What You Want To Know About Bankruptcy Laws
The United States Trustee was established by Congress to handle many of the supervisory and administrative duties of bankruptcy proceedings. Proceedings in bankruptcy courts are governed by the Bankruptcy Rules which were promulgated by the Supreme Court under the authority of Congress.
There are two basic types of Bankruptcy proceedings. A filing under Chapter 7 is called liquidation. It is the most common type of bankruptcy proceeding. Liquidation involves the appointment of a trustee who collects the non-exempt property of the debtor, sells it and distributes the proceeds to the creditors. Bankruptcy proceedings under Chapters 11, 12, and 13 involve the rehabilitation of the debtor to allow him or her to use future earnings to pay off creditors.
A number of sections of Chapter 11 incorporate the debtor-creditor law of the individual states. Congress passed the Bankruptcy Code under its Constitutional grant of authority to "establish... uniform laws on the subject of Bankruptcy throughout the United States." See U.S. Constitution Article 1, Section 8. States may not regulate bankruptcy though they may pass laws that govern other aspects of the debtor-creditor relationship.
Bankruptcy law provides for the development of a plan that allows a debtor, who is unable to pay his creditors, to resolve his debts through the division of his assets among his creditors. This supervised division also allows the interests of all creditors to be treated with some measure of equality. Certain bankruptcy proceedings allow a debtor to stay in business and use revenue generated to resolve his or her debts.
The attorney will help you understand which chapter you may file under, what bills can be eliminated, how long payments may be extended, what possessions can be kept, and all other details regarding the bankruptcy case. Bankruptcy attorneys should explain the applications of the new bankruptcy laws.
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