Archive for June 24, 2016

I often tell my clients that they will never meet the Bankruptcy Judge unless they do something very wrong. Generally, the Court will only be involved, directly, in more complicated matters than are likely to occur in Chapter 7 cases. Exceptions could include, refusing to answer questions or provide requested information to a Trustee; debtor (person filing) not appearing at 341 meeting; discovery of fraud by the debtor; motion to redeem collateral in a secured debt; or a motion to rescind discharge. In a Chapter 13, there are a lot

You may have heard the phase “Most people keep all of their belongings in Chapter 7 bankruptcy.” The reason for this is phrase is the bankruptcy laws provide a list of exemptions for many things which allow those things to be exempt from being lost in a bankruptcy filing. The reason is that a person filing a bankruptcy could not be expected to get a fresh financial start in life without any possessions. Once the exemption for an item is compared to the fair market value of the item, there

Often clients have struggled to pay their debts for a year or more before finally filing for bankruptcy protection. The stigma of bankruptcy and the hope of getting their finances straight just around the corner keep them from filing. But there is a cost to the waiting and it can be very expensive. Some of the actions taken that can end up being expensive are:

Taking money from retirement accounts, that would have been protected in a bankruptcy, to pay unsecured debts, that would have been discharged;
Borrowing money on credit card

As I outline information I need from my clients to file a bankruptcy petition, I often hear that they want to keep their home and vehicles so they don’t need to list them. The same thing happens with debts such as mortgages, car loans, certain credit cards, some doctors, taxes or student loans. The client’s financial history, things that happened in the past, must also be disclosed.

All assets and all debts must be listed in order to complete the case and obtain a discharge;
If the assets are listed, but not