Can I Keep Anything If I File For Bankruptcy In Texas?
Tuesday, December 21st, 2010Many ideas and mental pictures are affiliated with bankruptcy, but its strictest definition is very simple. lawfully, you are declaring yourself unable to repay yourdebts . opposite to popular myth , it is not a chance for creditors to come to your home and taken over all your possessions . Depending on the kind , or “chapter”, bankruptcy that you declare , you will only have to lose certain items or most likely none at all.
The majority of individuals and families declare only tow of the many types of bankruptcies, Chapter 7 or Chapter 13. Filing Chapter 7 bankruptcy is requesting that the judge to excuse all outstanding debt . Your slate will be wiped clean of fiscal obligations . This “do-over” comes with a price; all nonexempt property could be sold to get money for your creditors. Exemption rules vary from state to state, but generally speaking , most valuable assets will be exempt in Texas. Your house and your car are prime examples. Lower-valued items, called personal assets, can’t genuinely be collected up and include such things as your clothes, music, videos, and furniture. The maximum dollar amount that separates exempt from nonexempt will vary for each state. You can consult a Dallas bankruptcy attorney for better advice about that .
Also, understand that not all of your debts can be erased by Chapter 7. Alimony and child support cannot be dismissed, as well as student loans. Any loan involving collateral, such as the mortgage on your house or your vehicle loan, cannot be discharged if you want to keep that particular piece of property. And any debt incurred after you have filed the bankruptcy does not qualify, so be careful when you put the case on file . insure that you will not incur any more debt in the time to come.
If your income or assets are above a certain limit , you will not qualify for a Chapter 7 bankruptcy. In that instance , most families file a Chapter 13 bankruptcy as an alternative. With Chapter 13, you won’t lose any of your possession to creditors, but neither is your debt eliminated immediately. Instead, you are required to produce a payment schedule for the three to five years, one that is determined based on how much you can give. You must have income in order to prove you are can follow through on that payment schedule .
You may be more concerned about retaining your credit score . It is true that a filed bankruptcy will not help your credit explanation, but it won’t hurt it as much as you suppose. Your bankruptcy will appear on your credit report for up to 10 years, but in the meantime you will have wiped free all of the old bills . This, in hypothesis, will allow you to pay new debt promptly , thus improving your credit score. Compared to the alternative, with unpaid debts lingering on indefinitely , bankruptcy probably will be a huge improvement to your credit report .
Nobody likes the stigma of taking out bankruptcy, but just the petition itself can do so many things . It can put a stop on threatened repossession, can stop wage garnishment, and can stop the frightening debt collector harassment . It can give you the time you need to make changes to your budget and put together a payment plan, and it can give you a second chance. Sit down with a Dallas bankruptcy attorney, go over Texas rules , and make the time to consider whether bankruptcy is right for you .
