Chapter 7 Bankruptcy in Oregon
A Chapter 7 Bankruptcy allows a debtor/debtors to discharge most unsecured debts. These include credit cards, medical debt, and unsecured lines of credit.
Legal Stay
A legal stay goes into effect once a Chapter 7 Bankruptcy is filed. This legal stay immediately prevents creditors from taking any collection against the debtor. The creditor can no longer call, write, sue, and/or collect on a judgment if they have one
If the creditor was already garnishing a debtor’s paycheck at the time of filing, then the garnishment must stop immediately.
Some tax debt may be discharged. Tax debt will be dischargeable if is three years old or older, and if relevant tax returns were filed at least two years before the bankruptcy filing.
What is Not Dischargeable?
Some obligations are almost never dischargeable in any type of bankruptcy. These include the following
- like child and/or spousal support
- student loans
What Happens to Your Assets?
In general, a debtor can keep their secured property (e.g., house and/or car) as long as they are current on their payments (or make arrangements to get current with the lender) and continue making their payments post-filing.
Regarding a debtor’s assets, there are different statutory exemption amounts for different property categories. For example, the exemption amount for a house is $40,000 for a single filer or $50,000 for a married/joint filing.
This exemption amount has to do with the equity that is in the house. So if there wasn’t more than $40,000 or $50,000 of equity in the debtor’s house and the debtor is current and stays current on payments, the debtor will not lose their house.
The exemption amount for cars is $3,000. That has to do with the equity in the car. Generally, the Kelly Blue Book trade-in value is used to value the car.
Contact an Experienced Bankruptcy Attorney
The bottom line is that if you are not comfortable with your current debt load, there are numerous benefits to a consultation with me.
- You will not wait in a waiting room with other bankruptcy clients. A bankruptcy filing and/or a potential bankruptcy filing is a private matter.
- You will never meet with a legal assistant. Some bankruptcy lawyers have their legal assistants do a lot of the work on your case, including an initial intake.
- I am compassionate about your financial situation and I have the utmost empathy for what you’re going through. My reward is that I get to help you.
I take great pride in seeing the positive in everybody and trying to help individuals better their lives; it is very important to me that the service that I provide to my clients is exceptional.
Among other things, this includes promptly returning phone calls and emails and completing work in a timely and accurate fashion.