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Article by Jay King

Individuals who are willing to pay their debts within 3-5 years qualify for the Chapter 13 bankruptcy. This chapter is crucial as it is helpful for individuals that want to retain some or all of their assets. This form of bankruptcy in some cases offers a better solution over the conventional form of bankruptcy as listed out by the Chapter 7 bankruptcy. The Chapter 7 bankruptcy can sometimes strip the debtor of his assets. This bankruptcy can be declared by individuals who have a limited regular income and can show ability to pay back a portion of their debts over time.

Understanding the negative aspects of this type of bankruptcy will explain the flexibility of the Chapter 13 bankruptcy. It is seen that a person who has filed for this form of bankruptcy would see it on their credit reports for a period of 7 years. Furthermore, it will be difficult to borrow large sums of money in the following years, as most of the creditors will question the worthiness of repayment of the debts. Besides this, one of the most persistent issues that surround the Chapter 13 bankruptcy is that it puts a filer on a strict and restricted budget thus, cutting off any unusual expenses that a person may have interest in. The Chapter 13 bankruptcy also does not include all debts under its influence, which means that a person with a variant case cannot file for this bankruptcy. Although, Chapter 13 is a feasible solution for filing bankruptcy, it should be understood that it limits the debt amount that a debtor can discharge.

On the contrary, this form also has its benefits in that it avoids the foreclosure of homes, as well as protection of the co-signers come under this chapter. Besides this, a debtor can still have their non-exempt as well as the exempt properties. The payment terms of most of the debts can get extended as per the rules under this bankruptcy form. Given these benefits, the Chapter 13 bankruptcy does seem to have its plus points that can be made use of judiciously.

This chapter is sometimes referred to as a repayment plan or a reorganization plan. To fully understand the depth and scope of this chapter of the US bankruptcy code, one should consult with a licensed bankruptcy attorney. Only bankruptcy lawyers can guide you through this stressful process.

Question by Cheryl A: What if a person put a value on their assets on the bankruptcy forms and the property is in no way worth that?
I know someone who just declared Chapter 13. They say property and business is Worth one figure but there is no way it is worth that now. Does the trustee get appraisals.

Best answer:

Answer by Dark Green Money
The trustee can if they think it’s wrong.

Not all plans are based on asset values.
It’s the highest of either Means test or asset value.

Add your own answer in the comments!

Question by HOPE0208: Should I include my credit card statements with my bankruptcy forms when filing?
I’m filing on my own and I’m almost done with the forms. I gathered all my credit card statements, should I submit those too? Should I put all my papers in a binder, a folder or a big envelope… I know I should not staple it, how should I present it?

Best answer:

Answer by Wolf
Yes (at least the information they represent), if you fail to list all information, this could come back to haunt you later. And just because you list something doesn’t mean that you considering it or not. Either way you will have to contact the creditor and discuss with them your intentions … to take them on your bankruptcy or to make arrangements with them. Each State is a little different. And bankruptcy is not always the best option. Seek advice through your local Legal-Aid office, these should be free sites. Also there are numerous sites on-line you can go for advice. But know ALL of your options prior to filing. A bankruptcy can follow you for 7-10 years, and not everything will be charged off, some creditors are now able to make you pay them something. Sometimes, doing some debt stacking or negotiating may be best. Get some more advice…

Give your answer to this question below!

Article by Michael Hastings

Consumer bankruptcy Attorneys have long ago recognized there exists a great deal of tasks in serving a clients? need which can be carried out by a Virtual Bankruptcy Assistant, who works to complete bankruptcy petitions under their supervision and direction. As a result, lawyers all over the country have now prompted their colleagues to support the training and employment of these assistants. Nevertheless, the successful utilization of Virtual Bankruptcy Assistants will depend upon the utilization of the establish office procedures, presently in use at your firm.

For that reason, Individual bankruptcy Lawyers who want to make full use of Virtual Bankruptcy Assistants must know that their success is going to be grounded in reliable principles of office organization and communication. Often times though, sometime the focus on the utilization of petition preparation procedures has resulted in a conception of a Virtual Bankruptcy Assistant as not much more than purveyors of the routine.

