Understanding Your Options and What You Can Accomplish If you've lost your job because of the COVID-19 crisis, you may already be feeling the financial crunch. Unfortunately, for many, it appears that those jobs won't be coming back soon. As your financial challenges mount, you might consider personal bankruptcy as a tool for getting a fresh … [Read more...]
The Documents You’ll Need for a Chapter 7 Bankruptcy Filing
A Checklist to Help You Streamline the Process American bankruptcy laws were enacted to give debtors a second chance. With a Chapter 7 petition, you can permanently discharge some of your debts in exchange for transferring some property to the bankruptcy trustee, who will sell it to pay creditors. However, one requirement of the bankruptcy process … [Read more...]
Why You Don’t Want to Handle Your Own Bankruptcy Proceeding
If you're struggling to pay your bills and have determined that a bankruptcy filing is your best way forward, there can be a temptation to try to handle all the legal documentation and filings on your own, so that you don't have to pay attorney fees. That's almost always the wrong decision, and for a variety of good reasons: The bankruptcy … [Read more...]
Rebuilding Your Credit Score after You’ve Filed for Bankruptcy Protection
When you are struggling to meet your financial obligations, you may resist the decision to seek protection under the federal bankruptcy laws, fearing that your credit will be permanently ruined. While there's no question that your credit rating will temporarily decline, there is credit life after bankruptcy. It is possible to rebuild your credit … [Read more...]
What Is a “Fraudulently Incurred” Debt?
Which Debts are “Fraudulent”? The discharge—legal write-off—of a debt can be challenged if at the time the debtor received the credit — the “money, property, services, or an extension, renewal, or refinancing of credit”—it was a result of his or her intentional misrepresentation, and the creditor relied on that misrepresentation in extending the … [Read more...]