The Impact of Chapter 7 and Chapter 13 on Your Property Rights You’re struggling to meet your financial obligations because you’ve been laid off, you’re going through a divorce, or you’ve incurred substantial medical expenses not covered by insurance. You know filing for bankruptcy can help you get a fresh start, but the last thing you want or … [Read more...]
Proceedings Not Affected by the Automatic Stay
Legal Matters that Won't Be Suspended When You File for Bankruptcy If you've been considering filing for protection under the bankruptcy laws to help you deal with unmanageable debt, one of the factors that may have attracted you is the automatic stay that goes into effect immediately upon filing for bankruptcy. The automatic stay prevents your … [Read more...]
Take Action Now to Get Protection Under the Bankruptcy Law
The Sooner You File, the Better If you're like many Americans, you're struggling financially right now as the COVID-19 pandemic persists. You may be one of the more than 20 million who've lost their job, with the prospects of getting another one any time soon looking slim. Your savings are gone, and you're getting behind on car and mortgage … [Read more...]
Must You Include Your Spouse in Your Bankruptcy Filing?
Can One Spouse File Independently of the Other? If you're married and facing financial challenges, you may wonder whether you have to include your spouse as a party in the event you decide to file for bankruptcy. What if your spouse owned a house with a mortgage on it at the time of your marriage and never re-titled the property to include you? … [Read more...]
Legal Actions Not Affected by a Bankruptcy Filing
The Impact of a Bankruptcy Filing on Other Legal Proceedings When you file a petition under Chapter 7, Chapter 13 or any other part of American bankruptcy law, an automatic stay immediately goes into effect, preventing creditors from filing or proceeding with any legal action to collect the debt except through the bankruptcy process. The automatic … [Read more...]
Discharging Tax Debts in Bankruptcy
The Limited Circumstances Where You Can Wipe Out Tax Arrearages in Bankruptcy In Chapter 7 bankruptcy proceedings, you can permanently eliminate certain debts in exchange for transferring property to the bankruptcy trustee, who sells those assets to satisfy creditors. Among debts generally considered not to be dischargeable in Chapter 7 are tax … [Read more...]
How Will a Bankruptcy Filing Affect Your Ability to Make a Living?
The Impact on Your Current Employment and Future Job Opportunities Even though the American bankruptcy laws were intended to offer a positive form of relief for persons experiencing financial challenges, there's often still a stigma attached to bankruptcy. Many people worry their employer will learn of the bankruptcy proceeding and let them go, or … [Read more...]
The Federal Bankruptcy Exemptions
Protecting Your Assets When You Seek to Permanently Discharge Debts As we indicated in an earlier blog, the allowable exemptions under Texas law in a Chapter 7 bankruptcy petition are extremely generous. As a general rule, you'll be better served by claiming the exemptions under state law. Here, however, are the types and limits on property that … [Read more...]
The Texas Bankruptcy Exemptions
Protecting Property from Attachment in a Chapter 7 Filing When you seek protection under the bankruptcy laws, you can choose to permanently discharge debts under Chapter 7 or to reorganize your debt under Chapter 13. With a Chapter 7 filing, you must turn over certain assets to the bankruptcy court to be sold to pay your creditors. But that … [Read more...]
How Soon Can You Re-File for Bankruptcy in Texas?
The Waiting Period for Chapter 7 and Chapter 13 You can go through a bankruptcy proceeding with the best of intentions, pay close attention to your finances and still have difficulty meeting your obligations. Often, it's a health problem that brings you to consider filing for bankruptcy. That's no surprise and no cause for shame—it's the single … [Read more...]