How Bankruptcy Lawyers Can Help If You Are in the Military

As bankruptcy lawyers, we know that it is easy to find yourself in a situation where you are in over your head and in need of financial relief.  For military families it is easy for moving expenses to mount, a military spouse to have a hard time finding a new job, etc. when moving from one base to the next.  These constant lifestyle changes can make it difficult to stabilize, regardless of how hard you try.  This can create a need to pay for things with credit cards that sometimes become more than you can afford to pay back.  If you have a lot of unsecured debts and are looking for a way to repay it – we can help.

There is more than one type of bankruptcy that you can file.  A Chapter 13 allows you to enter into a repayment plan with your creditors so that they will receive some of what you owe them.  This is often a good scenario when you want to make payments but simply cannot afford the high amount that they expect on a monthly basis.  Unfortunately, many credit card companies are not willing to work with you to prevent the need to file for bankruptcy.  When you engage our services, we can negotiate with your creditors to see if they will agree to a repayment plan or proceed through the bankruptcy court.

In a Chapter 13, we will present to the judge the amount of money that you have available to live on and what is left over after all of your expenses are paid.  This includes what you need to pay for rent, utilities, child care, gas, food, insurance, etc.  The amount that is realistically left over is your disposable income and the amount of money you have to pay on your debt.  This is the money that the judge or trustee will split between your creditors.  In this way, everyone gets something but still less than if you were to pay them off in full.  Your creditors will have the opportunity to argue for why they should get more than the next guy but at the end of the day, if you make your monthly payment on time, the remaining debt will be discharged when the repayment period is over.  This can be a complex process and as bankruptcy lawyers, we can help you to set up your repayment plan.

If, however, you are looking to wipe your debts out – this is also a possibility.  We can help you to file a Chapter 7 bankruptcy where all of your unsecured debts are eliminated.  This includes things like credit cards and personal loans.  You can also have some of your secured debt wiped out if you are willing to give back the collateral.  For example, a car loan can be wiped out if you give back the car.  If you want to keep your car or home, you must continue to make the payments, though any back payments you owe may be negotiated as part of the proceedings. Every situation is different so for assistance, call and speak with one of our lawyers today.