High income (physician). We have 3 young kids under 5. Residency/fellowship + Real estate Hit + student loans.
Student loans: 250,000 Personal Loans: 150,000 Credit Cards: 85,000 IRS: 19,000 (2016 taxes because we withdrew 401K to cover residency debt)
Possible mortgage deficiency judgement: 200,000 This hasn't been pursued yet- bank will need to file lawsuit if we don't negotiate settlement with them.
Income: 600,000 pretax (taxed at 44%)
Rental in NYC (2 bedroom for 5 people in good public school district): 8,500/month
Zero assets.
Zero savings.
After years of training away from home and having 3 kids in 5 yrs, husband's mom died, we moved home to NYC to start great new job (finally getting paid) and for family; husband gets diagnosed with cancer. He is now facing big procedure after 7 months of failed chemo. House from previous state (recourse) is in short-sale after 7 months for 250,000 lower than we started. The personal loan was taken out for Renovations on advice of realtor, painting, staging, moving, etc.
The apartment lease is obviously too high, and over November 2018. it was secured before any of our financial difficulties and we got rid of the car to live here. It's walking distance for kids school, husbands job, and now husbands hospital where he stays for weeks at a time. Would a chapter 13 100% plan work? Would we have to move? With all the changes and emotional hits, my children are settled and seemingly happy at home and their school. if I could stay just while taking care of my husband at the nearby hospital, I would be grateful.
He is potentially dying and doesn't want to leave us in debt. He can't think straight on the chemo. After working so hard for so long, this feels like a bad joke. Please help.
Haven't been able to find a good bankruptcy lawyer to give a straight answer.
I sincerely appreciate your time.
Edit: we are hard-working tax payers who didn't have a salary until our 30's. Academic medicine forces you to make really steep decisions like this, and creditors allow it happen, the minute you step into medical school and are too young to understand. Even so; we are frugal people and have NOT had debt until these past two years. It racks up fast when you have to make serious life decisions. High ranking medical directors in NYC don't want to hear that you "can't take the job because you have to wait to sell your house." Rather: they say jump and you answer "how high." I resent this aspect of medicine, but this is where we are. No caviar, no boats... and just sold our used Honda Odyssey to live in NYC where parking costs $720/month. It's a different world that we obviously need help navigating.
My husband is the best in his field at what he does and we both worked for every penny we earn (and every penny we owe😫). Neither of us claim to have made smart decisions with our money.
Second edit: people saying that we are SOL and not believing the reality of American tax-payers who dedicated their lives to medicine is exactly why I am on here asking for help. It is some people's reality.
Submitted August 31, 2017 at 12:11PM by NYCmomto3 http://ift.tt/2wkOB5i