If you want to make your partnership prosperous, it isn’t enough to just expect that your Virtual Bankruptcy Assistant should just be concerned with the mechanics of Consumer bankruptcy Law, just inputting figures into the forms of a bankruptcy software program, but more importantly, that they ought to be focused on why such task need to be executed and encouraged to spot strategies to enhance your petition procedures whenever possible. The routine of keying in numbers into forms is simply a place to begin from where your Virtual Bankruptcy Assistant should move from quickly to take on more challenging tasks, which can require a full-range of judgment abilities.

It is possible to conceptualize the Virtual Bankruptcy Assistant as a conduit in the legal service delivery system based on assembly line principles of bankruptcy forms processing, in which they become a specialist in the routine and repetitive. In spite of this, your Virtual Bankruptcy Assistant can go a good deal far beyond the routine. Exactly how far they are able to go will depend more upon the working relationship that develops between the Bankruptcy Attorney and the Virtual Bankruptcy Assistant, and less on the routine input of data into a software program.

You want to make the relationship a prosperous one with your Virtual Bankruptcy Assistant? From the onset, identify your expectations and communicate them effectively. Work to remove the repetitious, and insert the challenge.

To improve your relationship with your Virtual Bankruptcy Assistant, always apply these 4 principles:

1. Deliver consistent feedback.

Failing to provide any feedback about the finished Bankruptcy Petition leaves the Virtual Bankruptcy Assistant with no exposure to your expectations, and will not reward them for their very good behaviors. I can’t stress enough the significance of this. Remember that Virtual Bankruptcy Assistants have the basics of bankruptcy petition preparation down cold. Otherwise, why would you be working with us? Even so, it is crucial that we know what specific things you want to see on the petitions or pleadings, with regard to specific language, order of information, etc. This makes the process more a team collaboration, and will help guarantee that we are able to fulfill your expectations with every petition completed.

2. Discover how to assign work effectively.

As with a good deal of my clients, their needs are commonly different. Quite a few like for me to simply input figures into the software program and supply them a finished petition. A few want me to do almost everything following the second that the retainer agreement is signed until the bankruptcy is discharged. This is no problem, however where it gets a little hairy is whenever I am working with another bankruptcy paralegal / bankruptcy legal assistant within the firm, and it is not clear as to who is accountable for what. Take a few moments at the beginning of the case and supply an overview of precisely what your expectations are through the bankruptcy filing, and note who will be accountable for what. Always be sure to include your own work in the process as well.

3. Provide helpful criticism

Let?s face it, not many people can take criticism okay. Nevertheless, it is a necessary element of the process to improve our work. I have had a lot of success with lawyers who took a few moments via telephone or email to supply me with some insight to my mistakes, and it was most certainly appreciated. Although I would like to think that I am flawless, I realize it to be the case that I am not, and I welcome the chance to learn from those whom I am providing services to. Use the opportunity after the petition is done to give insight and coaching to your Virtual Bankruptcy Assistant, and it will be returned ten-fold.

4. Ensure your entire firm is fully committed to the use of Virtual Bankruptcy Assistants

You have made the investment of time and money and further devoted yourself to improving the efficiency of your firm, through the use of a Virtual Bankruptcy Assistant. Great move on your part. Now, please take a few moments and advise the staff of your firm of the essential part that the Virtual Bankruptcy Assistant will play in helping to advance the cause of the firm, by facilitating the growth of revenues and improvement of customer service. It can be frustrating to build a great business relationship with a individual bankruptcy attorney, to only be met with the cold shoulder of the staffers when help is needed. I always remind the personal bankruptcy attorney and the firm?s staff that it is not my intention to replace anyone, but only to help the lawyer increase their business, without a huge capital expense. Any words that can be passed onto the firm?s staff in support of this can be awesome, and help the bankruptcy petition process go just that much smoother.

Your success as a attorney always hinges on relationships, and the choice to build a relationship with a Virtual Bankruptcy Assistant is a wise one. Apply these 4 methods to Make Sure You Improve Your Use of Virtual Bankruptcy Assistants and reap the benefits later.

Article by Ccbrownlaw

Declaring bankruptcy demands full disclosure of all your property and financial affairs. Never hide property or assets while declaring bankruptcy. Everyone leaves a trail. Even you. If you think you can HIDE, you are making a BIG MISTAKE. Your bankruptcy papers are signed under penalty of perjury, so you are swearing that everything in them is true. One of the things you are swearing to is that your forms are complete, because the forms ask you to list “all” property, income, and debts. Filing incomplete or inaccurate bankruptcy forms can lead to your case being dismissed — or worse, if the court thinks you omitted information or made false statements intentionally.

