If you are struggling to pay your credit card bills, you may have noticed a decline in your mental health. After all, having too much revolving debt can lead to anxiety, depression and even loneliness. According to the American Heart Association, though, owning a dog may help to alleviate many of these.
Once you have a companion animal in your home, you are likely to never want to go back to your pre-dog days. Still, you may have heard that a personal bankruptcy filing requires you to part with certain assets.
Is your dog an asset?
Even though your dog is a living and breathing animal that has its own unique personality, the animal is an asset under the law. Consequently, like with cash, home furnishings and other assets, you must disclose your dog when you complete your bankruptcy forms.
Because your dog is an asset, there is some chance you must part with it during bankruptcy proceedings. That chance is quite remote, however.
Will the bankruptcy court make you sell your dog?
To put it bluntly, your dog is probably not worth very much money.
When you compare the value of your dog to the bankruptcy court’s cost of caring for the animal, it is not hard to see why the bankruptcy court is unlikely to make you sell your dog. That is, the court’s cost is likely to be considerably more than your dog would bring on the open market.
Ultimately, even if the bankruptcy court decides to try to sell your dog to satisfy your debts, you may be able to retain ownership of the animal by using one of the many bankruptcy exemptions.
