Posted by Kevin on July 20, 2011 under Bankruptcy Blog | 
Under the 2005 Code know as BAPCPA, a consumer debtor must pass the means test to qualify for Chapter 7 bankruptcy. Chapter 7 allows a debtor to make no payments to unsecured creditors while keeping all exempt property.
What most consumers believe is that if you are under the median income for your area , you pass the means test, and you get to file under Chapter 7. Yes and no.
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Posted by Kevin on July 16, 2011 under Bankruptcy Blog |
The 2005 Act, BAPCPA, requires that a debtor submit to a means test to determine eligibility for Chapter 7. The means test was based on an IRS test to determine what part of income a taxpayer can pay on back taxes.
The means test has a two part test for motor vehicles. The first is an ownership allowance. The second is an operations allowance. The ownership allowance gives the debtor a $496 deduction per vehicle per month no matter what you owe on it. If your monthly payment is $200- you get $496. If your monthly payment is $600- you get $496. But what happens if you have your vehicle paid off?
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Posted by Kevin on July 9, 2011 under Bankruptcy Blog |
The main purpose of this blog (in fact, this whole website) is to give you, the consumer, information so that you may make an informed decision concerning whether to file bankruptcy. Your entire financial future can be riding on this decision.
From time to time, I review the posts to see that they are covering a wide range of topics in bankruptcy. I did that this morning. Then, I started to think back why I wanted to get involved in bankruptcy law in the first place. Besides helping people, I found bankruptcy to be more complex that I had imaged, was ever changing (2 Codes and numerous revisions over the years), and allowed me to be a deal negotiator and a litigator (trial lawyer) at the same time.
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Posted by Kevin on July 8, 2011 under Bankruptcy Blog |
In a Chapter 13, the debtor is limited to $360,475 of unsecured debt. Unsecured debt is debt where there is no collateral. Like credit card debt.
However, in a Chapter 13, a debtor can strip off otherwise secured debt that is completely underwater. For example, if your house is worth $300,000 and the first mortgage is for $350,000 and the second mortgage is for $100,000, the second mortgage is totally unsecured and could be “stripped off”. When it is stripped off, it becomes unsecured debt and must be added to other unsecured debt.
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