Financial Considerations Regarding Successive Bankruptcies
As a final note, anyone who has already filed for bankruptcy once and is thinking about doing it again may benefit from working with credit counselors. Often, the core reason for getting into debt time after time has to do more with financial habits than financial situations. Although a core element of filing for bankruptcy is undergoing , extra information can be extremely helpful.
A smart practice for anyone who is going through bankruptcy or working out debts is to develop and use a household budgeting tool. Whether it is online or on paper, a budget helps map out money that is incoming versus expected expenses. Many people find that budgets can be easy to follow and keep them out of future debt.
Who Should File Chapter 13 Bankruptcy
Many people think of bankruptcy court as the final stop on a path to financial ruin, the only option left when repaying debts seems impossible. But theres hope even in bankruptcy, and Chapter 13 of the federal bankruptcy code offers the closest thing to a soft landing.
Sometimes called the Wage Earners Bankruptcy, Chapter 13 allows those with enough income to repay all or part of their debts as an alternative to liquidation. Its bankruptcy for those whose biggest problem is dealing with creditors demands for immediate payment, not lack of income.
One of its most attractive features is the chance to keep your home after Chapter 13 bankruptcy as long as you can pay the mortgage and any amount required by your Chapter 13 repayment plan..
Under Chapter 13, people have three to five years to resolve their debts while applying all their disposable income to debt reduction. The option allows applicants to eliminate unsecured debts while catching up on missed mortgage payments. Short-circuiting home foreclosure is one of the options most attractive features. Though keeping your home can be a major relief, youre required to spend years living under the supervision of a court-appointed trustee who will collect and distribute your payments.
How Much Are Chapter 7 Bankruptcy Fees In Ga
A bankruptcy filing fee is the same in every state because these fees are set by the court system and federal laws. The filing fee for Georgia Chapter 7 bankruptcy is $338, effective December 1, 2020.;
You have to pay the filing fee at the same time you file a petition for bankruptcy with the Court. Filing fees are the same, no matter if you are retaining bankruptcy attorneys or not. If you do, you also have to pay attorneys fees in addition.;
The day you have filed bankruptcy forms to the court is in some cases called the filing date. It is important because on that date everything is set in motion. For example, as soon as you file for a Chapter 7 bankruptcy in Georgia, an automatic stay is imposed.
The state of Georgia has laws that will protect debtors from debt collectors, one of the most important is the automatic stay. It prevents creditors from pursuing any collection efforts from that moment forward. This includes taking legal action against you. Although the automatic stay is considered temporary, it will protect the debtor from creditors the whole time until Chapter 7 is discharged. At that point it will be no longer needed because once Chapter 7 is discharged in Georgia, the debt is gone forever. Creditors can no longer attempt to collect the debts that have been discharged.
When you file for bankruptcy, the clerk assigns a case number, a judge, as well as a bankruptcy trustee. After that, the 341 meeting is scheduled.
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How Often Can You File Bankruptcy In California. How many times depends on how long its been since your last bankruptcy case and what type. How often can you file chapter 7 bankruptcy faqs There are currently no restrictions as far as how many times you can file for bankruptcy. Following a chapter 7 or 11 discharge, you must wait eight years before filing.
Impact On Credit Report
Handing over your keys will still have a negative impact on your credit report because you will have defaulted on your loan contract with your lender. It is slightly better because it will appear on your credit report as a voluntary surrender rather than a repossession but it will will stay on your credit report for 7 years.
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What Is A 341 Meeting
Once you have successfully filed for Chapter 7, one of the next steps in the process is a court-appointed trustee will be assigned to your bankruptcy case. It is the trustees job to overlook your case and go through all of the paperwork and details to make sure that there is no fraud. He or she may also want to take a look at your bank statements, deeds to any real estate, and vehicle titles. The trustee will also assist in the liquidation of your assets.
It is important that all of your paperwork is filled out correctly and that you list all of your assets. The trustee just wants to make sure that all assets will be distributed correctly. If the trustee somehow finds out that you are hiding assets, he or she can ask the court to deny or revoke your discharge.
Once a trustee is assigned to your case, a 341 meeting will be scheduled. The purpose of the 341 meetings is to let the trustee go through the paperwork you have filed. He or she will ask you questions about your debt and assets. Your bankruptcy lawyer will be present with you during this meeting but cannot answer questions on your behalf.;
Keeping Your Home In Chapter 7 Bankruptcy
In addition to making sure that your home is not subject to sale when filing a Chapter 7 in Georgia, you must be sure that your mortgage payment is current in a;Chapter 7 in order to avoid foreclosure in Georgia. Mortgage companies will not normally foreclose on your home in a Chapter 7 if you keep your monthly payments current. Even if you are not current on your mortgage payments in a Chapter 7, you can work with your mortgage company outside of the bankruptcy case in order to modify your monthly payments or address the mortgage arrears. There are HUD-approved programs to help homeowners work on mortgage modifications to save their homes.
