exemption statute itself. The answer, on an unmodified automobile, is no.

And there will be a contest for bankruptcy attorneys in Arizona: if you think you've done a nice job of responding to the computer exemption objection, email me, and I'll post it here on my blog!

The first-place winner gets a Round Tuit!

As well as a place of honor on my Bankruptcy Blog!

I have a dream. My dream is that the dumb ol' opt-out statute in the Arizona Exemption Laws will be repealed soon. It should be. It does no one any good at all, and it causes poor debtors to lose property they shouldn't need to lose.

For instance, a computer is exempt under the Federal Exemption Statutes, as it should be, because it's pretty obvious that everybody today needs a darn computer, if only to find a job on Monster.com! And you can't do that without a computer, right?

But wait! There's more!

There's no reason that a hubbie couldn't take the Arizona Bankruptcy Exemptions, and the wifie the Federal Bankruptcy Exemptions at 11 USC 522.

And that approach to exemptions in Arizona, and everywhere else, would be a good thing in many cases.

We can't do that in bankruptcy cases in Arizona today, of course; if we could, it wouldn't be a dream!

But this is a Sunday. If you call your legislators tomorrow, and tell them that they've been elected to generate jobs and reduce the suffering of the poor, without raising taxes, and that they can reduce suffering by repealing the Arizona Exemption Opt-Out Statute, they may get off their verandas and do something to help the citizens of Arizona who need help!!!

AND do it without raising taxes.

That's a combo platter!

p.s. no, I didn't say they could horse trade; legislators, don't you dare try to give and take with your right and left. Just repeal the darn opt-out statute!

Okay, I'm getting a little too excited for my advanced age and sluggish blood circulation.

But I just had one of those moments of clarity about Opt-Out Statutes and Bankruptcy Law in general.

There was never the slightest reason for them, and they've never done anybody the slightest bit of good. 

You may ask why I haven't mentioned this before, in any of my 600 bankruptcy blog posts.

Well, it's because I was too dumb! Actually, that's pretty close to the truth.

I was still a law clerk for the Chief Bankruptcy Judge here in the District of Arizona Bankruptcy Court when I first ran into the opt-out statute for Arizona, and it was not ambiguous, and there was nothing about it that required my bankruptcy law research skills, so it escaped my notice.

Later, it being settled law, it escaped my focus because it seemed to me that there was nothing I could do about it; after all, I was just a simple, back-country Arizona Bankruptcy Lawyer!

But now I realize that I have built a tool that can reduce suffering among the downtrodden debtors of the United States!

I really built this bankruptcy blog so that I could have the best educated bankruptcy clients in the United States, and it's been a real hoot to write about bankruptcy law and practice; this bankruptcy blog has been a labor of love.

But now I see that there is more suffering than there needs to be in Arizona. And in all the opt-out states of the United States!

So do this, gentle reader, wherever you may be.

Understand that your brother, your son, your sister and your daughter will be filing a bankruptcy sometime soon, because this is a depression, not a recession.

We're running at a 20% real unemployment rate, and you know that just based on the number of your friends who are out of work.

So do this, to reduce the suffering of bankruptcy debtors everywhere: tell your state legislators to repeal your home state's opt-out provision, and give bankruptcy debtors the right to choose between the Federal Bankruptcy Exemptions and your state bankruptcy exemptions.

It's the right thing to do, and this is the right time.

If not now, when? And if not you, then who will save them from that needless suffering?

I'm talkin' to you! Call your legislator now, and kick his behind (or her behind; I'm an equal opportunity legislator kicker, after all) to get all the opt-out statutes in the United States repealed!

Every single one!

Now!


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You know, a fish doesn't notice water very much; it's just there.

And an Arizona Bankruptcy Lawyer normally doesn't think much about the Arizona Opt-Out Statute, which prevents Arizona Residents from making use of the Federal Bankruptcy Exemptions at 11 USC 522.

But recently I re-examined the issue of Arizona Bankruptcy Exemptions after receiving a memo from a smart Arizona Bankruptcy Trustee who wants to make it hard for poor Arizona Debtors to retain their computers. And I'll write more about that.

But that memo got me to thinkin'.

There was no good reason to pass the Arizona Opt-Out Statute in the first place!

And there's a hell of a good reason to repeal that statute now!

