4 Actions to Take While Preparing for Chapter 13 Bankruptcy
by Joan Bradley
If you have determined that you are going to need to file for Chapter 13 bankruptcy protection, you need to be careful about the financial decisions that you make leading up to your bankruptcy, as these choices can impact your case.
#1 Get Credit Counseling Right Away
First, as soon as you decide that you know you want to move forward with the bankruptcy process, you need to obtain credit counseling. Make sure the credit counseling that you obtain is certified by the government as an accredited credit counseling program. You don't want to attend counseling only to find out that it does not meet the legal requirements the courts will ask you to fulfill.
Obtaining credit counseling will help you learn how to make smart financial decisions as you move forward and will help you learn how to balance your finances after bankruptcy so that you don't have to deal with this situation again.
#2 Don't Pay Back Your Family
As you approach and begin to file for bankruptcy, you need to be careful about the payments that you make. Do not prioritize paying back family members over paying your other bills. If you pay back family over other bills, and give them a lot of money, the courts may ask them to return that money so it can be more evenly split among your debtors. Do not put your family in an awkward financial situation by making them have to pay back the courts. You can pay your family back at the same rate that you pay other debts, but you should not prioritize debts to your family.
#3 Keep Your Debt Down
Make sure that you are responsible about the debt that you have. As you get ready to go through bankruptcy, you should make sure that you are not adding debts to your tab. Try to keep your debts down. This is not the time to take out a new loan or run up your credit card debt. Be careful about how you spend money and take steps to ensure that you are not increasing your debts; doing so will not look good to the courts.
#4 Don't Hide Your Assets
Finally, do not try to hide your assets. Don't sell your car to a friend or transfer property to other family members in order to hide your assets. This could jeopardize your bankruptcy case. The courts have systems in place to protect your assets; you are never going to be asked to sell off everything that you own. The courts want you to have housing and transportation. You may have to make some sacrifices, but there are systems in place to protect your assets.
For more information, talk to companies like Tim George & Associates.
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About Me
You walk into your favorite grocery store and right away, you slip and fall only to sprain your ankle. You can't perform your job because it requires standing on your feet all day, which means that you can't make any money to support your family while your ankle heals. There was no warning that the floors were wet after being cleaned in the store – so what do you do? It's probably a good idea to think about filing a personal injury lawsuit. Of course, anyone with experience with a personal injury case will tell you just how important it is to work with an attorney throughout the process. I'd like to share insight I've learned through three personal injury cases that I myself have had to go through in the past. I think the information on this website can help people like you, who need some personal injury guidance.