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Protecting Property In Chapter 7 Bankruptcy Cases
Liquidation is subject to what are called exemptions in bankruptcy. Although bankruptcy law is a federal law, each state may choose to use its own exemptions.;In Georgia, a debtor in bankruptcy may exempt up to $21,500.00 for real estate;in which the debtor resides under the homestead exemption. Georgia bankruptcy exemptions also protect vehicles, 401s, IRAs, or other retirement plans, some cash, and household goods and furnishings in a Chapter 7 bankruptcy case.
You may wonder how a $21,500.00 homestead exemption can protect your house in Chapter 7 if your house has a higher fair market value. The trustee will not be interested in selling your home if it does not have equity. For example, if your home has a fair market value of $100,000, and you have a mortgage in the amount of $110,000, then the mortgage companys interest in the home exceeds the value of the home. Thus, if the trustee sold your home, the trustee would not receive a net profit. In that situation, you would not even need that homestead exemption to keep your home. Under the same scenario, if your mortgage was only $78,500.00, then you would have to apply the $21,500.00 homestead exemption to protect your home from sale.
What Is A Chapter 13 Bankruptcy
A Chapter 13 bankruptcy is a payment plan approved by the Bankruptcy Court where you pay your debts in full or in part. It requires you to have a steady source of income that is enough to pay necessary living expenses in addition to paying the debts under your Chapter 13 plan.
Chapter 13 bankruptcy is generally used to stop a foreclosure or save a car.; Chapter 13 can spread your mortgage or car payment arrearage out over 36 to 60 months to make the payment more affordable.
In Chapter 13, you make payments to an attorney called a Chapter 13 Bankruptcy Trustee. Usually, you do this for three to five years. The Trustee uses the money to pay your creditors. In a Chapter 13, you also list all your debts and property. West Virginia law lets you keep a certain amount of property you own free and clear. This is the same property that would be protected from your creditors in a Chapter 7 bankruptcy.
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Georgia Legal Aid Organizations
Legal aid in Georgia includes a few organizations that can assist you when filing Chapter 7 bankruptcy. Legal Aid Atlanta, in addition to their headquarters in Atlanta, serve the counties of Clayton, S. Fulton, Cobb, DeKalb and Gwinnett. Additionally, folks outside of Atlanta can turn to the Georgia Legal Aid or Georgia Legal Services to get help. Finally, if you are a member of the military, the State Bar of Georgia can connect you with an attorney that is willing to provide free or reduced-fee legal services as part of its Military Legal Assistance Program.
Are Student Loans Dischargeable
On the other hand, some debts arent dischargeable, such as student loans, some court-ordered damage awards, child support, as well as certain taxes. That means these debts will not go away in bankruptcy, so youll have to find a way to repay them.;
But, in case a debtor can prove that she or he is suffering from an undue hardship that will prevent them from repaying certain debt like a student loan, it may be possible to discharge it.
Bankruptcy lawyer Matthew Cherney, the founder of Cherney Law Firm, is capable of obtaining the best possible results for your situation.
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How Often Can I File For Bankruptcy
If you are experiencing financial problems, you may be wondering how often you can file for bankruptcy. The short answer is, it depends if you received a discharge in a prior bankruptcy. If your debts were not discharged, you can file as many times as you like. However, if you received a prior discharge,revisions to the bankruptcy code in 2005 set strict limits on when you can reapply. You can file for bankruptcy two or more times if you allow the required time to lapse between filings. The amount of time depends on what chapter you filed in your prior bankruptcies.
Filing Under Different Chapters: The Order Matters
Here are the waiting periods when a second bankruptcy case is a different chapter than the one you received your first discharge in.
Chapter 13 before Chapter 7
- If the court granted your first discharge under Chapter 13 bankruptcy, you’d need to wait six years before filing for a Chapter 7 discharge. You won’t have to wait that long; however, if you paid unsecured creditors in full in the Chapter 13 case, or if you paid at least 70% of the claims, the plan was proposed in good faith and was represented your best effort.
Chapter 7 before Chapter 13
- If the court granted your first discharge under Chapter 7, you’d have to wait four years from the Chapter 7 filing date before filing a Chapter 13 case.
