Bankruptcy Prof Blog

Ultimately a Chapter 7 bankruptcy provides you relief from nearly all, if not all, of your debt. It provides you a way to start over with your finances.

The legislation governing Chapter 7 bankruptcy has changed extensively over the past several years. The purpose, however, hasn’t changed. It exists to help individuals who find themselves in a financial situation where they have an insurmountable amount of debt with no hope of ever being able to totally pay that debt off.

To get the bankruptcy process started, you have to file a petition in Federal bankruptcy court. It is recommended that you use an attorney to handle this filing for you. Once your attorney files your petition, you get instantaneous protection from any lawsuit by your creditors. That protection is designated an “automatic stay.” Essentially, the automatic stay of bankruptcy stops all collection action by your lenders. In actuality, as soon as you file your bankruptcy petition, your debt collectors are prohibited by federal law from contacting you for repayment or from filing any sort of collection claim against you.

As part of your bankruptcy proceeding, you’ll have to go to a hearing at bankruptcy court. This hearing ordinarily takes place in a room with you, the bankruptcy trustee (i.e., the person assigned by the court to oversee your case) and your attorney. The entire process usually only takes about 15 minutes, in the course of which the trustee will ask you a number of questions regarding your take-home pay and your debts. At the end of the hearing, the trustee makes a recommendation to the bankruptcy court to discharge your debt. A discharge order is then mailed to you. It might take some months for you to actually receive your discharge order.

Be aware that your creditors might appear at your hearing to speak for their benefit and oppose your bankruptcy discharge. However, it is really an exceptional situation where a creditor actually shows up. In most cases, the bankruptcy is fairly easily completed without any protests from lenders.

Bankruptcy may well be your only out if you’re burdened beneath a sizeable sum of debt that you have no means to pay back. Therefore, if you are in debt way over your head and are having difficulty making normal payments, you owe it to yourself to at least seek the advice of a bankruptcy lawyer concerning the prospect of filing a Chapter 7 bankruptcy.

Want Plain English explanations of Bankruptcy Law, then visit Harvey L. Cox’s Bankruptcy Law site and understand your options without the legalese.