Guide To Filing For Personal Bankruptcy

By Sharon Howard


If you have unmanageable levels of debt, you should always consider seeking legal protections. This is because bad debt can lower your quality of life. It can also make life difficult. You can get legal protections by filing for personal bankruptcy. This is a legal provision that seeks to protect debtors from their creditors. It also enables creditors to seek tax relief for any debt that is forgiven through this option.

When you have a hard time servicing your debts, you should not think about becoming bankrupt as an option of first resort. You should at least try to consolidate your debts and refinance. If this fails, you can approach a qualified lawyer for advice and guidance. That said, you should only become bankrupt if you do not have any other viable option for getting rid of your debts.

It is important you hire a suitable lawyer to help you with the paperwork and represent you in court. The ideal lawyer should have a lot of experience with bankruptcy cases. They should also have a great reputation and charge competitive rates for their legal services. This is important because you do not want to spend too much money on legal services.

This type of bankruptcy is normally referred to as the chapter 13, and is meant for individual debtors who have personal debts. To qualify, the applicant must have a lot of bad debt that they are not able to manage with their current income. This option can also be considered as a form of debt restructuring for a limited amount of time. After this period lapses, any unpaid debts will be written off.

Anyone who has a lot of debt, some assets and lacks a reliable income can be declared bankrupt under chapter 7, which entails liquidation of non-exempt property to recover funds to settle their debts. This option is not always recommended because you will lose your property. It is also much more public than other chapters, so chapter 13 should always be given priority consideration.

In a chapter 13, debts are usually written off after the debtor has made regular payments over a period of several years. The payments are usually affordable and convenient. They are often paid to the trustee, who distributes the amounts to creditors. After a number of years, the payments are stopped and any unpaid debts are written off. As a result, no assets are liquidated to pay creditors.

When you use this chapter to resolve your debts, you get to keep all your assets. You will only be required to pay a fixed amount of money every month to the trustee for a few years to have your unpaid debts forgiven. The payments are usually small and convenient, so you do not need to worry about defaulting.

It is important to note that some debts can never be written off. You will need to settle these debts no matter what. For instance, if you have student loans or child support obligations, you will have to settle your debt no matter what. Student loans can only be forgiven if the debtor passes away. On the other hand, child support can only be amended by a family court.




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