Finding out if bankruptcy is the best option for you takes research, patience, and experience with bankruptcy laws. While there is a lot of information on the Internet about different bankruptcy options, the truth is that this is an area of the law that requires guidance from a skilled professional.
Whether or not you should file bankruptcy, and under which Chapter you should file, are all things that a bankruptcy lawyer can assist you with.
Bankruptcy is an excellent choice for many people and businesses. However, there are also many alternatives that may be able to help you manage your serious financial situation without having to resort to bankruptcy.
Generally, the best way to learn which option makes the most sense for you is to discuss your financial issues with a bankruptcy legal professional in your area.
f you are planning to file bankruptcy, Massachusetts Bankruptcy lawyers can help you to have the best possible results.
Although it sometimes gets a bad name, bankruptcy exists to protect individuals as well as businesses who have had the unexpected happen. A Massachusetts bankruptcy attorney understands the laws and will fight to get the best possible settlement for you to protect your assets.
Individuals may file bankruptcy for any number of reasons. Sometimes the filing may be brought on because of a loss of a job, medical bills or just poor planning. By filing for bankruptcy, you can protect your home from debtors placing liens on the property and prevent wage garnishment. While you may need to enter into a repayment schedule, eventually, in three to five years, you can have the debts all satisfied.
With businesses, filing bankruptcy can help to keep debtors away while you rebuild a business after a difficult time. The protection may be what is needed to get your business back on track and allow you to start to see a profit made by the money you have already invested in that business.
Bankruptcy may have serious consequences to your credit and ability to borrow money in the future. It may limit your ability to buy a home. The mark remains on your credit report for up to ten years, so you will want to discuss these effects with the attorney before filing for bankruptcy.
Bankruptcy is no one’s first choice. However, if you find yourself in a situation where there seems to be no where else to turn, sometimes due to circumstances beyond your control, bankruptcy may be your only option. Consult with Massachusetts bankruptcy lawyer, Matthew Desrochers, who can help you through the process of bankruptcy. Call him today for a free consultation at (857) 244-1940. He can often help you to preserve more assets than if you had tried to file bankruptcy for yourself.
If you are unable to meet your monthly debt repayments, if your credit card statements are simply getting more and more in arrears and your medical bills remain unpaid for months on end, you might have only one alternative: file for bankruptcy. If you live in Massachusetts, contacting bankruptcy lawyer, Matthew Desrochers, is a great first step to understanding your options.
What precisely is meant by bankruptcy? This is a legal term which refers to someone applying to the courts to erase all his debt so he can start from scratch again. If you are therefore in a position to actually pay your debts, your application is unlikely to be successful. Reasons which the bankruptcy court normally accept are large and unexpected medical claims, losing your employment, or marital problems causing financial havoc in your life.
When your lawyer submits your application to be declared bankrupt to the court, they will inform all your creditors about this. A first meeting of creditors will then be arranged, more or less thirty to forty days after the application filing.
During this meeting your lawyer must submit to the court a complete overview of your financial matters. This has to clearly show your monthly expenses and income and also contain a list of everything you own and owe. From there on you can refuse to directly deal with your creditors.
If your application is approved, the terms will be made known to everyone involved. Unfortunately all your assets will form part of the now bankrupt estate. You will therefore not be able to keep anything, except those assets which have been exempted by the court.
To receive a free bankruptcy consultation, contact Matthew Desrochers at (857) 244-1940 or fill out the form on the right.
Historically, state bankruptcy law supplied the property exemptions accessible to those seeking bankruptcy protection. Even so, the personal bankruptcy code now enables states to choose between the federal exemptions offered inside the bankruptcy code or the exemptions offered in state law. In Massachusetts you can choose between using the Federal Bankruptcy Exemptions or the Massachusetts state exemptions. Speaking with a qualified Massachusetts bankruptcy lawyer can help guide you towards the best option for your situation.
Common Bankruptcy Exemptions
A few typical kinds of property that are exempt from personal bankruptcy proceedings include:
Retirement Savings. The bulk of your retirement savings are protected by the personal bankruptcy code including pensions, stock bonus plans, Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAS), 401ks and other employer sponsored retirement plans.
Your Property. This is known as the homestead protection. Federal and state exemption laws let you protect your house from creditors in bankruptcy up with a certain dollar amount of money.
Your Automobile. Personal bankruptcy law recognizes that you have to have a car or truck in order to maintain a job and meet your monetary obligations. For that reason, a bankruptcy exemption exists for your car. The exemption does not permit you to spend money to drive a costly car while not repaying your monetary obligations. The exemption is limited to a specific dollar amount.
Home Products. Bankruptcy law sets an exemption amount for all of your home goods and a maximum amount of money per individual item. Usually, a personal bankruptcy trustee recognizes that there is little value in utilised household products and these items aren’t applied to satisfy debts even if they are cumulatively worth more than the greatest amount. Household goods can include things like pots and pans, bedding and decorative objects.
Personalized Items. Some particular things such as reasonably essential clothing are exempt. Jewelry, up with a specified amount, may possibly also be exempt.
Awards in personal injury cases are typically exempt from bankruptcy proceedings.
Tools of the trade are exempt up to certain dollar amounts established by law. For example, a professional photographer might be able to keep expensive cameras and processing equipment that an amateur photographer would need to sell to be able to satisfy his or her debts.
According to this article from Nolo:
The means test was designed to limit the use of Chapter 7 bankruptcy to those who truly can’t pay their debts. It does this by deducting specific monthly expenses from your “current monthly income” (your average income over the six calendar months before you file for bankruptcy) to arrive at your monthly “disposable income.” The higher your disposable income, the more likely you won’t be allowed to use Chapter 7 bankruptcy.
New Median Income Numbers
The new median income is $53,315 for 1 person, $69,204 for 2 people, $82,297 for 3 people, and $99,293 for a family of 4.
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