Memphis Attorney Vincent Perryman discusses Bankruptcy with Bill Jones. Bill Jones explains a few differences between Chapter 7, Chapter 11, and Chapter 13 bankruptcy. Chapter 7 bankruptcy has requirements in order to qualify for it. Before filing bankruptcy the person filing has to take credit counseling.
Chapter 13 bankruptcy description and the process. The bankruptcy filer must run a qualifying test to file Chapter 13 and must take a debt counseling class. The bankruptcy court looks at expenses to see what is spent each month and determine the filer's discretionary income in order to determine how much will be paid back over 60 month period on unsecured debts. Secured debt will still need to be paid back in full or surrendered. The total unsecured debt will be calculated and then the discretionary income will be applied towards it for 60 months. At the end of 60 months the debt is considered repaid. Chapter 13 makes the bankruptcy filer more responsible for the debt accrued. If a payment is missed on Chapter 13, the filer then has to start back at the beginning and have to start over with the calculating of debt and then repayment. Landlords that are due rent by a bankruptcy filer must file a motion to have back rent paid and the tenant evicted.
Memphis attorneys discuss how the bankruptcy process works from beginning to end. The Bankruptcy Process starts by going to an attorney, getting an information packet and filing a petition to file bankruptcy. You must go to a meeting at Bankruptcy court that creditors can attend and ask questions about the client's debts. There are some alternatives to bankruptcy. In Memphis you can go to General Sessions court to file a motion to make payments. A judge then determines the payments the client can afford and helps the client resolve the debt that can reasonably can be handled by the debtor. The most successful solution is the Dave Ramsey final peace plan. You accomplish this by paying off the smallest payment of debt as quickly as possible and then after it is paid off you move to the next smallest debt and apply the payment you were making on the first debt to the second debt in addition to the normal payment. This causes a snowball effect and causes debt to be paid off more quickly. When filing bankruptcy, it will remain on your credit for 7 to 10 years. You can file every 8 years for bankruptcy unless you file Chapter 13 where you fall out of line and then you have to refile for the Chapter 13 Bankruptcy again. Before using debt consolidators take the contract to an attorney. Consolidators sometimes advise their clients to miss payments in order for the credit card company and other creditors to deal with you. This can cause more damage to your credit in the long run.
