In this episode of The Georgia Bankruptcy Podcast, we delve into the topic of Chapter 7 bankruptcy and discuss who should or should not file for it. We explore the written assets that can impact your eligibility and provide valuable insights to help you make an informed decision. 

If you're considering bankruptcy or simply want to learn more about this financial tool, tune in to gain a better understanding of Chapter 7 and its implications.

Don't miss out on this informative episode!

But if you make an average amount of income or below and all your money is going out the door for your basic survival, chapter 7 could be a good viable option. If you've got a bunch of credit card debt, one of the questions I'm going to ask you is, have you used any of these credit cards in the last six months?

If you have, I'm probably not going to want to file your case. We're probably going to want to wait a while and see how things work out for you, but here's the long story short. The Bankruptcy Code says, if you have made charges on a credit card in the past 60 days, you're going to have to pay it back.

Jeff Kelly: Hello, this is Jeff Kelly, and in this video I want to talk about who should or maybe should not file a Chapter 7. Many people like to refer to Chapter 7 as the fresh start provision. That's for somebody that's got a lot of debt hanging over their head all their money coming in every month is going out the door, and they need to just wipe this debt out, move on, and get a fresh start.

It depends, and the more, the farther you are above median income. Then the more likely it is, you'll have to file a 13 and pay your debts back, but for people who are in the chapter 7 scenario and they're considering it.

One of the most common questions we get is, Hey, I own a house, can they take my house in Chapter 7? And the answer is, yes, they can, absolutely they can. Currently, the most we can protect in your equity is 21,500 for an individual and 43,000 for a married couple.

So, if you have more equity than that, there is a chance that a Chapter 7 trustee will take your house and sell it. So maybe you shouldn't file Chapter 7 because it's very important to note that you cannot quit once that file is going and the trustee decides he's going to sink his teeth into your house, you don't get to wiggle out.

Would that be a good result for you? Most people will say, absolutely not, I'm not filing chapter 7, but every now and then we get somebody that says, yeah, that would be a phenomenal result, let's do it.

And you know, before we file the case, I make people sign something that's very specific that says that, and they won't do it. They usually won't do it, usually they'll say no, no, now that I'm looking at it in writing, staring me in the face. Not gonna do it. Don't want to risk my house.

com slash welcome and subscribe to our email list to have a guide to bankruptcy in Georgia, helping people get out of debt delivered right to your inbox. Now back to the show.

Jeff Kelly: Okay.

Who else might, should not file a Chapter 7? If you're involved in a personal injury lawsuit, well, number one, you better make sure you disclose that on your bankruptcy protection, because if you don't, you lose your right to recover anything, Very, very bad rule.

But if your PI attorney says, Hey, you're about to, we're about to settle this thing, you're good. You'll probably get a hundred grand or whatever the number is. You may not want to file because a chapter 7 trustee is going to take that settlement and they're going to use it and they're going to pay towards your creditors.

You do get to, you know, exempt a certain amount, depending on your, type of injury, but you know, these are things that must be taken into consideration before you file.

And when you think about it, it kind of makes sense because everybody that has a little extra cash that doesn't want to give it to a nasty credit card companies, of course, they'd rather give it to relatives or friends.

And so, that's why these rules are set up that way, it's because so many people have tried to do it. So no, if you've recently paid back a lot of money to friends or family, you probably don't want to mess around with chapter 7 because the trustee can go after your friends and family and say pay it back, that's a preference.

And so, you may not want to risk it if you're a homeowner, you may not want to risk it if you've got a personal injury lawsuit, you may not want to risk it if you're about to inherit a bunch of money from somebody. These are, I think the most common scenarios of why people should not file a Chapter 7.

If you have, I'm probably not going to want to file your case. We're probably going to want to wait a while and see how things work out for you, but here's the long story short. The Bankruptcy Code says, if you have made charges on a credit card in the past 60 days, you're going to have to pay it back.

If it's 90 days, it's presumed you're going to have to pay it back. There's a presumption uh, like a heavy tilt that if it gets in front of a judge, you're going to pay those charges back.

So, I would advise you to download a free copy of my book at www.KelleyCanHelp.com</Welcome. Also I have a podcast website, KelleyBankruptcy.Com. I've got a lot of information there. I also have a YouTube channel with lots of videos also.

So, learn as much as you can and give us a call, we're happy to explore your options with you.

Thank you so much for tuning in.

If you liked this show, you might want to check out our guide to bankruptcy in Georgia. Helping people get out of debt. Available at kellycanhelp. com slash welcome. Be sure to tune in next week for our next episode.