Frequently Asked Questions

Creditors Actions Before Bankruptcy

• What is the statue of limitations for Arizona regarding bad credit against someone? 7 years? We have a judgment against us that is 5 years old and is not paid. Is it true that in 2 years they can no longer collect it and it must be removed from our credit report?

Stopping Creditors

• Can I get a repossessed car back?
• Can home foreclosure be stopped?
• I received a foreclosure notice giving me the date that they will hold a sale on my home. When do I have to move out?  If I file Chapter 7 am I giving back the house? How much time do I have to file either Chapter 7 or 13?
• In 1999 a firm of collection attorneys got a judgment entered against me. Now they have gotten a bench warrant for my failure to answer a subpoena. Then, a few days ago, when I came home, there was a notice taped to my door from a sheriff who had been sent to deliver court papers, with the word LEVY circled on the bottom. What happens with the warrant, levy & judgment?

When, Where & What to File

• I recently moved from Arizona.  Can I still file in Arizona?
• How long do I have to reside in Arizona to file here?
• Does bankruptcy have to be filed in the county in which you reside?
• Do filings get posted in the local papers?
• When you file Chapter 13, can you move out of state, and still just continue to mail your payments to trustee--as long as you notify them of changes?
• Can you file Chapter 13 after you have filed Chapter 7 and missed payments on accounts that have been reaffirmed?
• I wanted to know if we can file for Chapter 7 for our medical bills.  My husband just had emergency surgery for his Appendix to be removed.  Plus we both had some medical bills collections on our credit from the past.  Also we wanted to file a chapter 13 on our car and van payments and credit cards.

Debts Discharged

• Can a judgment be discharged?
• Can student/education loans be discharged?
• What are the requirements to get a "hardship discharge" of an education loan?
• I thought that student loans WERE dischargeable, once they were over 5 years old, but from what event does the five years start? From the original inception date of the loan? From the date those monies were applied (like at the beginning of a semester)? From the date of graduation?
• Can Social Security (SS/FICA) overpayments be discharged?
• What taxes can be discharged?
• Can traffic fines be discharged in Bankruptcy?
• When waiting the 60 days after the 341 meeting for the discharge of my Chapter 7, should I be counting 60 calendar days or 60 work week days (Mon-Fri)?
• If an employee falls down at work is placed on disability but is found not "disabled" and then charged with "fraud," is this debt nondischargeable?
• Under Chapter 13 in Arizona and in the Federal codes, can you tell me what the code numbers are and where to find them that states someone who has been found guilty of a discrimination charge cannot have the judgment set aside and also if you know of the codes that say malicious intent is also not covered by bankruptcy.
• If you are in a Chapter 13 Bankruptcy, and during the time that you were under bankruptcy you acquired more debt (payday loan companies), can the payday loan companies sue you?

Child Support & Spousal Maintenance

• What effect will a Bankruptcy have on a pending state court hearing to collect child support or spousal maintenance?
• My husband fell behind in his payment of child support during a five year period when he was basically unemployed. He is now employed but not making as much money as he was when the child support was awarded. The children's mother is now working and off welfare. We filed Chapter 13 and are paying my husband's back child support in the plan. We were told that if we go to court to get the child support reduced, that the payment would be increased due to the amount owed in arrears. How is that possible with it is all included in the Chapter 13?

Spouses & Joint Debts

• If I am discharged for a joint debt what happens to the cosigner?
• Can I protect a cosigner?
• There has been a firm of collection attorneys aggressively pursuing me for a debt that was given to my ex-husband according to the terms of our divorce. Why are they coming after me when they know it's his debt?
• My husband and I divorced nearly a year ago and he was supposed to take over the credit cards part of the divorce agreement but he later found out that the bills were too much. I am unable to pay back the loans and credit cards. I have tried several times during the year to get him to go for bankruptcy but he will not do it. Can I do it and settle the debts for the final time?
• My wife and I are getting divorced but we have not gone through the process yet and I was wondering if I file for bankruptcy for myself will it affect her if our divorce has not been finalized yet.
• Will my filing Chapter 7 personal bankruptcy effect my spouse's or my own I.R.A. accounts, cash value life insurance accounts, or jointly owned land.

