Milwaukee Chapter 7 Can Free You From Debt
Recent information about changes to the bankruptcy laws in Milwaukee may have you a bit confused. Some people think these changes prohibit you from filing a Milwaukee Chapter 7 bankruptcy in order to eliminate your debts. But this is not the case.
You can still use Chapter 7 to eliminate most of your unsecured debts such as credit card balances and medical bills. Chapter 7 can also be used to get rid of judgments against you, prevent garnishment of your bank accounts or wages, and allow you to hold on to your personal property, and almost always your home and your car as long as the value of these things is not greater than the allowed bankruptcy exemptions.
A Chapter 7 is initiated by filing certain legal documents with the court. Included in these documents is a petition, schedules and statements of your assets as well as your monthly income and expenses. It currently costs $299 to file these documents with the bankruptcy court.
Before filing Chapter 7 you must have completed a court approved credit counseling course. This course can be taken over the telephone, via the internet, or in person. The cost for this credit counseling course ranges from $25 to $75, depending on which method you use. All methods of taking the course are acceptable to the court.
Immediately upon filing for Chapter 7 an automatic stay is created which prevents your creditors from contacting you directly by any means whatsoever. They cannot contact you by telephone, letter, in person, or in any other way.
Soon after your case is filed you must then attend a meeting with the court-appointed bankruptcy trustee where your case is discussed, the financial arrangements spelled out, and you are told what to expect from the proceeding. This is called a 341 meeting. Usually your bankruptcy attorney attends this meeting with you.
After that you must take another court-approved financial management course. This is very similar to the first course taken before you filed, and the charges are also similar. It is not very expensive and it is not very difficult either.
Once all the papers have been filed, the meetings attended, and the courses are taken you will receive a discharge from the court that wipes out your debts. Your creditors no longer have any claim upon you for debts that have been discharged. Certain types of debts cannot be discharged by a Chapter 7. These include taxes owed to the IRS or to a state government, alimony, maintenance or support payments, student loans, fraud related debts, and secured debts unless the collateral is surrendered. You are still obligated to make regular payments on these things in order to remain in compliance with the Chapter 7 process.
Before beginning a Milwaukee bankruptcy filing it is in your best interest to consult with a bankruptcy attorney who is familiar with Milwaukee bankrupcty law and court proceedings.
This entry was posted on Friday, August 28th, 2009 at 5:23 am and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.