Legal Question in Bankruptcy in California

In a Chapter 7, you can keep your home if you are current on your payments. In a Chapter 13, you can keep you home even if you are behind on your payments as long as you propose and complete a Chapter 13 Plan whereby you repay your home loan arrears (missed payments) over a 3 to 5 year period. Of course, you will need to have sufficient regular income to make the payments proposed by your Chapter 13 Plan, however your front end debt to income ratio (home loan versus total income) can be much higher than the typical home loan qualification standard of 30% -38%. For example, your home loan can be 60% to 70% of your total income and you could still keep your home in a Chapter 13 bankruptcy depending upon the facts and circumstances of your case. Amir Aalam

Depends. In a Ch 7, if you have more equity in your home than your state law provides exemption protection for, then the BK court will take the home, sell it and use funds to pay creditors. If not enough equity to accomplish this, then the court will "abandon" the property and let you keep it even if it's a bit high on the equity. In a Ch. 13, for the most part you are allowed to keep the home as long as you can maintain the mortgage payment along with the Chapter 13 payment plan for the period determined by the BK court (3 or 5yrs).