Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Legally Declaring Bankruptcy is a way to Avoid Debtor's Prison

If you are a resident of one of the U.S. States that allows debtors to be arrested and put in jail (1/3 of U.S. states are like this) then filing bankruptcy is a way to prevent being jailed for your debts.

You might say to me, "I can't afford a Bankruptcy Attorney!"

Well. It works differently than you might think. I live in California so I can't vouch for what happens in other states but the way most attorneys who work in this state did it during the 1990s was to have the payment to them be a part of your ongoing bankruptcy payments.

For example, if you are declaring a Chapter 13 Bankruptcy in California you usually wind up paying 10 cents for every dollar you owe but filing a Chapter 13 Bankruptcy allows you often to keep at least one car for work or business as well as your home if you own one or are buying one(there can be many different ways all this goes). However, if you don't have a job or any income whatsoever likely you might want to declare Chapter 7. When you declare Chapter 7 bankruptcy you lose basically everything, house, car, and most possessions (depending upon your lawyer, and the state where you are going bankrupt). So, if possible a Chapter 13 is much more useful to most people with families, houses, cars, etc. because it is for a reorganization. A comparable bankruptcy for a Business is a Chapter 11 like American Airlines just filed for. IN a Chapter 13 or Chapter 11 you are reorganizing and it is usually more useful because a business can stay in business and reorganize doing a Chapter 11 and an individual can reorganize much more easily doing a Chapter 13 if he or she has enough income to do this kind of reorganization. Also, at any point if you lose your job or business you can always file a chapter 7 as long as you haven't filed a Chapter 7 recently. Here is more information about Bankruptcies from wikipedia. If you can find a bankruptcy lawyer you trust or are recommended to by a friend then go talk to a bankruptcy lawyer.


Chapter 7, Title 11, United States Code - Wikipedia, the free ...

Chapter 13, Title 11, United States Code - Wikipedia, the free ...

 

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