Filing bankruptcy in New York, is there a way to keep my car which is paid off?

I have a car thats the 2006 model year, KBB value is $9700 in good condition (even though I have almost 90K miles), my lawyer says I won't have to pay anything back and he thinks he can use a federal exemption to let me keep the car, any ideas? I took out an unsecured personal loan while I was still working to pay off my debts including the $3500 I still owed on the car loan, so the car is now totally paid off and has been for 8 months. I am still in good standing on the credit cards but at this point there maxed out and I don't have the money to pay the minimums, my loan and my rent. I owe about $30,000 in debt and I'm married but currently separated. My wife and I would both be filing, she owes about $7,000 and owns a cheap old car. We have no other assets. I don't want to lose the car, I incurred a lot of debt due to job loss, I recently got a new job but the pay is less than half of what I made before. Has anyone ever heard of this? Can it be done? I don't want to get into the courtroom and end up losing the car. Please, any info would be great.