You can ask to make up to 4 monthly payments. The court will decide whether bankruptcy laws support granting you a waiver. This happens after your bankruptcy petition. If your application is denied, the court will typically order you to pay the fee in installments. Once you have prepared your bankruptcy forms, you will need to print them out for the court.
You must print them single-sided. You will also need to sign the forms once they are printed. Most bankruptcy courts require just one signed original of the petition , but some courts require additional copies. So, before you head out to submit your forms, call your local bankruptcy court to find out how many copies you will need to bring and confirm you have all the required local forms.
Once you enter the doors of your local courthouse , you will be greeted by security guards, who will ask you to pass through a metal detector. They will take your bankruptcy forms and your filing fee or application for a waiver or to pay the fee in installments. Do not submit your bank statements or tax returns to the court. These documents go to the trustee after the case is filed.
Check out Step 7 below for more info on that. This usually takes no more than 15 minutes. The name of your bankruptcy trustee. At this point, your case has been filed! The automatic stay now protects you from all debt collectors. The Chapter 7 trustee is an official appointed by the court to oversee your case and liquidate, or sell, nonexempt property for the benefit of your creditors.
Not all types of bankruptcy require the involvement of a bankruptcy trustee, but both Chapter 7 and Chapter 13 cases have one. Pay attention to mail you receive from the trustee after filing your case. The trustee will send you a letter asking you to mail them certain financial documents, like tax returns, pay stubs, and bank statements.
After filing your bankruptcy forms, you will need to complete a Debtor Education Course from an approved credit counseling agency. The purpose of the course is to educate you on making smart financial decisions going forward but does not provide legal advice about the bankruptcy process. Your meeting, or meeting of creditors , will take place about a month after your bankruptcy case is filed.
Due to the COVID pandemic, all meetings are held either by video conference or via telephone until at least October. The main purpose of the meeting is for the case trustee to verify your identity and ask you certain standard questions and most last only about 5 minutes. Your creditors are allowed to attend and ask you questions about your financial situation, but they almost never do. You should also bring a copy of your bankruptcy forms to the meeting, along with your last 60 days of pay stubs, your recent bank statements, and any other documents that your trustee has asked for.
The bank will either file request with the bankruptcy court to ask permission to retake the car, or wait until your discharge is granted before picking it up. If you want to keep the car, you can either reaffirm the loan or redeem the car.
You have to complete and sign the agreement and return it to the bank within 45 days from your meeting. The bank files the signed agreement with the court for approval. To redeem the vehicle you have to file a motion with the court and, once granted, buy the car from the bank for its current value. This gets you out of having to pay the amount left on the loan, but payment has to be made in one lump sum.
Upsolve Community Member How difficult is it to do my own chapter 7? Chapter 13 bankruptcy is another type of bankruptcy available to consumers. The main difference to Chapter 7 is that you pay back some of your debts through the Chapter 13 trustee.
This is determined by the means test analysis, your actual income and expenses and the terms of your repayment plan.
Unlike Chapter 13, Chapter 7 doesn't have a payment plan option for catching up on late mortgage or car payments. So you could lose your home or car if you're behind when you file. Chapter 13 bankruptcy. By contrast, Chapter 13 filers must pay creditors some or all of what they owe using a three- to five-year repayment plan. But the payment plan allows Chapter 13 to offer benefits not available in Chapter 7. For instance, not only do you keep all of your property, but you can save your home from foreclosure or your car from repossession.
If you need time to repay a debt you can't discharge in bankruptcy, you can use this chapter to force a creditor into a payment plan.
The biggest downside to this chapter? It can be expensive. Many people can't afford the monthly payment. Learn more about when filing Chapter 13 is better than Chapter 7. Caution for businesspeople. Be sure to learn about the ins and outs of small business bankruptcies. The principles discussed apply to consumers only. Bankruptcy wipes out many bills, like credit card balances , overdue utility payments, medical bills, personal loans, and more.
You can even get rid of a mortgage or car payment if you're willing to give up the house or car that secures the debt. Putting property up as collateral creates a "secured debt"—if you don't pay what you owe, the lender gets to take the property back. But you can't discharge all debts. Nondischargeable debts , like domestic support arrearages and recent tax debt , won't go away in bankruptcy, and student loans aren't easy to wipe out you'd have to win a separate lawsuit.
You'll want to be sure that bankruptcy will discharge get rid of enough bills to make it worth your while. We all know that seeing the forest helps us recognize the trees, so it's probably a good time to consider the significant steps you'll take during your bankruptcy journey. Think of this checklist as a roadmap of sorts, but you can also use it to track your progress. The good news? You've already made headway on the first two items! One of the main things you probably want to know is whether you'll lose what you own.
You won't. In fact, you might not lose anything at all. Finding out which of your assets you can protect is as simple as looking at Florida's exemption laws. You can keep property that appears on Florida's exemption list and the federal nonbankruptcy exemption list.
The type of chapter you file will determine what will happen to any nonexempt property. Here are some commonly used Florida property exemptions. Spouses filing together can double the amount on any property owned together, except the homestead exemption.
You'll find more common exemptions in Florida Bankruptcy Exemptions. Also, you might be able to protect stimulus payments, tax credits, and child credits in bankruptcy with the federal COVID recovery rebate exemption. Exempt your property carefully. The bankruptcy trustee —the court-appointed official assigned to manage your case—will review the exemptions.
A trustee who disagrees with your exemptions will likely try to resolve the issue informally. If unsuccessful, the trustee will file an objection with the bankruptcy court, and the judge will decide whether you can keep the property. Believing that the car qualifies as art—at least in his mind—Mason exempts it using his state's unlimited artwork exemption.
The trustee disagrees with Mason's characterization and files an objection with the court. The judge will likely decide the vehicle doesn't qualify as art.
Purposefully making inaccurate statements could be considered fraudulent. If you've never filed for bankruptcy before, you'll meet the initial requirement.
Otherwise, check whether enough time has passed to allow you to file again. The waiting period varies depending on the chapter previously filed and the chapter you plan to file. Learn more about multiple bankruptcy filings. You'll qualify for Chapter 7 bankruptcy if your family's gross income is lower than the median income for the same size family in your state.
Add all gross income earned during the last six months and multiply it by two. Compare the figure to the income charts on the U. Trustee's website select "Means Testing Information". Want an easy way to do this online? Use the Quick Median Income Test. If you find that you make too much, you still might qualify after taking the second part of the " means test. Qualifying for Chapter 13 can be an expensive proposition because the extra benefits come at a hefty price and many people can't afford the monthly payment.
Generally, repayment plans will last a minimum of 3 years, but can take up to 5 years to complete depending on your monthly payments and the amount of debt to repay. Chapter 13 may be especially beneficial to you because you retain control of your assets while you complete the plan. Throughout the life of the repayment plan you will make a lump sum monthly payment to your Chapter 13 bankruptcy trustee.
Your bankruptcy trustee will then disburse the funds to your creditors. However, to be eligible to file for Chapter 13 bankruptcy in Florida, you must have regular income for at least 6 months prior to filing for bankruptcy. Regular income can come from any source including a pension or family support obligation. It is necessary to show the court you have regular income so the court can be assured you will be able to make your Chapter 13 monthly payments due to the regularity of your monthly income.
Chapter 7 Bankruptcy Chapter 7 bankruptcy is the most common form of bankruptcy filed in the United States. In a Chapter 7 bankruptcy, otherwise known as a liquidation proceeding, the Chapter 7 bankruptcy trustee seizes your non-exempt assets, and sells the assets to raise money to fund your bankruptcy estate.
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