BANKRUPTCY LAW CHAPTER 7 "Debt Relief Agency" We help people file for bankruptcy relief Bankruptcy is one of the chief areas of the law in which I practice.. it was designed to offer debtors a chance to turn their lives around, hold their creditors at bay, and achieve a fresh start.
It was thought that this would be advantageous not only to the debtor but to society as a whole. The reasoning is that if a debtor is being hounded continually and having his wages garnished, in execution upon judgments, he will not be as productive as he had been before. He may very well lose his job and have to begin work in another place for less money or seek employment in the underground economy. This is not as glamorous as it sounds and cash jobs are few and far between.
How much better, it was thought, to discharge the dischargeable debts which were unlikely to be paid anyway, and give the debtor a chance to better himself, pay more taxes, consume more goods, and be more successful.
Congress has now changed its thinking on the subject. The Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005 is a radical change and will make a chapter 7 discharge unavailable for some people who would have qualified under the old law
The good news is that for most debtors on the Eastern Shore a chapter 7 will be available and will discharge all unsecured debt. it will be a more cumbersome, complicated and expensive process,-but it will still work.
Both attorneys and clients will have more work to do, more hoops to jump through, more fees to pay, and more agencies involved. For attorneys, there are many new liabilities for failure to meet notice deadlines, failure to investigate their client's assets and income, failure to perfectly interpret other state's exemptions, etc.
For clients there are requirements for 6 months of income proofs, a totally current tax filing status, 2 or 4 years tax returns, pre-filing debt counseling, pre-discharge budget counseling, market analysis of real estate, etc.
No one but creditors likes the new law but if you earn under the median income for your size family you still can have a chapter 7 which works pretty much as the old 7 did, if you jump through the hoops.
Everything we ever said about the need to select an experienced attorney now goes double! Many attorneys have even stopped practicing in bankruptcy because of the new Act.
We may not be perfect yet but we have made the adjustments and we are taking cases, and making the best of a bad piece of legislation.
If you need debt relief call us at 410-228-6111 and we will pre-qualify you over the phone and lead you through the confusing new process.