“Converting” Your Chapter 13 Case into a Chapter 7 One
When you start a Chapter 13 plan, it’s good to have Chapter 7 available as a backup plan.
Dumping Your Chapter 13 Case Midstream
You can usually get out of an ongoing Chapter 13 “adjustment of debts” bankruptcy case by simply asking to do so.
In a Chapter 7 Case, “The Only Thing We Have to Fear is Fear Itself”
There’s a lot you can do to help make your “straight bankruptcy” Chapter 7 a straightforward one, but one thing you can’t control is your creditors’ reactions to it. You know that creditors can try to prevent you from discharging (legally writing off) your debts, so naturally you worry about this. Here’s why you shouldn’t […]
When Chapter 7s Are Not So Simple
The goal of most Chapter 7 cases is to get in and get out—file the petition, go to a simple 10-minute hearing with your attorney a month later, and two months later get your debts written off. Mission accomplished, end of story. And usually that’s how it goes. So when it doesn’t go that way, […]
The Goal of Bankruptcy: the Discharge of Your Debts
Most—but not all—debts are written off, or “discharged,” in a bankruptcy case. Is there a simple way to know what will and what will not be discharged? There is nothing more basic than bankruptcy’s main purpose, getting a fresh financial start through the legal discharge of your debts. Both kinds of consumer bankruptcy can […]
Keeping Vehicles That You Owe On in a Chapter 7 Bankruptcy
Chapter 7 is the take-it-or-leave-it bankruptcy when it comes to your vehicle with a loan against it. In most cases you either keep on making the payments or you surrender the vehicle, nothing much in between. To be clear I’m talking here about a vehicle that you owe on, with the lender as a lienholder […]
Writing Off Income Taxes with a “Straight Bankruptcy”
You don’t always need to file a Chapter 13 case—with its 3-to-5-year payment plan–to deal with income tax debts. Thinking that you do is a myth, alongside the broader myth that “you can’t write off taxes in a bankruptcy.” Both have a kernel of truth, which is why they persist. It’s true: some taxes cannot […]
Avoid the “Presumption of Fraud” for Using Credit Cards before Filing Bankruptcy
Using credit card cards when you’re thinking about filing bankruptcy, even to a relatively modest extent, can mean that you will have to pay back the amounts of those purchases if you file a bankruptcy. That could happen even if at the time you made those purchases you fully intended to repay that credit—in other […]
Avoiding Judgments that Can Really Hurt You, and Hurt Your Bankruptcy
Many judgments against you don’t matter once you file a bankruptcy. But certain ones are very dangerous. How can you tell the difference? Letting a creditor get a judgment against you after it has sued you can sometimes result in that debt not being written off (“discharged”) in a later bankruptcy case. Or that debt […]
Preserve Your Ability to File Bankruptcy at the Time You Want
Sometimes the timing of your bankruptcy filing hardly matters, but other times it’s huge. The three examples in this blog should convince you that you want to avoid being rushed to file your case because a creditor sued you earlier and is now garnishing your wages. Instead you want to preserve the ability to file […]