Chapter 7 Bankruptcy grants you the opportunity to cancel all of your debts, in exchange for liquidating most of your assets.
Under the Chapter7 Bankruptcy, the court orders an appointed case trustee to take over your estate to be sold or ‘liquidated’ at government auctions and from which the proceeds will go to all your creditors. Then, you will be discharged, that is, after almost all your assets had been literally, wiped-off. No matter how bad it sounds, we should all admit that for the past decades, most people had been taking advantage of the debt-discharge to meet with their lavish activities bringing them into debt. Keep in mind, the new bankruptcy limits those who can qualify for a Chapter 7 bankruptcy.
Prospective Liquidation filers would need to undergo a more thorough evaluation called ‘Means Test’, performed in order to identify their true ability to pay their debts. Under the new law, the Chapter 7 Bankruptcy requires that the individuals opting for bankruptcy should have incomes lower than their state-mandated median family income. Failure to meet this condition would require these debtors to have a repayment of some of their important debts (after revealing they actually can) instead of being completely relieved (‘discharged’) from most or all of it. A person is not qualified to file for chapter 7 bankruptcy if they have recently filed one during the past 6 to 8 years. The debtor is required to file for the reorganization or repayment plan if they fail to pass standard eligibility requirements.
In order to be qualified, the debtor must complete the credit counseling course, as well as accomplish a two page petition, and present the certificate to the bankruptcy court and creditors for evaluation. Within these bankruptcy forms, the debtor must give details about his property, current income and its sources, monthly living expenses, other debts, and any type of property that he owns (including exempt properties).
Most state bankruptcy courts also allows filers to keep equity in home, clothing, household furnishings, unspent Social Security payments, and other necessities such as a car and the tools of trade, property owned and money spent during the previous two years, and property sold or given away during the previous two years. The qualified bankrupt is then protected by an automatic stay as well as limited by it. The individual is not allowed to sell any of his property without the courts consent, since his property and debts in hand is technically in the hands of the court.
At the end of the Chapter7 Bankruptcy process, all debts are discharged except debts that automatically survive bankruptcy as with creditor-secured debts, child support, student loans, and some tax debts, as well as court-declared creditor non-dischargeable debts due to debtor’s fraud. Understand that getting a mortgage after bankruptcy will also be difficult in the near future.
