Tag Archives: Chapter 13
Your Options if You Can’t Make Your Chapter 13 Payments
The core of a Chapter 13 bankruptcy is the debtor’s ability to pay creditors back a portion of what is owed them. The debtor promises to make monthly payments for a specified period of time, which are determined based on the debtor’s available income sources. If all goes well, the rest of the outstanding debt […]
Weighing Chapter 11 and Chapter 13 as Bankruptcy Options for Small Business Owners
A small business depends on its goodwill and name recognition, which are viable assets only if the business stays in operation. If your company is having financial difficulty but could turn the corner to profitability with some help, restructuring your debt through bankruptcy could be your best option. Depending on your circumstances, a Chapter 11 […]
Filing for Bankruptcy to Deal with Heavy Medical Debt
Medical debt is by far the leading cause of personal bankruptcy in the U.S. A 2019 study found that 66.5 percent of all bankruptcies were tied to health care costs. Subsequently, COVID-19 threw millions of people out of their jobs and saddled them with virus-related medical bills. With COVID-related medical debt totaling somewhere between $60 […]
How Chapter 13 Helps You Pay for Your Bankruptcy Attorney
When you are considering filing for bankruptcy protection, you have to decide whether the best option is Chapter 7 or Chapter 13. Either way, the assistance of a qualified attorney is vital to a successful outcome, which raises another question. How do you pay legal fees when you’re bankrupt? The answer may lie in the […]
Using Lien Stripping to Reduce Secured Debt in Chapter 13
In a Chapter 13 bankruptcy, unsecured debts are discharged after successful completion of a partial repayment plan. However, secured debts — those based on mortgages and other liens — remain in force. Fortunately, there is procedure called lien stripping that allows you to convert some mortgage debts to unsecured ones and thus to discharge them. […]
Grounds for a Trustee Objecting to a Chapter 13
When a debtor files a Chapter 13 petition seeking reorganization of debt, the bankruptcy court appoints an impartial trustee to oversee the case. Part of the trustee’s job is to evaluate and approve the proposed plan for partial repayment of debts over a three- to five-year period. In some cases, a trustee will object to […]
CARES Helps Bankruptcy Filers During the COVID-19 Pandemic
More than 40 million U.S. workers have filed for unemployment since the coronavirus pandemic spread across the nation, and many who still have their jobs are understandably worried that layoffs could be coming anytime. Business owners, too, are feeling the pain. A recent BizFed survey found that approximately 90 percent of small companies in the […]
