Help Filing Personal Bankruptcy

In the most basic sense, filing personal bankruptcy is part art, part legal compliance, and includes a degree of creativity based in legal expertise. Interpreting laws, cases and rules favorably enables the best prepared debtors to seek up to the greatest benefit allowed by law. The date for filing personal bankruptcy should be chosen carefully to maximize the benefits of filing, and represents the culmination of weeks or months of prebankruptcy planning.

Selecting a personal bankruptcy advisor

Lawyers and law firms who do not practice consumer bankruptcy law are ill-equipped to represent debtors effectively in federal courts. Chapter seven bankruptcy law and Chapter thirteen bankruptcy law contain highly specialized rules subject to complex judicial interpretation. Inexperienced general practioners are prone to commit a wide assortment of mistakes, and just as importantly, miss many opportunities to exploit an advantage that may only be recognized after years of experience.

When given a choice, experience and respect of the court should be given primary consideration. Current involvement in bankruptcy pending litigation and adversary proceedings is highly desirable. After the effective date of the new bankruptcy laws, according to the most recent bankruptcy statistics, Chap 11 is rapidly growing in popularity due to new qualification requirements and restrictions imposed on other chapters.

How to declare bankruptcy in federal courts

The new bankruptcy Chapter 7 rules use a disposable income limit and test the ratio between disposable income to total debts ("means testing") as a condition of qualification. Additionally, The new bankruptcy Chapter 13 rules also use means testing to determine the minimum duration of a plan for repayment and reorganization of debts. To date, bankruptcy Chap 11 rules do not include these means testing requirements, and individuals remain free to file Chapter 11 reorganization plans.