We're in a depression, and Arizona is particularly hard-hit.

One thing our Arizona Legislature could do to show that it gave a thought to the plight of Arizona Residents during a depression is to repeal the Arizona Opt-Out Statute.

It wouldn't make bankruptcy cases fun, or easy, or nice; the 2005 Amendments to the Bankruptcy Code saw to that.

But if you're reading this, you know it's time!

So call your legislator. I'll certainly talk to mine.

It's time. Free the Bankruptcy Exemptions in Arizona!

Repeal the Opt-Out Statute! Give Arizona Debtors Freedom of Choice!

Just so you know the statute to eviscerate, here it is, in all its unnecessary ugliness:


33-1133. Other exemption laws
A. Nothing in this article shall be construed to displace other provisions of law which afford additional or greater protection to a debtor's property.
B. Notwithstanding subsection A, in accordance with 11 U.S.C. 522 (b), residents of this state are not entitled to the federal exemptions provided in 11 U.S.C. 522 (d). Nothing in this section affects the exemptions provided to residents of this state by the constitution or statutes of this state.


Now that I've noticed it, I realize what a dumb boondoggle this puppy really is!

So OPT IN, Arizona!

And do it now; it will slightly reduce the suffering of Arizona Bankruptcy Debtors!

p.s. this is an easy drafting challenge; just delete the word "not" from paragraph "B."

Here it is, so you can see it for yourself. Enjoy!

My initial comments and observations follow.

33-1130. Tools and equipment used in a commercial activity, trade, business or profession
The following tools and equipment of a debtor used in a commercial activity, trade, business or profession shall be exempt from process:
1. The tools, equipment, instruments and books of a debtor or the spouse of a debtor primarily used in, and necessary to carry on, the commercial activity, trade, business or profession of the debtor or the debtor's spouse, not in excess of an aggregate fair market value of two thousand five hundred dollars. For the purpose of this paragraph, "tools" do not include a motor vehicle primarily used by a debtor for personal, family or household purposes such as transportation to and from the debtor's place of employment.
2. Farm machinery, utensils, implements of husbandry, feed, seed, grain and animals not in excess of an aggregate value of two thousand five hundred dollars belonging to a debtor whose primary income is derived from farming.
3. All arms, uniforms and accoutrements required by law to be kept by a debtor.

Now, given the upcoming certainty of exemption wars in Arizona, there are things I like about this statute: one is the use of the words "debtor or the spouse", which should make it clear that we can use up to $5,000 on the tools of the trade of either spouse to exempt tools of the trade.

I love the word "shall", which is much more serious than the word "will", or, God Help Us, "may". 

I also like the use of the word "primarily", which is a lot better in exemption objection litigation to the word "exclusively".

And I like the broad scope of the phrase "commercial activity, trade, business or profession of the debtor or the debtor's spouse".

I think the exemption wars will not be one-sided. Debtors have arguments, as well as trustees, although until a bankruptcy judge rules, nobody knows anything! And if, as is entirely possible, we turn out to have multiple United States Bankruptcy Judges who have multiple different opinions on the issue of the tools of the trade exemption, we won't know anything until the next level up makes a ruling.


But he who lives longest sees the most!

And when there's breaking news on the Arizona Bankruptcy Exemption War, you'll hear it from the front; I'm sort of embedded with the troops!

The Arizona Bankruptcy Exemptions aren't written in stone. They were written by men and women, and interpreted by men and women, and all of those folks have had opinions about what should or should not be exempt.

And, as we know from the movie "Roadhouse", opinions differ!

Over the last 30 years, I've gotten to watch a bunch of exemption battles rage. On the one hand, there was a spirited debate in the case law about whether 11 USC 522 (m) meant that a husband in a bankruptcy case got his list of exempt property, and that the wife also got her list of exempt property.

I'll spare you the suspense; the "double-dippers" won, and that was the correct result.

And anytime exemptions change, there are arm-wrestling matches about when the new exemption becomes effective, and that's always good for a few thousand gallons of ink.

There have also been exemption challenges to the concept of the "opt-out" exercised by the Arizona Legislature; and frankly, one thing that our legislature ought to do sometime soon is to permit Arizona Residents to choose between the laundry list of Federal Bankruptcy Exemptions, and the Arizona Bankruptcy Exemptions, as some other states do (although, to be fair, most states are "opt-out" states).

