You did the right thing — I know there are many things you want to do right now (i.e., building your business, building your personal savings/investment account, paying off those debts not included in the bankruptcy process, such as your student loans), however, the BEST thing you could do for yourself, your mom, as well as the rest of your family, is to make things right with her above all others.

I’ve asked this before and am suggesting again that you provide us with a new detailed accounting (spreadsheet) of those remaining after the bankruptcy with balances and interest rates.

The money you owe your mom has no interst rate – I know it is the biggest thing that needs to be paid back, wasn’t in excess of $100,000? The student loans have an interest rate attached and I think your debt for that is approximately $40,000…. then, of course you’ve got your IRS debt.

Because your student loans are over $20,000, you can go with an extended repayment option for 20 years – this option starts with low monthly payments that increase over time… the best part – the first few years what you are paying is interest, which is tax deductable.

Do what you can to pay the absolute minimum on all outstanding debts and focus your largest repayment effort towards those funds that need to be repaid to your Mom. As you said, she’s in her late 50s, and the $$ she provided you was approximately 1/2 her net worth. She’ll be approaching retirement within 10 years – make it your goal to have the entire $$ repaid to her within the next 5. Do as much as you can to repay as much as possible as soon as possible so that she’ll be able to reap the benefits of compounding interest.

Hopefully your mom enjoys good heath. My mom did until she was in her mid-60s, when she was diagnosed with Parkinson’s — her care costs in an assisted living facility were significant. Thank goodness my dad planned for their retirement and she was able to live in a nice facility with fantastic care providers. This was not cheap – when the time comes, if your mom needs to live in an assisted living facility (a small unit with basic services), the monthly payment will be approximately $4,000 p/mo…

Once again, I don’t mean to be a broken record, I just want you to understand fully that above anything else, repaying your mom should be priority number one. If it means you need to take on a part-time job, do it.

And one final thought, if you and your mom (parents) and siblings have not discussed it, you should discuss estate planning. The honorable thing would be for you not to inherit any of your mother’s estate until your debt to her is 100% paid off. This should be written in legal documents, discussed and understood by everyone in your family so that there are no surprises or bad feelings. This was not done in the case of my brother who received $$ for a down payment on a new home almost 13 years ago… he had plenty of time to repay my parents but didn’t do so. So, in addition to the interest-free loan, the $$ my parents provided him and his wife gave them with the ability to purchase a home for $198,000… which at the height of the RE market (Bay Area) went up to over $740,000… While the home now has a market value of only $600,000, none of my brother’s own money went into the purchase of the home. And, of course, over the years he refinanced and took out HELCs to buy new cars, a new sail boat, major home improvements.

In my opinion, my brother got his inheritance early. My sister who is administering the distribution of the funds feels differently and is splitting the $$ equally – all because my mother wrote that the loan “may be” be paid from his share – not “shall be.”

I’m too poor to get a rebate check and I seriously could use the $ now.