
Bankruptcy
is a legal procedure by which an individual, married couple, or corporation,
get a fresh financial start. Generally, itŐs fairly predictable way
of eliminating debts, harassment of the bill collectors, etc. Many
clients think that after filing for Bankruptcy they will not be able
to keep their house or car. This is not right, as they can reaffirm
the debts and keep many properties. Also, filing bankruptcy alone,
most likely, is not going to create more trouble for you; if you are
already behind on your bills, your credit may already be bad. Bankruptcy
will probably not make things any worse than they already are.
Usually you cannot be accused of fraud for filing bankruptcy. Federal
law, even the U.S. Constitution, created the right to file bankruptcy,
and there is nothing dishonest about bankruptcy when it is the right
business decision. However, it is wrong to incur a debt if you intend
to try to discharge it in bankruptcy. For example: if you purchase
items on credit after seeing a bankruptcy lawyer, the creditor may
think you were not sincere about trying to pay the bill.
Chapter 7, or straight bankruptcy, is the most common type of bankruptcy
filed by individuals. Chapter 11, on the other hand, is a type of
reorganization used by businesses and a few individual debtors whose
debts are very large. Chapter 11 is very complicated and more expensive
to file than Chapter 7.
My law office handles both Chapter 7 and Chapter 11 filings. |