The Fundamentals of Bankruptcy
As can be expected in a downward trending economy, more and more people are choosing to voluntarily file for bankruptcy. To assist the people in this situation, this article was created to explain some of the aspects of bankruptcy.
Bankruptcy is when someone is unable to repay their debts for whatever reason. This debt can either be considered unsecured (medical bills that you are unable to repay) or secured debt (you still own the automobile).
Unfortunately, since the bankruptcy process is very complicated, it is imperative that you enlist the services of a lawyer. Failure to do this can cost you dearly in the long run.
One of the interesting things about bankruptcy is the fact that you can be involuntarily forced to declare bankruptcy. That’s right; a debt collector can take you to court to collect on outstanding debt.
Depending on your situation, you can choose between two chapters of bankruptcy. In Chapter 7, you simply do not have the assets to repay your debt. In a Chapter 13 filing, you do have the means to repay at least some of your debt, so the court will help you devise a repayment plan to satisfy your creditors claims.
It is very important to stress this again. You must use a lawyer in the bankruptcy proceedings. Even though this will cost you more money, bankruptcy law is entirely too complex to proceed alone.
In the past, the attorney only played a small role in the proceedings. However, now that the law has been rewritten, the lawyer must play a significant role. As an example, the lawyer must now affirm that all of the legal forms you fill out for the court are correct and truthful.
As a result of the law change, the cost of filing for bankruptcy has increased. While a lawyer now gets paid more than before, in all actuality, the lawyer is now performing much more work while accepting a larger chunk of responsibility.
Now that you have completed reading this article, we are sure that you will choose to procure a lawyer to assist in this legal process. If you choose not to, you are simply setting yourself up for heartbreak in the future, in terms of many hours of frustration.