The Law Offices of Alexzander C. J. Adams, P.C.

A discharge is the permanent court order you get a t the end of the bankruptcy that permanently eliminates your debt covered by the bankruptcy. Debts that are eliminated by discharge may never, ever attempt to collect their balance from you. If they do, you may have the ability to bring a lawsuit against the creditor who ignores the bankruptcy.

When a bankruptcy is filed, you are granted what is called the 'automatic stay.' This automatic stay order serves as essentially a restraining order against debt collectors during the bankruptcy. Within a short time after filing bankruptcy, the calls stop, the garnishment stop, the collection lawsuits stop, foreclosures stop, and car repossession order cease. This provides a cooling off period for you as you work through the bankruptcy. At the conclusion of the case, you receive a discharge which makes permanent against most debts the restraining order.

No. The laws of bankruptcy provide for 'exemptions' which allow you to keep certain properties in certain categories. For the vast amount of people that file bankruptcy in Chapter 7, you keep all or most of your property. Once you have property that reaches a certain threshold of value (which is much high than you may think), you would surrender the property to the court to be sold to pay some portion of your debts. In Chapter 13, you are able to make payments to the court rather than surrendering property. It is vital to know this information before your file bankruptcy.

Bankruptcy is enshrined in our constitution in Article I. Section 8. "The Congress shall have power to establish uniform laws on the subject of bankruptcies throughout the United States." Denial of a bankruptcy is a very rare event and there are typically other reasons why a bankruptcy is disallowed. A better question to ask is how would a bankruptcy affect my personal situation?

Most Chapter 7 cases take about three months from the filing date to wind through the court process. Most Chapter 13 cases take between three to five years to go through the court systems.

Bankruptcy covers most debts. These debts include car repossession, credit card debt, payday loan debt, past landlord rental debt, medical bills, past due utilities, cash loans, personal loans, lines of credit, certain past taxes, most lawsuit judgments, surrendered car loans, foreclosure deficiencies, and many other debts. Bankruptcy also can provide a path to paying child and spousal support arrearages, mortgage arrearages, car loans, recent taxes, and other secured debts in a single monthly payment through the bankruptcy trustee.

Bankruptcy is a federal court proceeding that allows for the swift resolution most debt in an expedited manner. There are two types of bankruptcy - Chapter 7 and Chapter 13 - that can be used to resolve most debts.