Anyone that is struggling to pay for ordinary and necessary living expenses for themselves, their family or business can benefit from filing bankruptcy.
The first step in the bankruptcy process is selecting a qualified attorney and providing them all relevant financial information. Next, the client will need to follow these steps.
Note: For a chapter 13 the client will additionally attend a confirmation hearing and then receive an order confirming their chapter 13 plan.
Someone can file bankruptcy with the assistance of an attorney in any Federal Bankruptcy Court. The United States Southern District Bankruptcy Court has a few locations in and around Miami. Those include:
Bankruptcy Court Located in the C. Clyde Atkins US Courthouse
301 N Miami Ave #150, Miami, FL 33128
Fort Lauderdale US Bankruptcy Court
299 E Broward Blvd # 310, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33301
Palm Beach US Bankruptcy Court Clerk
701 Clematis St, West Palm Beach, FL 33401
Chapter 7 Bankruptcy is for individuals and businesses and provides a discharge of all unsecured debt and surrender of secured debt, without a repayment to creditors.
Chapter 13 Bankruptcy is for individuals only and allows a partial discharge of debt, and a repayment plan for secured and/or unsecured debt over a three (3) or five (5) year period.
Chapter 11 Bankruptcy is for individuals and businesses. It includes a reorganization of contractual obligations and repayment of secured and unsecured debt.
Chapter 12 Bankruptcy, which is exclusively for farmers and partial repayment of secured and unsecured debt.
An individual can include student debt in a Chapter 7 or Chapter 13 Bankruptcy. However, additional legal steps are required to prove that the debt is an undue hardship.
No. You can maintain your home in a Chapter 7 as long as you are under the exemption amount for your state and in a Chapter 13 you can pay off your arrears to keep your home and force your mortgage company to accept your payments.
A Chapter 7 Bankruptcy case in which no assets are claimed typcially takes about 90 days.
For a Chapter 13 Bankruptcy case, the petition is typically resolved within 3 or 4 months.
Credit scores may increase slightly in as little as 30 days after discharge of your debts. In some cases, it may be possible to persue certain low-limit, high interest credit cards.
The reality is, a Chapter 13 Bankruptcy will stay on your credit for around 7 years. A Chapter 7 Bankruptcy is typically on your credit for 10 years.
Creditors are more favorable to individuals who have filed a Chapter 13, because this type of petition includes a debt repayment plan. How long it takes for your credit to significantly improve can be as little as a year, and up to 7 years, depending on your filing type, and a variety of other factors.
An individual should file bankruptcy in the following circumstances.
Regardless of whether you file bankruptcy, always ensure that you answer a foreclosure complaint in State court to avoid a default judgement.
If you want to keep your home:
If you don’t want to keep your home:
Many clients are not familiar with how extensive and protective the bankruptcy laws can be. Even after a client receives his or her discharge order, bankruptcy protection is in place.
A quality bankruptcy attorney has to be versed in all matters of the bankruptcy court and bankruptcy litigation. This includes:
In addition, an exceptional attorney will have a basic working knowledge of consumer laws, such as the Fair Credit Reporting Act and Fair Debt Collection Practice Laws.
The Law Office of Michelle Labayen, LLC makes sure that our clients are protected from collection actions by creditors. We ensure that they follow federal laws before, during and after the bankruptcy process.
Anyone can qualify to file for bankruptcy. There isn’t an exact amount of debt or financial difficulty required. You don’t have to show insolvency or meet a certain standard.
You should always speak with a lawyer before beginning the bankruptcy process to ensure it’s the best option for you. Michelle Labayen is a knowledgeable and experienced bankruptcy attorney with offices in New York, NY, and Newark, NJ. Florida licensed attorney Drew Gaddis is counsel and would be representing all clients in Florida.
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