CLIENT is a woman who is 72 years old. She worked as a mental health therapist for 40 years since she was actually a physician abroad. She was happy doing her job helping people to get their sanity back on track. She married her co-employee and they had two children. After 20 years, husband told her he wanted a divorce. Client thought she had a perfect marriage because they had never argued about anything. In fact, she even gave up her own religion. She converted to her husband’s religion and raised their children as Muslims. She learned to prepare “Halal” food for her husband. She traveled with her husband to Mecca and became “Hajih.” By all standards, she was happily married. She never asked her husband why he wanted a divorce. But after the divorce, husband remarried a Muslim woman, who was 15 years younger than client. Was this the will of “Allah” that she would lose her husband to a younger woman after she renounced her own God to serve “Allah?” I can only say that client certainly has the training to heal her own mental health given her occupation and academic background.
Let’s look at her financial situation. She owns a house with a fair market value of $500,000. She took a reverse mortgage of $300,000 two years ago on the house. She doesn’t have to pay the monthly mortgage of $2,700 under the terms of the reverse mortgage but she now owes $330,000 on it. When she stopped working, she decided to be part of a multilevel networking business, which required her to purchase inventory of $100,000. She used her credit cards to buy the inventory but found out that she could not sell the merchandise. So now she is stuck with the merchandise which is worth 10 cents on the $ in a fire sale and $100,000 of credit card debt which needs a minimum of $3,000 a month to keep current. She receives net pension of $2,900 monthly and a car payment of $500 for a 2013 Honda Pilot, which she bought intending to use it to deliver the merchandise. She has a 2005 Camry, which is fully paid. Her granddaughter who is 12 years old lives with her as well as her 40-year old son who is divorced. Son is a networking IT professional who used to make $80,000 a year but the company he worked for was bought by another company and he was terminated in the process of downsizing of the new entity. Although son is actively looking for another job, he has not gotten any satisfactory offers that will match the money he was making in his former job. He’s had offers for half his former salary so he’s still looking around for a comparable job. His wife decided to leave him when he lost his job for his former boss who divorced his wife of 30 years to marry son’s wife who was also 15 years younger than he. If you have the love of a good and faithful woman, consider yourself fortunate. Client’s other son is 38 years old and has just gotten married to a 20-year old Thai lady. The son lives with his Thai wife in Chang Mai trying to make money from a small business making handbags. Cash flow is very weak, so client has to send second son $500 a month so he can pay his rent and monthly expenses in Thailand.
Client will do a Chapter 7 to get rid of credit card debt of $100,000 and to discharge the voluntary return deficiency on the Honda Pilot estimated to be $12,000. Client had no use for the SUV since she did not have any deliveries to make, and she needs to send 2nd son $500 a month so he can survive in Thailand with his new bride until their handbag business is strong enough to give them at least cash profit of $1,000 monthly so they can survive. So, at the age of 72, client will obtain a fresh start in life with no debt, keep her house with equity of $170,000, and her fully paid Camry. Since she does receive a pension of $2,900 and does not have to pay monthly mortgage with the reverse mortgage, she can retire in peace with a comfortable cash flow and no debt.
“The peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” Philippians, 4:7.
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Lawrence Bautista Yang specializes in bankruptcy, business, real estate and civil litigation and has successfully represented more than five thousand clients in California. Please call Angie, Barbara or Jess at (626) 284-1142 for an appointment at 1000 S Fremont Ave Mailstop 58 Bldg A-1 Suite 1125 Alhambra, CA 91803.