The Bankruptcy law is not supposed to punish those who make one or two honest mistakes. If you accidentally leave something off your papers or misstate something on your forms, you can usually correct your papers or explain the mistake to the trustee. But if you leave out so much that it appears that you were careless, the court can find that your actions demonstrate an indifference to the truth and can dismiss your case on that basis. If you deliberately attempt to hide assets or use a false Social Security number, it will probably come back to haunt you more profoundly than your current debt crisis.

List all the Creditors:

Bankruptcy won’t help you if you hide information. If you fail to list creditors, the debts you owe them may not be wiped out by your bankruptcy discharge. So, don’t forget to list every person who claims that you owe them money — even if you don’t think you owe them a cent. In such situations, you can indicate that the debt is “disputed.” If the debt is already the subject of a pending lawsuit, the debt can be listed as “contingent” — that is, it depends on how the lawsuit comes out.

Don’t omit Creditors, just because you like them,

Some of the Bankrupts consider omitting creditors whom they like — such as a relative or a friendly local business person — to avoid having that debt wiped out. This is a bad idea, no matter how honorable your intentions. Bankruptcy law doesn’t allow you to play favorites. In fact, a central purpose of bankruptcy is to make sure that all of your creditors get their fair share of what you have, and that certain obligations (like child support) are not shortchanged. If the bankruptcy trustee learns that you’ve omitted creditors from your list, you’ll have to add them, and it will raise suspicion about other statements on your forms.

Include Money you May have Coming to you,

When you list your property on the bankruptcy forms, you shouldn’t include only the properties you have when you file, but also property that you may have coming to you. Such as,

An inheritance from a recently deceased relative which you have not yet received

Stock options, trust funds, or tax refunds

Pensions, retirement funds, annuities, and life insurance, and

Judgments from lawsuits you have filed or could file, arising from a personal injury or other matter.

So while declaring bankruptcy, tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. The punishment for fraud is serious. Jail time is not unusual for those who try to hide property from the court and get caught. Contact the Bankruptcy Attorneys at CC Brown Law firm to discuss your bankruptcy options.

For more details about http://www.ccbrownlaw.com/

Article by Deborah Beeksma

Thinking about filing for bankruptcy? There aresignificant upfront costs. The purpose of thisarticle is to give you a general idea of what toexpect.

Your minimum cost will be around 0 if youprepare your own forms that you downloadfor free from the courts. These forms arecomplicated and will take a long time tocomplete.

COST #1 – CREDIT COUNSELING CERTIFICATE & BUDGETBudget: -

One of the first things that you will need to do is to contact a court-approved credit counselor. Counseling sessions take anywhere from 45 minutes to 2 hours. Following this counseling, you will receive a certificate and budget which must be filed with the court along with your bankruptcy paperwork.This has to be done within six months before filingyour bankruptcy petition. Many of counselingservices offer on-line or telephone counseling.If you have a lawyer, sometimes the fee ispart of the cost charged by your attorney.

In some cases, this fee can be waivedwaived or reduced.

COST #2 – PREPARING YOUR BANKRUPTCY PETITIONBudget: – 0 +

A. Bankruptcy Lawyers

With the complexities of the new bankruptcylaws, you are wise to hire an attorney. Theproblem is that the reform bill has madebankruptcy so complicated that attorneys havehad to raise their rates. On the low end,I have found some attorneys who charge approximately0. More likely, you are looking at ,500 to ,500 in attorney fees.

Some attorneys will let you pay their fees ininstallments. If the installments are througha financing house, find out what the interestrate is!

There may be pro bono (free) servicesavailable. Check with your State BarAssociation to see if there are any attorneyswho will handle bankruptcy petitions on apro bono basis.

B. Document Preparers or Paralegals

If you cannot afford an attorney but are nervousabout preparing your own form, a document prepareror paralegal can help. Plan on around 0-0 forthese services. Document preparers cannotgive you legal advice or represent you in court.

C. Debt Relief Agency

Attorneys, document preparers, or anyone elseengaged in the business of preparing and/orfiling bankruptcy forms are considered to be”debt relief agencies,” as defined in the Code.A debt relief agency is required to tell youupfront what work will be performed and whatexactly it will cost.

D. Bankruptcy Forms and Software

“Fillable” forms range from .00 (provided by thebankruptcy courts with minimal instructions) to approximately 0.00. You really shouldhire an attorney, but if you cannot afford one,many of the forms offer step-by-step guidance,sort of like income tax software that you mayhave used. You can find some good softwarepackages for under .

