Posted by admin on October 12, 2010 under Uncategorized |
What exactly is bankruptcy? Will it wipe out all my debts?
Bankruptcy is a federal court process designed to help consumers and businesses eliminate their debts or repay them under the protection of the bankruptcy court. Bankruptcies can generally be described as “liquidation” or “reorganization.” Under a liquidation bankruptcy (Chapter 7), you ask the bankruptcy court to wipe out (discharge) the debts you owe. Under a reorganization bankruptcy (typically Chapter 13, for consumers), you file a plan with the bankruptcy court proposing how you will repay your creditors. You must repay some debts in full; others may be repaid only partially or not at all, depending on what you can afford. For more information, see What Is Bankruptcy?
When you file either kind of bankruptcy, a court order called an “automatic stay” goes into effect. The automatic stay prohibits most creditors from taking any action to collect the debts you owe them unless the bankruptcy court lifts the stay and lets the creditor proceed with collections. For more information, see How Bankruptcy Stops Your Creditors: The Automatic Stay.
Certain debts cannot be discharged in bankruptcy; you will continue to owe them just as if you had never filed for bankruptcy. These debts include back child support, alimony, and certain kinds of tax debts. Student loans will not be discharged unless you can show that repaying the debt would be an undue burden, which is a very tough standard to meet. And other types of debts might not be discharged if a creditor convinces the court that the debt should survive your bankruptcy. For more information, see What Bankruptcy Can and Cannot Do.
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What is the difference between Chapter 7 and Chapter 13 bankruptcy? Which one lets me keep my property?
In Chapter 7 bankruptcy, you ask the bankruptcy court to discharge most of the debts you owe. In exchange for this discharge, the bankruptcy trustee can take any property you own that is not exempt from collection (see below), sell it, and distribute the proceeds to your creditors. For more information on Chapter 7, see An Overview of Chapter 7 Bankruptcy.
In Chapter 13 bankruptcy, you file a repayment plan with the bankruptcy court to pay back all or a portion of your debts over time. The amount you’ll have to repay depends on how much you earn, the amount and types of debt you owe, and how much property you own. For more information about Chapter 13, see An Overview of Chapter 13 Bankruptcy.
You lose no property in Chapter 13, because you fund your repayment plan through your income. In Chapter 7, you select property you are eligible to keep from a list of state exemptions. Although state exemption laws differ, states typically allow you to keep these types of property in a Chapter 7 bankruptcy:
•Equity in your home, called a homestead exemption. Under the Bankruptcy Code, you can exempt up to $20,200 of equity. Some states have no homestead exemption; others allow debtors to protect all or most of the equity in their home.
•Insurance. You usually get to keep the cash value of your policies.
•Retirement plans. Most retirement benefits are protected in bankruptcy.
•Personal property. You’ll be able to keep most household goods, furniture, furnishings, clothing (other than furs), appliances, books and musical instruments. You may be able to keep jewelry only worth up to $1,000 or so. Most states let you keep a vehicle as long as your equity doesn’t exceed several thousand dollars. And many states give you a “wild card” amount of money — often $1,000 or more — that you can apply toward any property.
•Public benefits. All public benefits, such as welfare, Social Security, and unemployment insurance, are fully protected.
•Tools used on your job. You’ll probably be able to keep up to a few thousand dollars worth of the tools used in your trade or profession.
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Am I free to choose between Chapter 7 and Chapter 13? Which type of bankruptcy should I use?
If you meet the eligibility requirements for both, then you can choose the type of bankruptcy that makes the most sense for your situation. However, you may not have a choice:
Under the new bankruptcy law, filers whose incomes are higher than the median income for a family of their size in their state may not be allowed to file for Chapter 7 bankruptcy if their disposable income, after subtracting certain allowed expenses and required debt payments, would allow them to pay back some portion of the unsecured debt over a five-year repayment period. (For more on this and other Chapter 7 eligibility requirements, see Who Can File for Chapter 7 Bankruptcy?)
Also, if you have secured debts of more than $1,010,650 and unsecured debts of more than $336,900, for example, then you cannot use Chapter 13. (For more on this and other Chapter 13 eligibility requirements, see Are You Eligible for Chapter 13 Bankruptcy?)
Most people who file for bankruptcy choose to use Chapter 7, if they meet the eligibility requirements; Chapter 7 is a popular choice because, unlike Chapter 13, it doesn’t require filers to pay back any portion of their debts. For more reasons why you might want to file for Chapter 7, see When Chapter 7 Bankruptcy Is Better Than Chapter 13.
However, Chapter 13 might be a better choice, depending on your situation. For example, if you are behind on your mortgage and want to keep your house, you can include your missed payments in your Chapter 13 plan and repay them over time. In Chapter 7, you would have to make up the whole past due amount right away — and you might lose your house, if your equity exceeds the exemption amount available to you. For more on situations when Chapter 13 makes sense, see Reasons to Use Chapter 13 Instead of Chapter 7.
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Overview of Chapter 7 Bankruptcy by an Attorney in Atlanta Georgia.
Learn how Chapter 7 bankruptcy works.
