Bankruptcy is legal mechanism which allows a debtor to wipe clean their debts and to give them financial relief from creditors and others pursuing them. When you file bankruptcy, most of your assets are surrendered to a court-appointed trustee who will liquidate said assets to go towards paying back your debts. This includes vehicles and artwork and houses and electronics and toys. For people who don’t want to forfeit their belongings (or for those whose income is too high and cannot file a liquidation bankruptcy) a Chapter 13 in Toms River is a viable, and sometimes only, option.
A Chapter 13 in Toms River is a bankruptcy in which your creditors agree to a repayment plan of your debt. The steps to do this is to first hire a qualified lawyer who understands bankruptcy Chapter 13 in Toms River who will thoroughly analyze your assets, your income and expenses to determine if you pass the means test. This test is used to compare your income to the mean of others in your area. If your income is too high, then filing for a Chapter 7 liquidation bankruptcy is not an option, and a Chapter 13 is your only alternative.
Working with your attorney, you will list all of your creditors– secured and unsecured– and put together a good faith proposal of how much of a monthly payment you can afford to make towards your debt and for how long you will have to make those payments. Most payment plans last anywhere from as little as three years and go up to five years. You get to keep your assets– your cars and house and other items– and once you have completed the term of your payments, any remaining debt amount is discharged and your Chapter 13 in Toms River is closed out.
If you have unsecured debts such as medical bills and credit card debt, your bankruptcy lawyer should be able to negotiate with them to accept reduced payoffs, sometimes as little as pennies on the dollar. Secured debts take priority over non-secured debts. Secured debts are debts which there is collateral securing the debts such as house secures a mortgage debt and a car secures an auto loan. These creditors must agree to your proposal for your Chapter 13 to be accepted.
If you make too much money or you do not want to surrender your assets, the Law Offices of Lee D. Gottesman provides a lawyer to help you file a bankruptcy Chapter 13 in Toms River, New Jersey (NJ). Get in touch with them!
