St. Louis Bankruptcy Law Blog

Achieve a debt free life through Chapter 7 or Chapter 13 bankruptcy

If you're going through extreme financial difficulty which is making you incapable of paying your debts, then you can file for Chapter 7 or Chapter 13 bankruptcy. Both Chapter 7 and Chapter 13 bankruptcy involve legal intervention in clearing your debts. Read along to know how you can obtain a <a href="http://www.debtconsolidationcare.com/debt-free.html">debt free</a>
life by filing for bankruptcy.

How Chapter 7 bankruptcy can help you get rid of debt

Chapter 7 bankruptcy involves selling of your nonexempt properties to pay off your debts. It is done through the intervention of the US Trustee. Your necessities are left out as your exempt properties remain untouched. Given below are the benefits of Chapter 7 bankruptcy:

•· Helps you to get rid of debt within a short span of time - Chapter 7 bankruptcy can help you obtain a debt free life in a short time period. It takes around 3-4 months to clear debts after filing for Chapter 7 bankruptcy.

•· Lets you keep your exempt properties - Though Chapter 7 bankruptcy utilizes your nonexempt assets to pay off your debts, yet your exempt properties remain with you. You can keep many of your valuable assets and get rid of debt at the same time.

•· Prevents harassment by debt collectors - When you file for Chapter 7 bankruptcy, the court prevents your lenders and collection agencies from contacting you. If there is any kind of harassment from their end, the court may take legal action against them.

•· Can save your house by preventing foreclosure - If you file for Chapter 7 bankruptcy, an automatic stay is put by the court on the foreclosure process. However, it may be lifted if your mortgage lender makes a request to the court. In such a situation, the prudent thing to do is to negotiate with your lender for an affordable repayment plan.

How Chapter 13 bankruptcy can eliminate your debt

Through Chapter 13 bankruptcy, a court provides you with a repayment plan to clear your debts within a period of 3-5 years. By filing for Chapter 13 bankruptcy, you can keep both of your exempt and nonexempt assets. The benefits of Chapter 13 bankruptcy are mentioned below:

•· Lets you keep all your assets - Unlike Chapter 7 bankruptcy, Chapter 13 bankruptcy has nothing to do with any of your assets. If you do not want to loose your possessions and get rid of debt at the same time, you can file for Chapter 13 bankruptcy.

•· Gets rid of debts which do not fall under Chapter 7 - Chapter 13 bankruptcy can help you get rid of debts which you cannot discharge through Chapter 7. For example: it may help you to eliminate certain forms of tax debts which you cannot do through Chapter 7.

•· Can reduce interest rates - Chapter 13 bankruptcy can lead to a reduction in interest rates on some of your debts. It is done in order to help you make proper payments.

•· Can prevent foreclosure - Chapter 13 bankruptcy can also halt a foreclosure procedure and help you pay off your mortgage by offering a repayment plan.

Thus it is possible to obtain a debt free life by filing for bankruptcy. However, bankruptcy can severely affect your credit report. Record of Chapter 13 bankruptcy can remain in your credit report for 7 years and in case of Chapter 7 bankruptcy, it can remain for 10 years. Thus, you should make your decision wisely and file for bankruptcy only if you do not see any other alternative to achieve relief from debt.

Missouri residents probably remember that scary documentary-style film from the late 90s, "The Blair Witch Project." Some also recall that the movie was a very low-budget, high-grossing film. Nevertheless, in recent news, the executive producer of the movie has filed for bankruptcy. According to reports, with debt totaling somewhere around $132,000, he only has $900 to his name.

Specifically, Kevin J. Foxe filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy this month, and he has claimed that he owes creditors $132,724. A majority of this amount is unpaid taxes to the IRS.

Kenneth Carp at www.kcarplaw.com has been contatcted to represent a New York Corporation who has been forced into an involuntary bankruptcy in the Eastern District of Missouri.  An involuntary Chapter 7 forces a corporation out of business and needs to be faced head on.  A Chapter 7 liquidates a corporation and needs to be either dismissed or converted to a Chapter 11.  A Chapter 11 bankruptcy can be a useful tool to reorganize a corporation while protecting itself from creditors but a chapter 7 has the impact of shutting the doors.  We recently saved an Illinois Corporation from losing its real property worth in excess of $700,000.00 (with half of that being equity) when a ballon note on the mortgage cam due.  The bank was almost successful in shutting down this profitable business because of a mortgage payment.  Bankruptcy is a useful tool for businesses and individuals.  We are very experienced  and can be contacted at kennethcarp@kcarplaw.com. 

Kenneth Carp, who has been involved with bankruptcy since 1991 and is a retired Lt. Colonel from the US Air Force, works individually with clients to find the right solutions for them.  Individuals who find themselves with economic problems, credit cards, mortagage foreclosure, unemployment, and etc., can find useful information at www.kcarplaw.com and clients will experience individual and personable attention at the Law Office of Kenneth Carp.  We are also very experienced with unemplyment appeal and unemployment compensation issues and www.unemploymentlawfirm.com provides useful information. Our clients have had success at unemployment appeal hearings, the Commission and the Court of Appeals.  We handle unemployment appeal hearings throughout the country.

Many people who are facing unmanageable debt are ashamed and feel that they are the only ones in the predicament. This of course is not true. Each day people throughout St. Louis find themselves in that same place. That is because anyone can fall on hard times financially, regardless of what their high net worth once was. For some, the best debt relief option is filing a Chapter 7 bankruptcy petition.

An individual known to many sports fans who illustrates this is Antoine Walker. The former NBA star filed for bankruptcy in 2010 after his debt became unmanageable. Though he made an estimated $110 million over the course of the 12 years he played in the NBA, when he filed for bankruptcy he claimed a debt of $12.87 million compared to his assets of $4million. The debt reportedly accumulated a variety of ways including gambling loses, monetary gifts, investments that did not pan out and expensive purchases such as jewelry, cars and houses.