Filing Bankruptcy? Contact a Bankruptcy Lawyer Today.

Filing bankruptsy may be an option for you if your are financialy distressed. However, not hiring a bankruptcy lawyer until the last minute may not be in your best interest. When you are facing bankruptcy, it is important to retain an experienced and a competent bankruptcy lawyer that you can trust such an ultimate financial decision with. Read on for more information and links to Bankruptcy lawyers, Bankruptcy attorneys and law firms specializing in Bankruptcy law.

Even though the number of people that have needed bankruptcy protection has risen greatly in recent years, it is usually quite difficult to find someone who may have personally experienced a bankruptcy. Moreover, bankruptcy is such a personal matter, even if one knows someone who may have gone through the trials and tribulations of having to go through a bankruptcy filing, it is often difficult for people facing such a challenging financial situation to openly discuss their financial crisis with others.

It is important, therefore, to consult with either a legal professional that you may know, or a lawyer that you trust. Consider contacting your local bar association, or your local legal aid society. They may be able to refer you to a few bankruptcy attorneys. You may want to inquire whether or not the bankruptcy attorney that you are considering to hire has been certified by the American Bankruptcy Institute, and whether or not (s)he has actually helped a number of clients through bankruptcy. Finally, you may want to ask for references, call them up and ask them whether they felt their lawyers did a satisfactory job.

Depending upon whether you are considering filing for individual bankruptcy, or a small business bankruptcy, there are several types of bankruptcy that you can declare. An experienced bankruptcy lawyer should be able to help you choose the right type of bankruptcy depending upon specifics of your situation.

The most common forms of bankruptcy are as follows:

Chapter 7 Bankruptcy: In case of a Chapter 7 bankruptcy, most (if not all) of your debts are discharged, and a trustee takes over your remaining assets. Your trustee will then oversee selling of your assets to compensate your creditors. Depending on the where you live, some assets (including your home) may be exempt.
Chapter 11 Bankruptcy: A small business facing a difficult financial situation can use Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection to keep the creditors at bay for a while. Chapter 11 bankruptcy allows a small business some breathing room, additional time, to reorganize and then repay it's outstanding debt obligations to creditors.
Chapter 13 Bankruptcy: When you are in a situation where you would not be able to pay back what you owe, and you have a regular income, your bankruptcy attorney may advise you to file for a Chapter 13 bankruptcy -commonly known as wage-earner bankruptcy. Your bankruptcy attorney works with your creditors to allow you to repay your debt under a repayment plan as deemed appropriate and approved by a bankruptcy court judge. A court appointed trustee then ensures that you repay your creditors under this plan.

Often people ask/wonder as to what can they take away with bankruptcy? Well, that would largely depend upon your exact situation, as well as on the federal and local bankruptcy laws that may apply (considering the specifics) to your case. It would certainly serve you well if you were to consult with a bankruptcy lawyer to find out the assets that you may be allowed to retain, or to learn about the assets that you may be asked give up. Any assets that you may be so required to give up are usually sold/liquidated by a court appointed bankruptcy trustee to help discharge the debt you owe to your creditors. It is equally important to know, however, that even though bankruptcy can discharge most debts -thereby wiping out almost of everything that you may owe to your creditors -it does not discharge of all your debts. For example, a bankruptsy may not discharge what you may owe in unpaid taxes, child support, alimony, most student loans, or any court fines.

It may be in your best interest to retain a bankruptcy lawyer that (a) has personally handled a significantly large number of bankruptcy filings during the recent years, (b) has an impressive success rate, (c) is easily approachable, and (d) is willing to spend time with you and help you throughout the entire process of bankruptcy filing. It is also important to clearly understand and document the fees that you would be responsible for.

We are working on further augmenting this document with links to bankruptcy defense lawyers, bankruptcy law related legal professionals, and bankruptcy law firms. You are, of course, welcome to suggest we add an URL link to your favorite bankruptcy lawyer's website! Please Email us if you would like to suggest a helpful resource link for this page.

Visit our Bankruptcy Law Related Articles and our Bankruptcy Defense Law News section for the latest information. Consider consulting with a debt management consultant or a financial planner if you have assets that you need to protect. We also suggest visiting personal money management resource center for information on money matters such as achieving your financial security goals through careful money management, debt consolidation loans, reverse mortgage loans, understanding and improving your FICO credit scores, managing money, and for many other personal money management articles.