The Procedures For Filing Chapter 7 Bankruptcy
If you think about filing Chapter 7 Bankruptcy, you should first get accurate information. In the next few lines you will find the general of the procedures involved with a Chapter 7 bankruptcy. Although, such information are available online, you should under no circumstances try to file bankruptcy without an attorney. He is the only one who will be able to advise you and who will know all nuances of bankruptcy law along with all the creditors' rights in bankruptcy and other vital information. · To begin with, we must notice that for filing a Chapter 7 you will be required to file several documents including a list of creditors and exempt property, a schedule of assets and liabilities as well as a schedule of current income and expenditures etc. · After filing all the papers, you must surrender to the trustee some of your properties. This also implies that creditors will not have the right of pursuing you and your property outside the bankruptcy procedure. All of them will be noticed regarding your bankruptcy, by the clerk of court. · The next step consists in meeting the creditors who will question you about your debts as well as about your ability to pay. The meeting is called by the U.S. Trustee and you are required to attend. In some states, your attorney is also required to attend. The creditors and the trustee may question you while the judge may not do that at this moment.. One of the differences that exist between a trial and this meeting is that your attorney is not allowed to "object" to questions in a formal sense. It gives creditors a chance to question you and you are demanded to respond in good faith. · Within the next 30 days, a creditor of the trustee assigned to your case can object to your listed exemptions. Each creditor should file a proof of claim in the next 90 days from the first date set for the meeting of creditors. If a surplus of cash remains at the end of the case, after all of the claims are paid in full, the court can grant an extension of time for filing of claims not filed during the initial period of time. The trustee is allowed to object to any claim. · In the next 60 days after first date set for the creditors meeting the trustee can file an objection to your receiving of a general discharge of all of your debts. If no motion to dismiss is pending and if no such objection is filed in the allowed period of time, the court will normally grant a discharge. Yet, a creditor can object to the dischargeability of a particular debt even after the 60 days period of time if the debt: is a government insured student loan, a tax or customs duty, a government fine or penalty, is related to child support or is not listed in the schedules so that a creditor could file a proof of claim Student loans have a special statute. You will be demanded to pay them even after filing Chapter 7 bankruptcy. Previous law allowed the discharge of student loans, once they had been paid for over 7 years. The amendment made in 1998 stipulates that the only case when a student loan is dischargeable is when, by repaying it, an undue hardship on you or your family is created. In order to prove hardship means demonstrating that you can not provide a minimum standard of living for yourself and for your family if you are forced to pay he loan. |
