Missing a Rent Payment After Filing Bankruptcy
My question involves bankruptcy in the state of: Oregon
Hi there,
I have a question about rent and the automatic stay with bankruptcy. I filed for Chapter 7 on Sept. 7th. At this point in time my rent was due but no eviction proceedings had started at that time. I was not behind on rent other than the current amount due. As of this date I have not paid rent for this month. My property management was included on the Debtor Matrix and I mailed a copy of the Chapter 7 filing to them as well.
The situation is thus, my disabled adult daughter lost her SSI due to not having the paperwork that we needed to re-certify. We moved states and all paperwork was thrown out along with all of our household items by a family member that well, is not a very nice person. I am in the process of seeing about re-establishing this source of income but do not know if and or when that will happen. At the same time, a child support order began for a child that is residing in our household. Mom filed for support, then the child came to live with us shortly after. This will be taken care of as well but not for another month or so because the wheels of justice grind very slowly. This cut my husbands income in half and caused us to fall behind on everything for the past couple of months. I admit, it was the catalyst to finally file for bankruptcy. Before we had limped along trying to pay our creditors every little scrap we could.
Currently my husband gets paid twice a month. Next time will be on the 22nd of this month. We have some money squirreled away to go towards rent and on the 22nd will add in the remaining balance to pay this month's rent. Now the big thing is, until the support is situated, we won't be able to pay rent until the 22nd of next month for next months rent either.
How long do we have with the bankruptcy before the management company can file eviction proceedings? Does the stay remain in place until the bankruptcy is discharged since we filed before any proceedings were started? And since rent is considered an unsecured debt, is this months rent included in the discharge proceedings? I'm not sure if I'm even supposed to pay for this month, or if I just concentrate on next month's rent. We live in an area where there is a severe housing shortage and seriously cannot afford to be evicted. But if I'm still protected until the bankruptcy is discharged, and I'm able to pay on the 22nd of each month for this month and the next without fear, then I'll have no problems. I guess my fear is that I pay for this month, the 1st rolls around, the stay is lifted, I'm evicted, with no money to move into a new place or have a new place available, and on top of it all, dealing with a bankruptcy on my record.
Thank you so much.