E. Court Filing Fees

Plan on at least a 0-0 court filing fee. Check with your local bankruptcy court to get the exact figure.

COST #3 – MORE TO THE CREDIT COUNSELOR

When it’s all said and done, you need to get a”pre-discharge bankruptcy education certificate.”The average cost is .

~~~~~~

This article is not intended to be legal advice, buta simple guide to help you budget and plan for a bankruptcy filing. You can find links to the courts,court-approved credit counselors, attorney searchesand affordable software packages at:http://www.bankruptcy-filing.com.

Question by uscgvet: Is it legal to fill out bankruptcy forms for people?
Not as an attorney or paralegal, but just as someone who is familiar with the forms and has the necessary software to enter in the information and produce filled-out forms to give to the individual filing the BK, for them to file themselves with the court. I know of people who do this but I don’t know whether it is legal, and if it is, what is necessary.

Best answer:

Answer by This Epitaph
i’m sure its legal, as long as you’re doing it correctly, and the person you’re doing it for is there so you can make sure you’re filling it out correctly.

Add your own answer in the comments!

Question by Meliscious: When filing bankruptcy forms is it necessary to list the title of every single book and cd I own?
I know they want to know about every possession, but is “102 novels and textbooks” an acceptable answer?

Best answer:

Answer by Common
Generally, they are NOT looking for you to name every book and CD. The exception is where those items are of a higher than average value. For example, is one of your books a first edition Walt Whitman? That needs to be listed separately. The use copy of the latest Tom Clancy you got at the second hand book store? Doesn’t normally matter. So long as you’re accurately representing the value, that’s all they are normally looking for. They want to be sure you don’t have anything of high value that can be sold to pay your creditors.

Now, its obviously a good idea to work with an attorney on this. If you can’t afford a bankruptcy attorney, you need to look around the town where you live and see if any of them offer “bankruptcy clinics” – generally, you pay a greatly reduced fee to go there and fill out the paperwork by yourself, but with input by the attorney. It would be worth it to ensure that you are filling out the forms in accordance with your local BK court’s standards.

Give your answer to this question below!

Article by Raks Martin – Mortgage Refinance, Loan Modification & Bankruptcy Expert

People in heavy debt and unable to fulfill their commitments for repayments have no other alternative but to file for bankruptcy. People, generally, are in the dark about any laws especially if it related to bankruptcy. Bankruptcy laws are vast and subject to frequent changes by the government. They also differ from one state to another. The different in laws, state wise is very pronounced. It is impracticable for the layman to know the ins and outs of bankruptcy laws in order to file a proper application under the relevant provisions of the law. Professional legal is essential. Considering the state of the people who have already suffered, free bankruptcy services have been started by a number of well meaning and large hearted lawyers.

A lawyer, familiar and thorough with bankruptcy laws and procedures to be followed for filing them are the best people to offer bankruptcy counseling. Irrespective of the clause under which you may file your application it is the court that will decide which clause of the law is applicable. The bankruptcy application should contain all the information that will be required for the case to be processed and for the judge the right decision. Though you will be filing your application only through an expert lawyer, it is in your own interest to know the options available under the bankruptcy law. The expert lawyer may help in details but you should know what you can get. However, trying to avoid the counseling of a qualified lawyer is not an intelligent thing to do. Being a novice you are bound to go wrong somewhere.

Filing bankruptcy online is an option available now and it will greatly reduce the time taken for processing and for the court to give a verdict. Bankruptcy is a provision that will enable you to make payments to your debtors, as per a revised schedule, made by the court, after hearing from you about the amount and the period of such restructuring. The law is meant to protect both sides from exploitation.

For individuals, lawyers advice to file chapter 7 bankruptcy. It is the simplest and straight forward form of the law, especially suitable for an individual. Apart from chapter 7, other provisions are Chapter 11 for US businesses, Chapter 12 for farmers and fishermen, Chapter13 for individuals who need extra time and Chapter 15 for foreigners. Filing for a second bankruptcy within a certain period of the first one is not admissible.

Question by misunderstood parent: Where can I find the form Granting Automatic Stay for Relief from Calif Bankruptcy Court?

Best answer:

Answer by VATreasures
Here are the yahoo search results.

Know better? Leave your own answer in the comments!