|
|
Chapter 13 Bankruptcy Law Information
Chapter 13 bankruptcy filing is a way for individuals in the
United States to undergo a financial reorganization supervised by a federal
bankruptcy court. The Bankruptcy Code anticipates the goal of Chapter 13 as
enabling income-receiving debtors a debtor rehabilitation provided they fulfill
a court-approved plan. Compare the goal of Chapter 13 with the relief
contemplated in Chapter 7 that offers immediate, complete relief of many
oppressive debt(s).
An individual who is badly in debt can file for bankruptcy either under Chapter
7 (liquidation, or straight bankruptcy) or under Chapter 13 (reorganization).
The choice is not a coin flip. The appropriate chapter depends on the situation.
The debtor's disposable income and the type of relief sought plays a tremendous
role in the choice of chapters. In some cases the debtor simply cannot file
under Chapter 13, as he or she cannot, if he or she simply lacks the disposable
income necessary to fund a viable Chapter 13 plan (see below).
Under Chapter 13, the debtor proposes a plan to pay his creditors over a 3 to 5
year period. During this period, his creditors cannot attempt to collect on the
individual's previously incurred debt except through the bankruptcy court. In
general, the individual gets to keep his property, and his creditors end up with
less money than they are owed.
The disadvantage of filing for personal bankruptcy is that a record of this
stays on the individual's credit report for 10 years. During the pendancy of a
Chapter 13 case the debtor is not permitted to obtain additional credit without
the Chapter 13 Trustee's permission. Moreover, creditors may not be willing to
risk lending money to such an individual. However, this disadvantage is not
unique to Chapter 13; it may also apply to individuals currently in a Chapter 11
case or those who are in or have recently been in a Chapter 7 case.
The advantages of Chapter 13 over Chapter 7 include the ability to stop
foreclosure, to achieve a super discharge of debts of kinds not dischargeable
under Chapter 7, to value collateral, to bifurcate the security interest of
creditors in certain property that creditors are either charging too much
interest for, or are over-secured, or both, and in some cases, to prevent
collection activities against non-filing co-signers (co-debtors) during the life
of the case.
A Chapter 13 plan is a document filed with or shortly after a debtor's Chapter
13 bankruptcy petition. The plan details the treatment of debts, liens, and the
secured status of assets and liabilities owned or owed by the debtor in regard
to his bankruptcy petition filed in United States Bankruptcy Court. For the plan
to be confirmable, it must, at a minimum (actually there are more requirements
and these vary from state to state), meet all of the following tests:
- Commit every penny of the debtor's household's disposable income to the
Chapter 13 Plan for at least three years (unless a 100% repayment of all
unsecured debt will occur in less than three years), or up to five years, but
longer than three years only if the debtor elects it.
- Provide that unsecured creditors will receive at least as much through the
Chapter 13 Plan as they would in a Chapter 7 liquidation.
- Provide a meaningful payback to the unsecured creditors. In some districts and
divisions this means as little as a one cent on the dollar payback. In others it
may be as much as twenty cents on the dollar.
For more free legal information on Bankruptcy Laws, please use the
links below:
|
