Question: Can I File Bankruptcy Again?

I need to file bankruptcy again. Can I? In February of this year I became ill and was forced to shut down my EBay business. Currently I owe then approx. $47,000 of credit card debt. My sole income is $789 a month in SSI income. (I live with my adult children).

4 years ago my ex-husband and I filed bankruptcy when he lost his job.  Creditors are driving me crazy. I have been told they can’t touch my SSI, but I need to find a way to get some peace back in my life. I tell them I can’t pay and I live on SSI and they don’t care and tell me to ask my kids for money. Are there any bankruptcy options for me?

Thanks so much for your time.

Chris

Answer for: Can I File Bankruptcy Again?

Chris, thanks for writing. Please consult with a bankruptcy lawyer right away.

Many people have serious debt problems years after a previous bankruptcy. Luckily in your case there is a bankruptcy remedy! You should consider filing Chapter 13 bankruptcy. To file again under Chapter 7 you would have to wait until 8 years after the old Chapter 7 case was filed.

You are eligible for a 13 right now, provided that the Chapter 7 case was file more than 4 years ago. It sounds like you have met the time requirement to file bankruptcy again. I’m assuming you have no valuable assets. And because you live with your children, I assume you can afford to pay something to creditors. It doesn’t have to be much, maybe around $100 per month could be enough for a Chapter 13 plan.

If so, you can probably file Chapter 13 now, with a bankruptcy payment plan based on what you can afford to pay over the next 3 years, (even if that amount will pay just pennies on the dollar!)

Whatever you can’t afford to repay gets discharged by the Chapter 13 at the end of your 3 year payment plan. Sometimes the court will allow a plan to extend as long as 5 years if there is a good reason. But you would be better off to get in and out as fast as you can.

For persons with valuable assets, and above average income the 13 rules are much more complicated, and the repayment plan must take into account the value of property that creditors would have received if you had filed again under a Chapter 7 case.

You can file bankruptcy again

The result for Chris is she can probably file bankruptcy again, right now. I expect that she should be allowed to file a 3 year Chapter 13 payment plan. Because her income is so limited, she can probably qualify for a tiny monthly plan payment. It is unfortunate that she already filed Chapter 7 bankruptcy, but at the time she needed it. She needs debt relief again, but the rules don’t allow you to file bankruptcy again under Chapter 7 until it has been 8 years since the previous case was files. She is eligible for Chapter 13 because her old case was filed more than 4 years ago.

Do you need to file bankruptcy again?

Bayer, Wishman & Leotta is a full service bankruptcy firm. We have offices in Downtown Los Angeles, the San Fernando Valley and Long Beach, California. Our attorneys are Certified Specialists in consumer and small business bankruptcy. You may reach us at (800) 477-3111.

Notice regarding the ARTWORK presented on this page:

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

This entire website is subject to the copyright of Bayer, Wishman & Leotta 2017. All rights reserved.