Legal Blog

Once your Chapter 7 bankruptcy has been filed, a meeting with your creditors typically follows in around six weeks. Your attendance is required at this meeting to answer questions under oath regarding your finances. Your bankruptcy attorney from The Law Offices of Christopher W. Parker attends the meeting with you. In approximately two months after your meeting with creditors, you receive your discharge order and the order closing your case. When you hire the right lawyer for your Chapter 7 bankruptcy in Beverly, MA, he or she ensures that everything filed with the court is correct and that you meet all of the requirements to qualify for a bankruptcy discharge.

Contrary to popular myth, you don’t lose everything when you file a Chapter 7 bankruptcy. Most Chapter 7 cases are “no asset” cases, which means that debtors do not lose any of their property. If you have a car loan, you must continue to make the loan payments, and you may be required to sign a Reaffirmation Agreement by the creditor. Reaffirmation Agreements must also be approved by the bankruptcy court.

By filing a Chapter 7 bankruptcy, it’s possible you can be debt free in 120 days or less. When your debts are discharged, your legal team should do everything possible to ensure your bankruptcy case moves forward as quickly as possible.

Filing for a Chapter 7 bankruptcy has many benefits, but it is also a big decision that you should not make until you have all of the facts. You may be highly motivated to file for Chapter 7 to reduce the stress in your life because too much stress can cause high blood pressure, fatigue, insomnia, and depression. Financial stressors cause some of the most life-threatening kinds of stresses especially when there doesn’t appear to be an affordable solution to the mounting debt problems.  With a Chapter 7 filing, your unsecured debt is gone, and you have a fresh start without the burden created by aggressive creditors that threaten and harass you about your unpaid debts. However, it pays to understand exactly what is required before you file.

Filing Chapter 7 bankruptcy involves filing other documents in addition to your bankruptcy petition. When you work with the knowledgeable and experienced staff at The Law Offices of Christopher W. Parker, you will be given the information needed to help you complete all of the necessary forms. As specialists on Chapter 7 bankruptcy in Beverly, MA, we make sure the information on each page is correct before our office files the forms with the court.

We are often asked about the timeline in a Chapter 7 bankruptcy case. Once you have had your initial consultation with a bankruptcy lawyer and decided to file a Chapter 7 bankruptcy, your case should begin to move forward that day.

In a Chapter 11 bankruptcy, a company is protected from creditors making debts or claims that arose before the bankruptcy petition was filed. Under Chapter 11, the business has the right to file a reorganization plan. Also, the business has up to 180 days to convince creditors to accept its plan. There are many benefits to filing Chapter 11 bankruptcy in Beverly, MA, with the help of the Law Offices of Christopher W. Parker LLC. Mr. Parker is an experienced lawyer who has satisfactorily represented many clients in litigation with state and federal courts. The following are some of the positive reasons to choose a Chapter 11 filing:

• In Chapter 11 you can keep possession of your assets and operate your business under the supervision of the court and for the benefit of your creditors.
• If a debtor, as a fiduciary for the creditors, is not managed effectively or is less than honest, a trustee may be appointed.
• With the appointment of a creditors’ committee, all creditors are represented by the committee, which provides oversight of the debtor’s operations. The debtor may also work with the committee to negotiate an acceptable plan of reorganization.
• The creditors vote to confirm a Chapter 11 plan.
• The debtor has a chance to ensure a plan is confirmed by creditors despite their opposition if the debtor meets certain statutory tests.

Considered the most flexible of all the bankruptcy chapters, Chapter 11 is also the hardest to generalize about. It may also be a bit more expensive to the debtor than other bankruptcy filings. There are also a number of complex rules and requirements in Chapter 11, which call for the presence of a knowledgeable bankruptcy attorney.