Another recently hot topic is which state's exemption may apply in a particular case, and there's a website called Exemptions Express that's very helpful in the analysis of that issue; that's why a trustee will ask you whether you have been an Arizona Resident for a full two years prior to filing; if you have not, you may be forced to use the laws of your prior state, or the Federal Exemptions (notwithstanding the opt-out clause), or you may get to use the Arizona Bankruptcy Exemption List. 

But the next big exemption fight is going to be over this topic: are computers "tools of the trade" under the Arizona Exemption Statutes? And, if so, are there additional requirements, not in the case law and not in the statute,  necessary to qualify them as exempt?

I plan to post all of the "tools of the trade" cases here on my blog, so you can decide for yourself.

This is not an academic concern!

One of the smart Arizona Bankruptcy Trustees has served notice that he will be objecting to every computer claimed as a tool of the trade in his cases (about 1/20th of the cases that get filed around here) unless they meet stringent requirements that I have not yet found in the caselaw or the stature.

In most cases I've seen and filed lately, computers (and  used computers have some value, although very little) have been listed as tools of the trade for just about everybody.

After all, think about being a lawyer without a computer; would it be possible? Well, you couldn't be an Arizona Bankruptcy Attorney, because we're required to file our bankruptcy cases electronically.

And you obviously can't be a bookkeeper, accountant or CPA without a computer, right?

How about a schoolteacher? Is a schoolteacher required to  file his lesson plans electronically?

Even a truck driver is often required to monitor his driving schedule online, which seems to me to make that computer a tool of the trade; and doubly so if he uses it to makes his mandatory notations as he drives.

A dentist could certainly not practice effectively without the practice management software that my dentist uses, which also permits him to instantly email dental x-rays inter-office; tool of the trade? I think so!

In addition, I can think of a lot of professionals who have confidential data on their computers; I don't know how happy a trustee would be if he were sued by an angry patient under the HIPPA Statutes. It would probably blow over, but you never know how a lawsuit will shake out. Ever. 


Now, there may be people who can work without owning a computer these days, but I'm hard pressed to think of a lot of folks who don't use a computer extensively in the course of their jobs.

Who will win the computer exemption wars?

I have no idea!

Because an objection to exemptions is resolved in a careful, measured pace in most cases, and the appeal from an adverse decision can take much longer. Think years, not weeks or months.

The case law is fairly clear that Arizona Exemptions are to be construed liberally in favor of the debtor; there is not a requirement in the tools of the trade exemption that I recall, as I sit here, that the tool be used exclusively for employment, or even that it be absolutely mandatory for employment; there is certainly no statutory requirement that a statement from an employer must be obtained in order to maintain the exemption.

Those may be useful tax analysis concepts, but I think they are far less useful in bankruptcy exemption analysis.

After all, a carpenter would normally list his tools as tools of the trade, and there would normally not be an issue about that. But if somewhere in the statute there is a requirement that the tools be used exclusively at work, the carpenter could lose that exemption if he hammers a nail in his wall to hang a picture .to hang a picture for his wife; and that is an absurd, punitive result, utterly at odds with the intention of the drafters of the Arizona Exemption Statute.  

And an accountant would normally list a computer as a tool of the trade with no nevermind, but under the trustee's proposed restrictions on that exemption, if his kid also used that computer to do homework, the Bankruptcy Court should sustain an objection to the exemption of that computer; and that is another upside-down and backwards result.

I am going to reprint the cautionary memo from the smart Arizona Bankruptcy Trustee in its entirety when I figure out how to do that, so you can read it and make up your mind which side you want to cheer for in our upcoming Bankruptcy Exemption Wars!

p.s. this will be a non-issue in most cases; recall that a trustee will normally not want to fight about exemptions in a case where the arguably non-exempt property will net the estate less than $800; but we'll still get to see a lot of activity in this area if the smart trustee in question really wants to fight in every case where a computer worth $100 is listed as an exempt tool of the trade, unless the debtor would be fired from their job without the computer, and unless the computer is used exclusively for work.

Seems a little harsh to me; but that's probably just me.

