A chapter 13 bankruptcy is a route for individuals wanting to reorganize their finances. This process is supervised by a court appointed official. The objective of Chapter 13 code is to enable income receiving debtors a way to rehabilitate their finances once approved by the bankruptcy court. Individuals may be forced by creditors to file an involuntary bankruptcy. Only Chapter 7 and 13 are classified as voluntary bankruptcy codes.
A person’s financial situation is the most reasonable indicator of the code to file in court.
There are many advantages to Chapter 13 bankruptcy. You have the ability to stop foreclosures. A debtor can have their mortgage reinstated upon bankruptcy completion. In some cases you can achieve a super discharge of debts that are not covered under exemption rule in other bankruptcy codes. An individual can also get a more reasonable interest rate to pay off past debts more quickly. Debtors can also prevent collection agencies from filing claims against non-filing co-signers of the individual filing the bankruptcy discharge.
Here are some recent statistics on filing Chapter 13 bankruptcy:
There was an estimated 475,000 Chapter 13 filings by individuals over a 1 year time period
About 5,500 business filed Chapter 13 bankruptcy for that same year
The next year a total of 450,000 claims were filed.
Recently many businesses have started to advertise as Bankruptcy Preparers. These individuals file bankruptcy upon your behalf; but they are not attorneys and can not represent you in court. The most a preparer can do is type up legal documents. Beware of any type of preparer service, as they not are able to fully represent you in court.