Monday, February 9, 2009

Bankruptcy Chapter Seven Exemption

By Sim Lewis

When your debts are too much to bear, filing for bankruptcy may be your only option. There are many people who opts for Chapter 7 Bankruptcy. Chapter 7 is a 'liquidation' of all the non-exempt assets that should ultimately be an effective way for you to pay off all your existing debts. As this is a supervised procedure, the authority will appoint a personnel who has the authority to sell all the non-exempt assets of the defaulter and distributes between the creditors. Bankruptcy chapter 7 exemptions are assets that the creditors cannot touch when filing for bankruptcy. It is true that chapter 7 tend to help the debtors more and with the law of exemptions, a debtor can have a chance to reduce their personal liability and still get to keep some stuff.

The debtor selects property that he/she is eligible to keep from a list containing state exemptions or exemptions provided in the Federal Bankruptcy Code. The property shall be separated as exempt or non-exempt once the trustee files a property exemption report. The exemptions are not across the board and the law can be very different in some states, but the basic laws should remain unchanged.

Secured debts are first paid off but if the debt is unsecured, there may be a situation that the creditors of unsecured debts may not get paid at all. The trustee will pay the right creditors in the right amount. In order to get bankruptcy chapter 7 exemptions, the defaulter must file the case in the state where he/she lived for at least 730 days before he/she can file for this type of bankruptcy. Alternatively, the debtor may also file the case in a state where he/she has previously lived for more than 180 days, up to 2 years.

There are some Federal exemptions and they can include retirement benefits, death disability benefits, survivor's benefits and miscellaneous. Take note that not all the benefits are available in all states.

Yes, bankruptcy is not a good alternative and worst still, your credit score may take a major hit because of a filing of bankruptcy. Not only you will lose all your personal belongings and you need start a new leaf, both personal and business wise. Always keep in mind that bankruptcy should be your last option.

Of course, if you are left with no alternatives, then remember to educate yourself about bankruptcy chapter 7 exemptions that can help reduce your loss and use the law to help you get back your life as soon as possible.

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