Bankruptcy Allows Individuals to Protect and Rebuild their Lives
The events of the past few years have caused many personal financial challenges for individuals who may have never thought that they would be faced with losing a home, job, or business. These individuals are, more often than not, responsible people who took care throughout their lives to meet all their professional goals and live up to every contract they signed. Unfortunately, though, the ill-timed subprime mortgage crisis, having coincided with a variety of other economic changes and problems, has created an environment where businesses have had a difficult time attracting customers, where the owners of even well-maintained, quality homes have watched such assets decrease in value, and those who would normally have only been out of work for short time spans now find themselves without employment for months, if not years, at a time.
It is because so many people are currently dealing with financial strains they may have never expected to encounter that seeking bankruptcy for protection is fast becoming a popular legal option. 'Protection' is, of course, the key concept behind such a personal declaration, as declaring insolvency is intended to be a step that will help an individual begin to rebuild their life after having taken on debts which can no longer be carried.
Though filing for Chapter 7 or, in some cases, Chapter 13, may seem like a terrifying process for many people, both options are, in fact, intended to help debtors reorganize their lives while being granted some relief and protection from their creditors. Under Chapter 7, which is a basic liquidation for businesses and individuals, a trustee will begin to sell an individual's non-exempt assets with the goal of being able to distribute the proceeds to the debtor's unsecured creditors. Many assets, especially those that directly affect a person or enterprise's ability to survive, are considered to be exempt from seizure by the courts. This enables individuals, in particular, to be able to live without the fear of a complete loss of all their assets.
Though filing for Chapter 7 protection is often considered to be the simplest form of declaring insolvency, individuals who still maintain a steady stream of income may benefit from filing for Chapter 13, instead, as it allows for a reorganization of debt without the loss of current property or other assets. Also known as Wage Earner Bankruptcy, Chapter 13 does require that a portion of future earnings are contributed towards honoring those debts, however.
Ultimately, whatever solution any individual or business chooses to protect themselves from creditors, the fact remains that all forms of bankruptcy filings are indeed about protection. At our law offices we believe that every person has a right to be safe and to get a second chance, and so we're ready to help anyone prepare for such legal protection today.