Sluggish economic times hurt many Americans, who have not started to recover yet. Long-term unemployment destroyed their savings and cash flow, while a soft real estate market made it impossible to sell a home they could no longer afford. The result is that many people face a staggering amount of debt, that they can never repay. Their only option is to hire a Bankruptcy Attorney Reading PA practice to help them declare bankruptcy.
Many people believe that they shouldn’t incur further expenses and decide to do this on their own. That is a big mistake. Bankruptcy law is complicated with many choices to make. The debtor will have to decide among several different options. Generally they will have to decide which part of the federal bankruptcy law to use. These are known as Chapter 7, Chapter 13 or Chapter 11. To make matters more complicated each state has the option of writing state laws that work in tandem with federal law. Usually state law defines and expands protected assets. These are items such as a home, car or clothing that a person declaring bankruptcy can keep. If a debtor chooses the correct law, they may be able to save their home and car. However if they don’t, they could lose all their assets. A Bankruptcy Attorney Reading PA will easily sort through the myriad of laws and save them as much as he can.
Once the debtor has declared bankruptcy, the court appoints a trustee. They are charged with getting as much money for the creditors as possible. Under Chapter 7 that means liquidating all of the debtor’s unprotected assets. Debtors might make the mistake of thinking the trustee is looking out for them as well. They aren’t. They need their own legal representation to make sure that trustee only sells what they have the right to sell.
Bankruptcy does not discharge all debt. Student loans, IRS liens and child support obligations will still need to be paid. The debtor may need a Bankruptcy Attorney Reading PA to help sort out these issues. He can help set up a payment plan with the IRS or renegotiate a child support agreement. Without a lawyer the debtor could continue to have a many financial responsibilities they still can’t afford to pay.
