Is It Time To File For Bankruptcy

For many people, filing for bankruptcy can give them a fresh financial start. But if bankruptcy is right for you depends on many factors and consulting with an attorney from the Law Offices of Marc Grossman may be the best the way to find out.

Will Bankruptcy Help?

You should evaluate all of your options before deciding to file for bankruptcy. What types of debt do you have? What are you trying to achieve by filing for bankruptcy? Kepp in mind that a bankruptcy does not discharge all types of debt (priority creditors). If you are trying to get rid a priority creditor but you are otherwise OK financially, a bankruptcy may not do you any good. In other situations, creditors may be willing to work with you so that you can avoid bankruptcy altogether.

Can You Qualify for Bankruptcy?

The most common bankruptcies are Chapter 7 and Chapter 13 and both have specific eligibility criteria. For a Chapter 7, you must be able to show that your income is below the means test threshold. For a Chapter 13, there are limits on the amount of debt, the amount of real property and your disposable income.

Are You Being Sued?

Creditors and other people may sue you to collect money that you owe them. If a you are being sued you should immediately contact the Law Offices of Marc Grossman. Bankruptcy will stop most lawsuits and stop garnishments and other levies and attachments but you must act quickly.  Many times once your account has been levied it is a struggle to get it back.  After filing for bankruptcy, an automatic stay goes into effect. The automatic stay will stop almost every collection action or lawsuit against you and eliminate the associated debt.

Are You Being Foreclose on or Repossess Your Property?

Secured debt like a house or car may be foreclosed on or repossessed if you fall behind on payments.  However, in most cases filing for bankruptcy will stop all such actions at least temporarily. Your attorney from the Law Offices of Marc Grossman can often use this time to negotiate with your lender to save your home or car.  Not every home or car can be saved but the sooner you call your lawyer, the better the chances are that you can save your property.

How Much Property Do You Own?

In most cases you will not lose any personal property by filing bankruptcy.  However, there are limitations on the value of the property that you can retain.  The law provides exemptions for many different categories of property.  The Law Offices of Marc Grossman will discuss those exemptions with you and assist you in determining if your property exceeds the exemption.  You may determine that filing for bankruptcy isn’t appropriate for you at this time.