Bankruptcy Attorney Las Vegas NV
In previous generations, filing chapter 7 had a negative stigma that an individual could not pay his or her bills. However, this is no longer the case as reflected by the number of individual chapter 7 filings in the United States. In 2019, for example, 773,361 individuals filed bankruptcy in the United States.
What is chapter 7 bankruptcy? Chapter 7 is a tool that allows consumers to erase many forms of unsecured debt, including medical bills, credit cards, and personal judgments. If you have consumer debt questions, contact Ryan Bankruptcy Lawyers Las Vegas NV. A basic outline of the chapter 7 process has been provided below. Ryan Law firm Las Vegas provides debt relief to consumers in Southern Nevada, including North Las Vegas and Henderson.
Chapter 7 Attorney Las Vegas
Chapter 7 is what most people think of when they think of bankruptcy. It is a liquidation of most personal debt and is the simplest form of bankruptcy in the United States. Filing a petition requires an individual to list, under penalty of perjury, all of their individual property/assets and liabilities on a petition that is filed with the bankruptcy court. In order to complete the chapter 7 petition, an individual will need to provide employment pay stubs and bank account statements for the past six months and income tax statements for the past three years.
Exemptions:
Individuals are permitted to keep certain assets that are “exempt” from the liquidation process. Assets that are exempt are outside of the chapter 7 process and vary by state. Filing for chapter 7 protection also requires an individual to take a pre-and post-bankruptcy financial management course.
Once you complete your petition and your online education requirement, you are ready to file your petition with the court. Upon filing your petition, an automatic stay goes into effect, and a trustee will be assigned your case. The automatic stay is a powerful component of the chapter 7 process as it, among other things, requires all collection activity to stop once it is in effect. Thus, if you have fallen behind on your car payments, filing for bankruptcy protection can prevent your vehicle from being repossessed.
Role of the Bankruptcy Trustee
The court-appointed trustee performs an important role. Your trustee is responsible for receiving and reviewing your financial documents. The trustee will determine if your financial records are in order and make a recommendation as to whether the court should grant a discharge in your case. The trustee is also responsible for administering the Meeting of the Creditors which normally takes place within 30-45 days of your case being filed. Despite the name Meeting of the Creditors, generally, creditors do not make an appearance at the meeting although they are certainly permitted.
The Meeting of the Creditors, in most cases, only lasts five minutes due to the large volume of cases being processed. Certainly, the meetings can take longer if a debtor’s records are incomplete or if the trustee has additional questions or requires additional information. In the event that the individual debtor has assets not protected by an exemption, the trustee may sell the assets for the benefit of the creditors. In the vast majority of individual cases or about 99%, the court-appointed trustee closes the case without selling any of the debtor’s property.
The individual debtor will need to complete the remaining financial management course before a discharge can be granted. Assuming the debtor has completed the required course and no objection has been raised by a creditor or the trustee, the court will issue a discharge sixty days after the Meeting of Creditors. The discharge will dismiss most unsecured debts, including medical bills, car loans, credit card debt, personal loans, payday loans, and civil judgments from collection agencies or credit card companies.
Zero Down Bankruptcy Lawyers Las Vegas
Zero Down Bankruptcy Attorney Las Vegas NV: The Ryan Consumer Debt Relief Firm offers counseling to residents of Southern Nevada and can be reached at 702-800-9999 or www.bankruptcyattorneyhenderson.com .