Your lawyer will advise you about the protection available for your property with a bankruptcy proceeding. For example, in a liquidation proceeding, the bankruptcy laws allow you to keep your exempt property.

Prior to beginning bankruptcy proceedings, your lawyer may advise you to sell some of your nonexempt property and use the cash to purchase exempt property. Although you may convert your nonexempt property into exempt property, you will be subject to severe penalties if you to try to hide your property.

In a liquidation proceeding, you may be able to keep mortgaged property like a home or car if you “reaffirm” your loan with your lender. Reaffirming the loan means that you agree to pay it in full. The reaffirmed loan will not be affected by the discharge that you receive at the completion of the bankruptcy proceedings.

Any property that you receive after 180 days from the start of the bankruptcy proceedings is yours to keep, including inheritances, gifts and life insurance.

Your lawyer may recommend that you speed up your bankruptcy filing if you expect to receive a substantial amount of property in the near future.