Save Your Home

All real and personal properties that you use as a residence fall in this category. If you have filed the petition individually, you will be able to exempt up to $10000. If the current value of your home is less than $10000, you can keep it, but if its value is higher than that, your home is likely to be sold off and the trustee will pay you $10000 in cash. In cases, where a married couple has filed the petition jointly, the exemption limit is $20,000 (double). If you do not want to lose your home, an Atlanta bankruptcy attorney can help. Even if your home is worth more than $10000, the lawyer may negotiate a settlement, as per which you will be able to keep your home, but in return, you will have to sacrifice other exemptions of equivalent value. Alternatively, you may also save your home by agreeing to continue with the mortgage payments and to pay off all previous dues. Your lawyer can even negotiate with the mortgage lender and establish an affordable repayment plan so that you can continue making the monthly payments in a timely manner.

Save Your Car

Life can become very difficult in Georgia if you do not have your own car. So, you probably do not even want to lose your vehicles. As per the laws, you can keep your vehicles up to the value of $3500. It means if the current value of your car is $12000 and you still owe $4000 on it, your car will be sold off and you will get only $3500 in cash. This is obviously not a fair deal when you already have paid a large portion of the car loan. Your Atlanta bankruptcy attorney can come to your rescue in such cases. They will find out a middle way to save your car. For example, a common strategy is to continue making the car loan payments and to pay off all previous dues. But, it is not as simple a task as it seems. There are lots of legal intricacies involved with the process. So, unless you are an expert in Georgia bankruptcy laws regarding exemptions, you will need an experienced legal representative to handle the case on your behalf.

Overall, an Atlanta bankruptcy attorney can play a very important role when it comes to saving your home and vehicles while your assets are supposed to be liquidated under chapter 7 provisions.

Who Is Eligible?

You may need the help of experienced Atlanta bankruptcy lawyers in order to determine if you are eligible for chapter 13 filing. The state laws have defined certain qualifying criteria that you must meet. In general, it is a 2-step process. First, you have to pass a means test – your regular monthly income (after deducting regular expenses) must be higher than the median income of the people residing in Georgia. Second, you must get a certificate from a state-approved credit counselor. The counselor reviews your financial situation thoroughly. If they get convinced that you can regain control of your finances provided the repayment terms are made a little easier, they may recommend “wage earner’s plan”, which is just another term for chapter 13 filing.

Marital Status

Even if you are married, you can file your petition under chapter 13 individually with the help of Atlanta bankruptcy lawyers. If you owe certain debts where your spouse is a co-signer, there will be a special payment class in your restructured repayment plan, as per which you will have to pay all those debts in full.

Debt Limit

The chapter 13 laws in Atlanta have made certain provisions regarding the debt limit as well. For example, you can qualify for this type of filing only if the unsecured debts do not exceed $336,900 and the secured debts do not exceed $1,010,650. It is very important for you to keep in mind that the figures regarding debt limits change over every three years. The current figures are applicable since 2009.

Court Proceedings

Once your petition is filed, you will have to attend a Section 341 hearing. In general terms, it is a meeting with the creditors under the presence of authorities appointed by the court. The first meeting is often scheduled around 30 days after filing. In most cases, it is the lawyers only who talk on behalf of their clients in these meetings.

The court also orders an “automatic stay” after your petition is accepted. This automatic stay protects you from creditors, as it becomes illegal to make collection calls or make any attempt to recover the debt. Having the best Atlanta bankruptcy lawyers on your side may also make things a little easier for you.

Homestead Exemption

Homestead exemptions allow you to keep a real or personal property up to the value of $10,000. However, the maximum limit can get doubled in case a married couple is jointly filing for bankruptcy. It is important to note that this specific provision does not say that your home is safe; all it says is that you can keep up to $10000 of its value. It means if your home is worth more than $10000, the trustee will sell it off, give $10000 to you in cash, and use the balance to pay off the creditors. Atlanta Bankruptcy Attorneys however can help you save your home, as they are experts in these types of legal cases. In case the value of your home is less than $10000, you can use the balance and exempt properties that fall under other categories.

Personal Property

The laws applicable in Atlanta also allow you to keep some of your personal assets, such as furniture like this office chair, clothing, home appliances, television, and other such things. The maximum collective value of all such assets that can be exempted in this category is $5000. However, a single asset should not be worth more than $300. Again, if the value of a certain asset is more than $300, it is likely to be sold off and then the trustee will give you your $300 while the balance will be used for the repayment of the debt. The laws also allow you to use any unused homestead exemption up to $5000 to exempt some more personal properties. Besides that, there are also provisions to exempt personal injury cash recoveries up to the value of $10000. You can even keep your jewelry up to the value of $500. Atlanta Bankruptcy Attorneys can help you make the best use of these exemptions.

Automobile

Personal vehicles can be exempted up to $3500. If you still owe some money on your car, that outstanding due is deducted from the current value of the vehicle in order to find out how much protect equity you have. For example, if the value of a car is $14000 and you still owe $11000 on it, you will be able to exempt only $3000. But, if you owe $9000, only $3500 (the maximum exemption limit) will be exempted. In most cases, the vehicles are sold off and you get equivalent amount of money in cash.

Public benefits, such as unemployment compensation, local public assistance, veterans benefits, workers’ compensation, Social Security, crime victims compensation, and aid to the blind or disabled are exempted in full. Atlanta Bankruptcy Attorneys are expert legal professionals who make sure that the debtor gets the maximum value of exemption, as much as possible.

Choosing Between Chapter 7 And Chapter 13

If you must file a petition, you will have to decide whether you should file under chapter 7 or chapter 13, which is again not an easy decision, especially now that the new laws about means test and credit counseling are applicable in Atlanta also. Now, you cannot just go ahead and file your petition in the court. Once you decide that bankruptcy is the right option in your situation, you will have to do a means test and get your financial situation reviewed thoroughly by a state-approved credit counselor. If the monthly income (after deducting the necessary expenses) is more than the median income of Atlanta, you will not qualify for chapter 7. In that case, the petition must be filed under chapter 13, where you will be offered a more favorable repayment plan and you will be allowed to continue with your business and keep all your assets. Once you decide which type of bankruptcy you qualify for, you must get prepared thoroughly in order to deal with the legal procedure. Your Atlanta bankruptcy lawyer can help you in this regard.

Property Exemptions And Discharge Of Debts

As per chapter 7, most of your assets and properties will be sold off in order to pay off your debts that you owe to different creditors. However, Atlanta laws allow you to keep certain assets and properties or at least their value (up to a certain limit) in cash. But at the same time, not all the debts are discharged. Debts like student loan, a liability to pay personal injury compensation as part of a lawsuit, and other such things are not discharged. It means even if the court declares you as bankrupt, you will still be liable to pay those debts. An experienced Atlanta bankruptcy lawyer can play a crucial role when it comes to dealing with all these complexities.

It is not just the paperwork involved in these cases where you need help of an attorney. You can have a peek here to find trustworthy lawyers. Unless you are an expert in this field of law, you will need a good lawyer at every step of the process. For example, an attorney can educate you on better alternatives to avoid bankruptcy. If there are no alternatives, they will help you qualify for the right type of bankruptcy. They will handle the paperwork efficiently to avoid unnecessary hassles. They will help you prepare a list of all your assets in a way to make sure you get maximum exemptions. Overall, the importance of an Atlanta bankruptcy lawyer just cannot be ignored.