But you'll be able to do the analysis for yourself as you see the cases on exemptions in Arizona; I'll have Nina dig 'em out of fastcase, and you'll see 'em in all their glory!

p.s. it is useful to recall, as well, that the value of a computer can be determined accurately to a gnat's eyelash, for the simple reason that the computer can be used to surf the internet over to Craig's List, or similar locations that describe and sell used merchandise. And a computer, with outdated software which cannot be legally transferred, which has no warranty or guarantee, and which is missing the carrying case and has a crack in the outside of the computer shell itself, is probably darn near worthless, whether it is exempt or not.

And worthless assets in a bankruptcy case are generally not administered (taken and sold) by a trustee unless the trustee has far too much time on his or her hands.

In general, yes.

I'll get back to you on this, but remember; the general rule is that a properly perfected security interest of any sort remains in existence even after your discharge.

In some cases, you can scrape off a judgment lien on your house that impairs your homestead exemption, but that is typically not a part of an uncontested Chapter 7 Bankruptcy case in Arizona.

So if you think you need to scrape off a or terminate the existence of a judgment lien, talk to your bankruptcy attorney about it.

And, yes, that costs more than an uncontested Chapter 7 Bankruptcy in Arizona.

Count on it.

Because it involves a bundle of additional work!

Now, if you're not planning on selling your house, ever, subsequent to your bankruptcy, it's probably not an important issue. Nor is it important if you're planning on letting the property go by way of a trustee's sale in Arizona, which is the way those things normally happen if you stop making payments.

But unless you specifically discuss this issue with a bankruptcy attorney in Arizona, and unless the debtor's bankruptcy lawyer has specifically contracted to undertake this project, it probably isn't going to get done in your Chapter 7 Bankruptcy Case in Arizona.

Just so you know!



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I recently had a bad day making educational bankruptcy videos, because the microphones got funky about halfway through the shoot and we needed to wrap early.

But we did get to talk about dogs, one of my favorite topics:



Fortunately, the pet exemption in Arizona generally covers Fido and Blooper and Spot, so everybody generally goes home happy.

Horses can be a different matter, but that's a horse by horse analysis. And like diamond rings, I've never had a client lose one if they wanted to keep it.

It's just a matter of money, you know?

So what do you use to value cars for purposes of listing them in your schedules?

Well, you probably ought to use excellent condition private party sale value from Kelly Blue Book, because the bankruptcy trustee will. At a very minimum, you need to be aware of the excellent private party sale value so you can explain why the vehicle doesn't meet the "excellent" criteria, and be prepared to have the vehicle inspected to determine for sure that it doesn't have any transmission. And explain where the transmission has gone.

On the other hand, some Arizona bankruptcy debtors, prior to filing, or after a bankruptcy filing, need to buy a car. In negotiating for that car, there is another tool they can use: the Edmund's True Market Value(tm).

Now, I don't get  a kickback or honorarium from Edmond's, but if I were going to buy a car, either prior to filing a bankruptcy, or after a bankruptcy once I'd let my expensive lease or expensive car payment go the way of the Dodo, I'd use Edmund's. For a new or a used car, before or after a bankruptcy.

Why?

Well, I know a smart couple. They went to a dealer to buy a car. They handed the salesguy the page with the Edmund's True Market Value(tm) on it, and they paid $8,000 dollars less for the same make and model as the nice folks who didn't use Edmond's.

True story. 

Knowledge is power, according to Francis Bacon.

Now, not all knowledge is actual day-to-day power. If you know Green Lantern's Charging Oath by heart, backwards, it will probably not give you great benefit on a day to day basis.

If you know how to make a souffle that will not fall, and is adequately fluffy, you can earn the love of your friend's tastebuds (but you probably already have that, what with the home-made ice cream and all).

But knowing what a car that you wish to purchase or sell is really worth seems a very useful chunk of knowledge, if you're going to be buying or selling cars!

p.s. obviously, if you're going to buy a vehicle prior to bankruptcy, you need to be sensitive to the exemption limits for vehicles in Arizona (assuming that you qualify for those exemptions) and to the issues relating to pre-bankruptcy planning. And you'll want to sell cars, if you do, for fair market value (not for a buck to your sister), and keep track of where you spent the dough, and understand the phrase, "pigs get fat and hogs get slaughtered". And list any substantial transactions on your schedules, of course.

And recall that nothing whatsoever that you do or do not do prior to a bankruptcy is without risk.