Find the perfect lawyer for your specific legal needs at PittsburghAttorney.info.
Consumer Law Topics
Vehicle Related Issues
Consumer Law Articles
Featured Pittsburgh Bankruptcy Attorney
Featured Article - A Bankruptcy Lawyer's Perspective
One of the most
rewarding things about being a bankruptcy
attorney is the ability to help people. I am
really not interested in how people got into
debt. That fact really doesn't matter to me.
Whether it was from an illness, injury, job
loss, divorce, overspending, or simply bad
financial decisions, the situation remains
the same. It may become important going
forward in the future to that person. He may
not want to travel down the same road that
brought him into bankruptcy. For example,
someone who did not have medical insurance
and has a chronic illness may continue to
incur medical bills that are uncovered in
the future. For that person, he needs to
make a change in his life, so that he
doesn't become a victim to debt in the
future.
I am much more interested in how I can help
this person get out of debt. The
overwhelming majority of people qualify
under Chapter 7 of the U.S. bankruptcy code.
Chapter 7 is known as a fresh start or
liquidation bankruptcy, however, not much
ever gets liquidated. Most of the people
filing for Chapter 7 bankruptcy have very
little in the way of assets, very little in
the way of income, in terms of being able to
repay their debt and in fact, do receive a
fresh start. In recent times, since the law
change in October 2005, it has become more
difficult for anyone to file a Chapter 7
fresh start bankruptcy case. That being
said, the overwhelming majority of people
approximately 85%, in fact, still qualify
and receive a Chapter 7 bankruptcy
discharge. The other 15% of potential
applicants, are either not eligible for
Chapter 7 or their Chapter 7 gets dismissed
upon motion of the United States trustee.
What happens in those cases is the person
either switches to a Chapter 13 and does
some form of reorganization under the
Bankruptcy code or simply allows the Chapter
7 case to dismiss. That debtor is then
eligible to possible file a bankruptcy at a
later time in his life. The U.S. trustee's
office at the national and local level does
keep statistics on how many chapter seven
bankruptcy cases are dismissed and how much
total that is determined to be
non-dischargeable. What is still unknown is
what percentage of that debt becomes
collected in the future by the creditors.
What I think is happening is simply Chapter
7 debtors who are turned down are finding
alternative ways to deal with the creditors
and continue to live their lives. There is a
percentage, of course, that will file a
Chapter 13 bankruptcy and reorganize and pay
the creditors something back (somewhere
between 10% and 100%).
David M. Siegel is the author of Chapter 7 Success: The Complete Guide to Surviving Personal Bankruptcy. He is a member of the American Bankruptcy Institute and currently practices bankruptcy law in Chicago and its surrounding suburbs. Additional information is available at http://www.chapter7success.com .
Article Source: http://www.ArticleBiz.com
Sponsors