Listing Creditors

• Do I have to list all of my creditors?
• If my bank card or other account has been paid off, do I have to list it?
• Can I pay off a creditor to avoid listing it?
• Can I add a creditor after the case is filed?
• After I received a discharge in Chapter 7, I discovered 3 creditors that I had know idea existed. These items did occur before I filed chapter 7. But, according to your website, if I did not add the creditor to my bankruptcy it's "tuff luck, you have to pay those debts." That doesn't seem fair. I never knew that the creditors existed.

Preference in Paying Creditors

• My daughter will be filing bankruptcy. She is living with me and paying me rent. Will the rent which she pays to me be a preference which the trustee may recover?
• Payments to five of my nine creditors exceeded $600 over the past 90 days. However, all payments were at or slightly above the minimum payments required to keep the accounts current, and all were roughly proportional to the total balances owed. Will these payments jeopardize Chapter 7 filing?

Court Meeting

• Do I have to go to court?
• When is the court meeting?
• Can the day or time of court meeting be changed?
• Can my attendance at the court meeting be waived?
• What questions will I be asked at the court meeting?
• Will I have to give anything to the trustee?

Property Lost in Bankruptcy

• What tax refunds will I be able to keep?
• When filing Chapter 13, can they ask you to surrender any of your property?  We have worked hard to get 2 houses, our cars, a boat, and a jet ski. Six months off work due to complications in pregnancy and the renters up and leaving have left us behind in some of our payments.  I want to pay all of our creditors what I owe them, I am just looking for help in getting caught up and out of debt without losing anything.
• If a debtor has a lawsuit pending (i.e, automobile accident claim), does the debtor have to declare it in his bankruptcy?  Do proceeds from a settlement become property of the bankruptcy estate and go to the creditors?
• What happens to the property that is not exempt, but you want to keep?  Do you have an opportunity to purchase it for fair market value before the trustee sells it to pay your debtors?
• Reading your material about what is exempt I noticed that only houses and mobile homes are exempt. I have been living in a travel trailer for the last 5 years and have been making payments on it. Would this be considered my home and would it be exempt? This the only home I have. Thank you.

Tax Effect

• Is it true that I could be taxed because of a home foreclosure?  Will I still be taxed if I file bankruptcy?

Creditor's Claims

• I am a CPA in CA.  Is an accounting fee for tax preparation an unsecured priority claim under Sec. 507(a)(2)?

Secured Debts

• How can I tell if a debt is secured?
• My wife and I have only one car between the two of us. If I file Chapter 7, can I leave my car loan off the list of creditors and continue to make payments on it in order to keep the car?
• If I don't reaffirm secured debt in Chapter 7, when will I have to give the security to the creditor?
• What happens when they repepossed your car when it is paid for?

Changes & Chapter 13 Plans

• If my salary changes after I file Chapter 13, what impact would this have on my monthly obligations?
• Can I sell a car which secures a debt being paid by my Chapter 13 plan?
• Can I pay off my Chapter 13 plan early?
• What is the balance of my Chapter 13 plan?

Missed Chapter 13 Plan Payments

• What happens if I can't make a plan payment in Chapter 13?
• What should I do if the Chapter 13 trustee has filed a Motion to Dismiss my case because I have missed plan payments?

Dismissed Cases

• What can I do if my case was dismissed? What options do I have?
• I received today a notice of entry of order re: discharge of my bankruptcy (Ch13) for failure to make timely payments. I have missed two payments and I'm in my fourth year of paying.  All payments to the secured creditor and IRS have been made but payments were still being paid to unsecured creditors.

Credit and Bankruptcy

• How long may bankruptcy information be included in my credit report after bankruptcy?
• Can you still get a Federal guaranteed student educational loan after you have filed bankruptcy?
• How long after filing bankruptcy will I be able to get a loan to buy a house?  Will the interest be "sky high"? What are some of the other credit effects of filing bankruptcy?