As a Tulsa Bankruptcy Attorney, we want to help you understand that Chapter 13 bankruptcy is a court-supervised repayment plan, a consolidation of your debts into one payment, paid to the Court-appointed Trustee. The Court has the power to force your creditors into one affordable payment. So first, you pay the Trustee, and then each month, the Trustee distributes the money to your creditors according to the Chapter 13 plan approved by the Court and created by your attorney.
As a Tulsa Bankruptcy attorney, we want you to understand that Chapter 13 is designed to help people save their homes and car and to stop foreclosures or repossessions. It is intended to pay back your creditors over time, to pay off the debts you cannot wipe out in a chapter 7 like student loans, taxes, past-due mortgage payments, or parking tickets. We can also use chapter 13 to protect a cosigner from creditor harassment.
.We can consolidate all of your debts (including credit card balances), and often you will not have to pay interest or even pay back the debts in full. Filing a chapter 13 case will stop a foreclosure in the State of Oklahoma as long as you file chapter 13 before the confirmation of the Sheriff’s Sale. A confirmation hearing is typically held three weeks after the sale of the property.
Filing a chapter 13 can stop the repossession process and help you keep your car; your attorney can even get the vehicle back if it has already been repossessed in some circumstances. We also use Chapter 13 to protect your cosigners from collection activities while you make the payments through the Court.
It would help if you discussed all of your options and your entire financial circumstances with an experienced Tulsa bankruptcy attorney before you make your final decision as to which path you should take. For example, refinancing your home can often be an option to avoid bankruptcy, but sometimes refinancing is not possible or even a good idea. Especially beware of interest-only loans, adjustable-rate mortgages, and balloon payments. If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is!
Chapter 13 Repayment Plans typically last for three to five years, depending upon many factors, including your income, living expenses, the number of people in your household, the type of debts you have, and the amounts you owe.
The Federal Bankruptcy Laws are complicated, and that is why we urge you to consult an experienced Tulsa bankruptcy attorney. There are many ways an attorney can navigate the new Bankruptcy Code to work for you. Therefore, you should consult with an experienced bankruptcy attorney whose practice concentrates on bankruptcy law before you decide your financial problems.
To determine which type of bankruptcy is most appropriate for you requires a detailed investigation into your financial affairs, including your income (now and over the past year), the number of members in your household, and the property you own now and have owned over the last ten years. Unfortunately, the new bankruptcy laws have made this even more complicated, so I urge you only to seek counsel from attorneys concentrating on the practice of bankruptcy law. In addition, the new laws have many new rules and deadlines that are not known to the general practitioner.
Whether you file a Chapter 7 or a Chapter 13 bankruptcy, you will stop creditor harassment and collection activities. When you file, the bankruptcy court will assign you a case number and mail notice to all of your creditors with instructions about collection efforts and deadlines in the case.