Student loans are almost impossible to discharge in Chapter 7 bankruptcy. The debtor must show actual hardship to discharge a student loans. Courts interpret hardship very strictly. If you are able to work you probably don’t have hardship sufficient to discharge a student loan in Chapter 7.

In Chapter 13 cases student loans are not dischargeable if the creditor objects the discharge. I recently spoke with a well-placed source who indicated that actually student loan creditors usually do not file an objection to discharge in Chapter 13 proceedings. As a practical matter, a Chapter 13 bankruptcy could be used to discharge a large part of student loan debt. O

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A business owned by an individual filing for bankruptcy is property that must be valued, listed, and exempted (protected) in the bankruptcy the same as any other piece of property owned by that individual. If the business is incorporated, it is a separate legal entity that may or may not be filing bankruptcy along with its owner’s personal bankruptcy, but, regardless, it is an item of some potential value that must be accounted for as an aggregate concern in the individual’s personal bankruptcy.

Depending upon the type of business, its size, its assets, its liabilities, its corporate form, and especially depending upon whether the individual operating would like to continue the business’ operation or just shut it down, business ownership in bankruptcy can be extremely problematic.

This is particularly true in a Chapter 7 context. In a C Full Post…

It’s extremely common to have multiple names on a single bank account.  Married couples do it all the time.  Parents put their names on their children’s accounts.  Domestic partners will often open joint accounts.  Children will put their names on accounts for their aging parents.  Usually, this is to provide the joint signer access to the money in case something happens to the primary owner.  When people file for bankruptcy, they often think creditors will target money in any bank account that has their name on it. This, howe

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Recent data shows that nationwide foreclosure filings increased in the third quarter of this year.  This is the first quarter that foreclosure filings have increased since the last quarter of 2010.

1 in 213 properties in the United States were foreclosed upon in the third quarter of 2011.

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