Am I eligible to file bankruptcy?

On Behalf of | Jul 25, 2010 | Bankruptcy |

Yes.  The question is which chapter is right for your particular circumstances.  Typically, Chapter 7 is the chapter we recommend if you are eligible.  It is the quickest, the easiest, and in most circumstances, it does the most for you.

Chapter 13 bankruptcy is appropriate whenever you have overwhelming IRS debt, are facing foreclosure or repossession, or if you simply make too much money to file a Chapter 7.
There are limits on who can file a Chapter 13, however.  If you have more than a million dollars in secured debt or more than $300,000 in unsecured debt then you are not eligible for a Chapter 13.  You would then need to consider a Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
Even if someone makes a high salary, Chapter 13 can help them.  For instance, if a family makes $200,000 a year and they are unable to pass the Means Test, then subject to the debt limitations above they will still benefit greatly if they have a large amount of unsecured debt and they file a Chapter 13 100% Plan.
In such a Plan, they would have the benefit of paying their unsecured creditors back at 0% interest.  If they owed $100,000 of unsecured debt and they were being charged 25% interest, then the Chapter 13 100% Plan would save them roughly $25,000 per year.
Nevertheless, most of our Chapter 13 clients pay almost nothing to the unsecured creditors.

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