If you are a corporate shareholder, LLC owner, or partner in a partnership and have signed personal guarantees or pledged collateral for business loans, putting your business through bankruptcy will not protect your personal property. If your personal property is at risk, you must file separately for personal bankruptcy to protect your personal assets.
Filing for personal bankruptcy most often means a Fort Worth Chapter 7 or Chapter 13 bankruptcy.
In a Chapter 7 filing, certain personal property is exempt under state or federal law from having to be put into a bankruptcy estate to be sold, with proceeds distributed to the creditors. You must take a means test to determine if you are eligible to file for Chapter 7 bankruptcy.
In a Chapter 13 filing, you propose a repayment plan whereby you can repay part or all of the debt over three to five years. Fort Worth Chapter 13 bankruptcy often allows you to keep valuable possessions, such as your home, as you pay off your debts.
Filing for personal bankruptcy triggers an automatic stay that immediately stops creditors from foreclosing on your home or other at-risk personal property. This can buy time to figure out the best solution to your financial dilemma. Our Fort Worth personal bankruptcy attorneys can make this happen and get you started on the road to recovery.
Our attorneys can help you manage a wide range of debt types under your bankruptcy, including:
With our skilled guidance and proactive approach, a Chapter 13 filing can help you organize a repayment plan with a landlord, banks, and suppliers. And depending on the circumstances, a Chapter 7 filing may wipe some debt out entirely. But bankruptcy rules and procedures are very specific, and our careful review of your situation will yield the best approach for your case.
Often, just the threat of bankruptcy can help you work things out with your creditors. Many will think twice about pushing you too hard if they think you are considering bankruptcy. Most creditors would prefer a payment plan, or partial repayment, over becoming a creditor in a bankruptcy case. We will put that fact to your advantage, negotiating to spread payments out far enough to be manageable.