Although you may think that all bankruptcy
is the same this is not the case. I was speaking to a bankruptcy law attorney Buena Park last month and he pointed
out that chapter 13 Buena Park,
or wherever, has certain advantages over bankruptcychapter 7 Buena Park
In a Chapter 13 bankruptcy, you make
monthly affordable payments that will go to your creditors. A Chapter 13
bankruptcy has many benefits. For example, Chapter 13 allows you to pay back
amounts that you owe on car loans or mortgage loans. You can pay the back
amounts owing even if the creditor does not agree. By being in a Chapter 13
payment plan, you can prevent repossession and foreclosure. It is a very
valuable tool and it may allow you to keep property that you could have lost to
creditors if you had filed a Chapter 7 case
.
The Chapter 13 plan payments are designed
to be affordable for you and are typically much less than what could be
negotiated through creditors directly or through "debt settlement
companies" located in other states – many of whom offer payments that that
are not much lower that what the credit card companies offer. At the end of the
Chapter 13 plan, credit card, medical and many other types of debt will be
completely eliminated as a reward for completing the plan.
There are other great reasons to file a
Chapter 13. One can use a Chapter 13 to pay many back taxes and child support
debts which you could not normally eliminate in a Chapter 7 case. Furthermore,
if your household income is too high for a Chapter 7, a Chapter 13 may be the
best option. People find that Chapter 13 plan payments are much less than they
would have to be normally without filing.
In order to complete the Official
Bankruptcy Forms that make up the petition, statement of financial affairs, and
schedules, the debtor must compile the following information:
·
A list of all creditors and the
amounts and nature of their claims;
·
The source, amount, and
frequency of the debtor's income;
·
A list of all of the debtor's
property; and
·
A detailed list of the debtor's
monthly living expenses, i.e., food, clothing, shelter, utilities, taxes,
transportation, medicine, etc
.
Married individuals must gather this
information for their spouse regardless of whether they are filing a joint
petition, separate individual petitions, or even if only one spouse is filing.
In a situation where only one spouse files, the income and expenses of the
non-filing spouse is required so that the court, the trustee and creditors can
evaluate the household's financial position.