When the bills pile up, sometimes the first bills to go unpaid are your Home Owner Association fees. This debt piles up month after month, and can make your pile of debt even larger! So can bankruptcy help? Can you discharge past-due HOA fees through bankruptcy?
In some cases you can discharge HOA fees, but this may only apples to fees that were charged before your bankruptcy was filed. That means, if you plan to keep your home after the bankruptcy, you may owe any new HOA fees that arise after the bankruptcy. Of course after filing for bankruptcy you may be in a more stable financial situation, and able to afford your HOA fees going forward, but you should understand what bills you will have to pay after your bankruptcy.
If you intend to give up your home as part of your bankruptcy process, you may want to consider waiting for your home to be foreclosed on before filing bankruptcy. This would make sure that you won’t owe any HOA fees that arise after your bankruptcy is filed. You should speak to your attorney before deciding on this or any other course of action. Every circumstance is different and your attorney can help you find the right path to follow.