When most people think of Bankruptcy, they are thinking of what is called a Chapter 7 bankruptcy.

• A Chapter 7 is what is known as a "straight" bankruptcy or a "liquidation" type bankruptcy.

• The Court forgives the individual his or her debts and liquidates, or takes, any assets he or she has that are not exempt. "Exempt" means property protected by law, which may not be taken from the debtor.

• In Florida the Court cannot take a debtor's home because the equity in the home is protected by the Florida Constitution.

• Furthermore, the following property is also exempt: interests in IRS approved retirement or pension plans (i.e.: IRA's, 401K's, pensions, etc.), interests in insurance policies, money in the bank that is from your wages, government benefits (veterans benefits, entitlements, social security, Medicaid, Medicare, SSI, etc.), $1000.00 worth of equity in any automobile, $1000.00 worth of personal property, and many other exemptions, which are too numerous to mention here. (Call for an explanation regarding your particular case)

• You are allowed to keep your secured debt if you wish. This usually means your home, car and any number of other secured purchases such as appliances, jewelry, etc. These debts are allowed to "pass through" bankruptcy without being affected.

• This is called "reaffirmation", because you are reaffirming the debt. In other words, by reaffirming a debt, you are saying to the creditor, in effect, "I want to keep this debt and I understand that by keeping it I will be responsible for paying it and my bankruptcy will give me no protection from it."

• However, if you don't want to keep secured debt, you can surrender the property and any debt associated with that surrender, such as a deficiency balance, or extra charges for returning the property in less than perfect condition, is forgiven completely.

• Once you come out of Bankruptcy, shortly after your case is filed, you will be swamped with credit card offers. You are now debt free and the credit card companies can't wait to get you hooked again. You don't owe anyone anything and they know you can't file Bankruptcy again for several years so they send you applications almost immediately.

• You may wish to take ONE and use it carefully to build back your credit rating, or you may wish to get a secured card from your bank. (Either way this is usually a good idea, since it is almost impossible to rent a car, or book airline tickets without one, and is important to have in case of an emergency).

• Chapter 7 allows most individuals to eliminate all of their unsecured credit card debt and medical bills and to keep all of their belongings. Occasionally, they may lose some property but this is usually very minimal. (Call about your particular situation

A Chapter 7 can be prepared within a few weeks and can be concluded quickly and effectively.

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