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Contact A Chapter 7 Bankruptcy Lawyer At Morgan & Morgan
Are you asking, how often can you file chapter 7 bankruptcy in Athens and Georgia? You can file bankruptcy as often as you want, but the effect might be limited. For a free consultation with an experienced Georgia bankruptcy lawyer, contact Morgan & Morgan, Attorneys at Law, P.C. Home, virtual, and after-hours visits are available.
When The Court Dismisses Your Bankruptcy For Other Reasons
If the court dismisses your bankruptcy case and you file another case within one year, the automatic stay in the new matter would be limited to 30 days. If you had two or more dismissals within one year of your new bankruptcy, you wouldn’t receive the benefit of the automatic stay.
In either situation, the remedy is to file a motion asking the court to order or extend the automatic stay in your current case. You’ll need to explain why doing so would be fair in the present matter.
What Is the Automatic Stay in Bankruptcy?
The automatic stay is the cornerstone of bankruptcy. It protects you from collection actions while the bankruptcy court processes your case. For instance, the automatic stay prohibits creditors from calling or contacting you about collecting their debt, as well as lawsuits and foreclosure actions. If a creditor harasses you or continues its collection efforts against you in violation of the automatic stay, you will typically have grounds to seek damages against it.
Also, automatic stay penalties exist for debtors, too, for instance, if you commit bankruptcy fraud by hiding assets, lying on your bankruptcy papers, or otherwise filing your case in bad faith. The bankruptcy court can prohibit you from filing another bankruptcy for a more extended period or prevent you from wiping out any of the debts listed in the current case.
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When You’ve Taken Advantage Of The Bankruptcy Process
If you do something wrong intentionally , the bankruptcy court can punish you by prohibiting you from filing another bankruptcy case for a specific amount of time. In such cases, the court dismisses your case “with prejudice”
Failing to obey a court order will likely result in the court dismissing the case with prejudice. Filing multiple matters with the intent to delay creditors, voluntarily dismissing a bankruptcy after a creditor filed a motion for relief from the automatic stay, or otherwise trying to abuse the bankruptcy system will also be problematic. Expect the court to order you to wait 180 days before refiling another case in these situations.
Advantages To A California Chapter 13 Payment Plan:
If you received a discharge in chapter 7, you must wait 8 years from the date you filed that case before you can file another chapter 7 and receive a discharge. If you are filing for bankruptcy in california, you are not alone. How often can you file chapter 7 bankruptcy faqs The bankruptcy laws in california are the same as in every other us state. As these chapters dont impose a waiting time requirement between discharges, you can file for chapter 11 or 12 at any time following a prior discharge. While you can file for bankruptcy at any time, you can only receive a bankruptcy discharge every certain number of years.
The law allows you to file chapter 7 bankruptcy once every eight years, up to a total of three times in your life. That said, there are limits on how many times you can obtain a bankruptcy discharge. Doan law group is conducting bankruptcy consultations telephonically or via zoom, and until further notice, all bankruptcy 341 meetings will also be conducted in the same manner. How often can you file chapter 7 bankruptcy faqs This means wage garnishments and repossessions have to stop as soon as your case is.
Bankruptcy law provides for an automatic stay of debt collection actions. The time begins running on the day of your discharge. Filing bankruptcy in california can help you wipe your slate clean and get a fresh start. Previously filed chapter 7 and filing chapter 7 again: 2 years after a chapter 13 discharge before filing a new chapter 13 case.
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Can Bankruptcy Save My House And My Car
Bankruptcy provides a fresh start for many people who have accrued unsecured debts. However, bankruptcy laws consider child support to be a priority debt, meaning it cannot be discharged in bankruptcy proceedings. People who file for Chapter 13 bankruptcy will have to include any outstanding child support obligations in their mandatory repayment plan, and those filing for Chapter 7 bankruptcy are not protected from bill collectors and lawsuits that seek payment of child support debt.
Can One Spouse Declare Bankruptcy In Georgia
Yes, married couples can file for bankruptcy jointly or separately. Typically, individuals will file either a Chapter 7 or a Chapter 13 bankruptcy in Georgia. When an individual declares bankruptcy separately from their spouse, they are not a co-debtor on any of the debts, they will not be listed on the petition. If the non-filing spouse is a co-debtor on any of the filing spouses debt, the non-filing spouses name and address will need to be listed in the bankruptcy petition. However, with both a Chapter 7 and Chapter 13 filing, the individual will need to disclose all household income, including the spouses income.
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