Webster, NY Bankruptcy Law Firms & Lawyers

There are three basic tests to determine if you qualify for Chapter 7 or 13. First income minus ALLOWABLE expenses (term of art that is applied differently depending on where you live and file the bankruptcy). LIQUIDATION, or "do you have equity in stuff that is not protected by an exemption?" Exemptions are either State or Federal Laws that tell you what you get to keep. If you have equity in an amount higher then the applicable exemption (again, depends on where you live and where you file) or want to keep property that has equity that is not covered by an exemption at all, then you may have to file a chapter 13 to "repay" that equity to the creditors. The general rule here is that the creditors are supposed to get what they would have gotten had you filed a chapter 7 and the property would then have been liquidated and the equity paid to the creditors. The Means Test is the third general test. Based on your State of residence, household size at the time you file and gross income for the six months before you file you may be below or above the median income. Median income means that half of the households of a similar size are above and half are below a certain income. It is not an average. Below the median the Means Test is no issue. Above the Median Income gets complicated and requires a review from a qualified attorney. Having said all that the chapter under which you filed or may be filing may or my not be appropriate based on your individual circumstances. Relying on what others who have filed have to say or the experience of someone else who filed a bankruptcy will not aid you because everyone's circumstances are different.

They can't renew the judgment if you file bankruptcy. That would be considered harassment and they could be found in contempt by the bankruptcy court.