Welcome to Bankruptcy Guide
Do It Yourself Bankruptcy Article
. For a permanent link to this article, or to bookmark it for further reading, click here.
Looking at the Forms Bankruptcy Can Take
from:There are many types or forms bankruptcy can take. The US bankruptcy laws are designed to help individuals, businesses and even municipalities that are having severe debt problems that appear to be unsolvable within the current income or revenue levels. There are many reasons why this happens, but the reasons seem unimportant when buried under a mountain of debt. As many people discover when bills become backlogged, debt collection practices are harsh. The phone rings off the hook with collectors, and the late notices and penalty charges only seem to make the situation worse by the day. When you owe back taxes, the IRS is relentless when it comes to collecting the money.
The forms of bankruptcy are defined as chapters. The chapters were written to provide a specific form for filing when you are an individual, farmer, business, or municipality. Most people are aware of the availability of bankruptcy laws applicable to people and businesses, but even counties and cities can find themselves unable to pay their debt. Right now there is a current case in Alabama in which a county cannot pay its sewer bonds and is considering filing bankruptcy.
The first form bankruptcy takes for individuals is chapter 7. A chapter 7 is a liquidation bankruptcy in which your non-exempted assets are used to pay off as much debt as possible and the remaining balances are eliminated. A chapter 13 is called an individual debt adjustment form. In this case, an individual agrees to a court defined debt repayment plan.
Another form bankruptcy can take is chapter 11 which is a business reorganization plan. Under this chapter, the business asks for the debt to be adjusted in a way that makes it workable. The business can also ask for a total reorganization which is often what you read about large corporations doing in order to stay in business. Farm businesses, on the other hand, will file a chapter 12 when needing debt relief.
The other types of bankruptcies are chapter 9 for municipalities and chapter 15 for ancillary cases or cases which don't fit the other defined chapters. There are even bankruptcy laws that address service people who are unable to pay their debts because they are overseas serving their country.
It is easy to see how complex the bankruptcy codes really is and it is a work in progress too. Every day new court cases refine the code based on actual experiences. A good bankruptcy attorney will always stay current on the laws so that you are able to get the best advice possible. The goal is to help you or your business start over again financially, but in a way that is the best fit for your situation.
Do It Yourself Bankruptcy Specific links
Do It Yourself Bankruptcy News
State targets do-it-yourself tobacco shops
The bill replaced House Bill 2565 which was heard before the Senate and House Jan. 23 and 24 and targeted only the so-called "tax loophole" that sponsors argued these small shops were exploiting. Shops like DIY do not pay a state or federal cigarette tax, which is $30 per carton for Washington state. Instead, they pay a lesser tobacco products tax.
Read more...Jarvis Street Pharma seeks to restructure under bankruptcy act
FORT ERIE, Ont. - Contract drug manufacturer Jarvis Street Pharma announced Thursday that it has filed a notice of intention to restructure under the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act.
Read more...What to do if you don't get your W-2
Taxes » What To Do If You Don't Get Your W-2You're still waiting for your W-2. You know you're getting a refund and you want to file your return, but it's something you can't do until you receive your ...
Read more...Citigroup says Lehman Brothers trying to renege on obligation by suing to recover $2.5 billion
NEW YORK, N.Y. - Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. is suing several units of Citigroup Inc. to recover $2.5 billion it transferred to a backup account at Citi months before seeking bankruptcy court protection.
Read more...Kodak to phase out it camera, digital picture frame business as part of cost cuts
ROCHESTER, N.Y. - Kodak says it will stop making digital cameras, pocket video cameras and digital picture frames in order to focus on its more profitable businesses.
Read more...