Chapter 7 Bankruptcy
There are basically two types of bankruptcies that a person can file - either a Chapter 7 bankruptcy or a Chapter 13 bankruptcy. A Chapter 7 bankruptcy is the only liquidation provided for by the Federal Bankruptcy Code. When you file a Chapter 7 bankruptcy, you erase erasable debts. If you have more property than what you are allowed to have, the Chapter 7 Trustee who is appointed to review your case can take the excess property and sell it and use the money to pay your creditors.
As experienced bankruptcy attorneys in Camden County and the other thirteen counties where we see clients from, during our initial meeting with a prospective client, we review in great detail the client's debts as well as things that the client has. If there are types of debts that we cannot eliminate in a Chapter 7 bankruptcy we might consider doing a Chapter 13 bankruptcy. If a client has more property than they would be allowed to have in a Chapter 7 bankruptcy and they want to keep that property we would not do a Chapter 7 bankruptcy, we would file a Chapter 13 bankruptcy. These are things that we deal with everyday and it is one of the reasons that it is important to see an experienced bankruptcy attorney to assist you in filing a bankruptcy proceeding or in giving you advice regarding such a filing.
A Chapter 7 bankruptcy is not a complicated process for our clients because we are experienced bankruptcy attorneys and make sure that our client's bankruptcy proceeding is a smooth process as we understand the difficulties of the Federal Bankruptcy Laws and the Federal Bankruptcy Court System. Our Chapter 7 bankruptcy clients would meet with one of our attorneys as many times as it takes to properly complete the bankruptcy schedules which need to be filed with the Bankruptcy Court. Basically, in order to do this, our clients need to bring us information regarding all of their debts and all of their assets. Once the bankruptcy is filed, all creditors are notified. If there are any emergency type matters going on with creditors, we will immediately call or send letters to the concerned creditors to make sure that the emergency is taken care of.
Once we have completed gathering information from our Chapter 7 bankruptcy clients, their bankruptcy is filed as rapidly as necessary (the next day, if needed). About four weeks or so after the filing of the bankruptcy, our client would have to meet with a Chapter 7 Trustee. This is someone who is appointed by the bankruptcy court/Trustee system to look at the bankruptcy filing to make sure everything is in order. One of our attorneys would be with our client at this meeting.
The meetings are relatively painless. The Chapter 7 Trustee would sit at a desk and on the other side of the desk would be one of our attorneys and our client and our client would be asked questions about the schedules which were completed and filed with the bankruptcy court (mainly, questions about assets the client might have that would have been listed in the bankruptcy schedules). After the meeting, the Chapter 7 Trustee files a report with the bankruptcy court that he/she is satisfied with the schedules and our client's bankruptcy judge would issue a discharge order. This means that all the debts that are forgivable are forgiven.
