Category Archives: Chapter 7

What is the minimum amount of debt required to file for bankruptcy?

By doug | Published: March 7, 2010

A very common bankruptcy question concerns the minimum debt levels required to file a case. There aren’t any. The bankruptcy code has no formal cutoff points for filing a case under any chapter. Many folks are often confused about this because they have read about tough new requirements that Congress enacted in 2004 to try […]

Also posted in Chapter 13, The Bankruptcy Code | Comments closed

Can I discharge business debt with a Chapter 7 bankruptcy?

By doug | Published: February 24, 2010

With many small busineses in trouble, owners are increasingly seeking out bankruptcy relief. One of their immediate questions is can they discharge business debts through a personal Chapter 7 filing? Generally, the answer is yes, if the business is a solo operation or a failed partnership. In the case of a business that is incorporated, […]

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Is there any way out of this awful cell phone contract?

By doug | Published: February 23, 2010

While it is seldom the driving reason to file a case, consumers should be aware that the bankruptcy code offers them a way out of onerous multi-year cellular telephone contracts. Whenever a bankruptcy case is filed under either Chapter 7 or 13, the debtor has the option of listing “executory contracts” on schedule G of […]

Also posted in Chapter 13 | Comments closed

Means test may not apply to cases converted to Chapter 7

By doug | Published: February 17, 2010

Since 2005, consumers wishing to discharge their debt through a Chapter 7 bankruptcy case have had to first prove their eligibility by passing a “Means Test,” which is a set of onerous forms attached to the bankruptcy petition designed to figure out whether the debtors have above-average income for the state they lives in. Consumers […]

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The Frightful Sound of Liquidation

By doug | Published: February 10, 2010

Debtors comtemplating a Chapter 7 bankruptcy filing are sometimes put off by the idea that the case involves a “liquidation” of their assets. Sometimes this occurs when they are given government required warnings by their attorneys, or by the trustee’s office at the meeting of creditors. Worried as they are by debt, they may conjure […]

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Liens and the Massachusetts homestead exemption

By doug | Published: February 2, 2010

Massachsetts homeowners are lucky enough to be protected by the Commonwealth’s generous homestead law, which typically will allow them to retain up to $500,000 in home equity even if their finances deteriorate to the point they have to file a Chapter 7 or Chapter 13 bankruptcy case. A question that frequently comes up in the […]

Also posted in Real estate, Secured loans | Comments closed

No good deed goes unpunished

By doug | Published: January 20, 2010

What began so simply in 1998 as a couple’s intent to help their struggling daughter establish a home has resulted in a bankrutpcy court nightmare that continues to this very day. In that year Kenneth Duda and his then wife purchsed a two family home in Northfield, Massachusetts with the intention that their daughter Pamela […]

Also posted in Real estate | Comments closed
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