Chapter 7 bankruptcy is a liquidation, the trustee can sell your property to pay off your debts to your creditors. This for does not happen the majority of the time. In the Northen District of Georgia, Atlanta and Rome sections most Atlanta Bankruptcy Attorney’s file “No Asset Cases,” if your case is a no asset Chapter 7 you will probably not have to pay anything. Georgia allows you to exempt property in a Chapter 7) some of your property for the benefit of your creditors. (“Chapter 7″ refers to the chapter of the federal Bankruptcy Code that contains the bankruptcy law.)
Bankruptcy Costs in Time and Money
The whole Chapter 7 bankruptcy process takes about four to six months, costs $299 in filing and administrative fees, and commonly requires only one trip to the courthouse.
You must also complete credit counseling with an agency approved by the United States Trustee. (For a list of approved agencies in each state, go to the Trustee’s website, www.usdoj.gov/ust, and click “Credit Counseling and Debtor Education.”)
Who Can File
You won’t be able to use Chapter 7 if you already received a bankruptcy discharge in the last six to eight years (depending which type of bankruptcy you filed) or if, based on your income, expenses, and debt burden, you could feasibly complete a Chapter 13 repayment plan. (For more information on these eligibility requirements, see Who Can File for Chapter 7 Bankruptcy.)
Bankruptcy Forms
To file for bankruptcy, you fill out a petition and a number of other forms and file them with the bankruptcy court in your area. Basically, the forms ask you to describe:
•your property
•your current income and monthly living expenses
•your debts
•property you claim the law allows you to keep through the bankruptcy process (called “exempt property”) — most states let you keep some equity in your home, clothing, household furnishings, Social Security payments you haven’t spent, and other necessities such as a car and the tools of your trade.
•property you owned and money you spent during the previous two years, and
•property you sold or gave away during the previous two years.
You’ll find step-by-step instructions for filling out all of the required forms in How to File for Chapter 7 Bankruptcy, by Stephen Elias, Albin Renauer, and Robin Leonard (Nolo).
Bankruptcy’s Magic Wand — The Automatic Stay
Filing for bankruptcy puts into effect an “Order for Relief” — known informally as the “automatic stay.” The automatic stay immediately stops most creditors from trying to collect what you owe them. So, at least temporarily, creditors cannot legally grab (“garnish”) your wages, empty your bank account, go after your car, house, or other property, or cut off your utility service or welfare benefits. For more information, see How Bankruptcy Stops Your Creditors: The Automatic Stay.
Bankruptcy Court’s Control Over Your Financial Affairs
By filing for bankruptcy, you are technically placing the property you own and the debts you owe in the hands of the bankruptcy court. You can’t sell or give away any of the property you own when you file, or pay off your pre-filing debts, without the court’s consent. However, with a few exceptions, you can do what you wish with property you acquire and income you earn after you file for bankruptcy.
The Bankruptcy Trustee
The court exercises its control through a court-appointed person called a “bankruptcy trustee.” The trustee’s primary duty is to see that your creditors are paid as much as possible on what you owe them. And the more assets the trustee recovers for creditors, the more the trustee is paid.
The trustee (or the trustee’s staff) will examine your papers to make sure they are complete and to look for nonexempt property to sell for the benefit of creditors. The trustee will also look at your financial transactions during the previous year to see if any can be undone to free up assets to distribute to your creditors. In most Chapter 7 cases, the trustee finds nothing of value to sell.
The Creditors Meeting
A week or two after you file, you (and all the creditors you list in your bankruptcy papers) will receive a notice that a “creditors meeting” has been scheduled. The bankruptcy trustee runs the meeting and, after swearing you in, may ask you questions about your bankruptcy and the papers you filed. In the vast majority of Chapter 7 bankruptcies, this is the debtor’s only visit to the courthouse.
What Happens to Your Property
If, after the creditors meeting, the trustee determines that you have some nonexempt property, you may be required to either surrender that property or provide the trustee with its equivalent value in cash. If the property isn’t worth very much or would be cumbersome for the trustee to sell, the trustee may “abandon” the property — which means that you get to keep it, even though it is nonexempt. (For information on which types of property are typically exempt, see When Chapter 7 Isn’t the Right Choice. However, which property is exempt varies by state — you can find complete lists of exempt property for every state in How to File for Chapter 7 Bankruptcy, by Stephen Elias, Albin Renauer, and Robin Leonard (Nolo).)
Most property owned by Chapter 7 debtors is either exempt or is essentially worthless for purposes of raising money for the creditors. As a result, few debtors end up having to surrender any property, unless it is collateral for a secured debt (see below).
How Your Secured Debts Are Treated
If you’ve pledged property as collateral for a loan, the loan is called a secured debt. The most common examples of collateral are houses and automobiles. If you’re behind on your payments, the creditor can ask to have the automatic stay lifted in order to repossess or foreclose on the property. However, if you are current on your payments, you can keep the property and keep making payments as before — unless you have enough equity in the property to justify its sale by the trustee.
If a creditor has recorded a lien against your property because of a debt you haven’t paid (for example, because the creditor obtained a court judgment against you), that debt is also secured. You may be able to wipe out the lien in bankruptcy.
The Bankruptcy Discharge
At the end of the bankruptcy process, all of your debts are wiped out (discharged) by the court, except:
•debts that automatically survive bankruptcy, such as child support, most tax debts, and student loans, unless the court rules otherwise, and
•debts that the court has declared nondischargeable because the creditor objected (for example, debts incurred by your fraud or malicious acts).