Chapter 13 discharge Archives

Bankruptcy is about writing off or discharging debts. The timing of discharge is quite different in Chapter 7 and 13; both are permanent.

In some jurisdictions you can pay nothing to your "general unsecured" creditors, if all your money goes to paying higher priority ones.

If you are concerned that in a Chapter 13 case a debt resulting from surrendered collateral will cost you more, often it won't.

If you want secured creditors to be paid in your Chapter 13 plan, they must file proofs of claim. Let's use the example of a vehicle loan.

Often creditors' proofs of claim do not affect the amount you have to pay in a Chapter 13 case. But sometimes they make a huge difference.

If you owe too much in taxes, a Chapter 13 case can protect your small business while you write off some and pay some of the taxes.

Yes, but barely. Chapter 13 can deal much better with many kinds of debts, but it can only discharge one kind that Chapter 7 can't.

Whether you must pay for 3 years or 5 depends mostly on your income. Exactly how long it last depends on the many moving parts of your case.

It's a formal proposal about how much you'll pay your creditors. It is, often after some adjustments, "confirmed" by the bankruptcy court.

No. The bankruptcy court respects and doesn't change the support decisions of your divorce court. But bankruptcy can still help.

A Chapter 13 plan lets you propose what collateral you want to keep and what it is worth paying for, giving you a lot of leverage.