This Might Be the Best Time for You to File a Chapter 7 or 13
Video Transcribed: Oklahoma Bankruptcy Attorney Edward Kelley here, answering your bankruptcy questions with oklahomacitybankruptcyattorney.pro. Just going to give you an update on the COVID and its impact on bankruptcy.
Got an email in my inbox stating that telephone hearings for all bankruptcy matters will continue through the end of October. I’m a little surprised that they’re going that far out with it already, but that should tell you something.
Again, if your income’s down, although that’s going to be tough on you, it may bring you under the cutoff so that you can qualify for a chapter seven, get rid of all your debt and actually come out ahead.
Again, in Oklahoma at the moment for one person, the cutoff for a seven is in the forties. You had about 10,000 for each member of your family. Three people in the sixties, et cetera.
If you’ve been over that and just couldn’t get under to do is seven, now if you haven’t been furloughed, you probably have almost certainly had your hours cut. And I go by the previous six months so you may well qualify outright.
And even if you don’t, if the last six months don’t reflect major changes that have occurred that are COVID related, trustees are being very forgiving and taking that into account.
As far as the chapter 13, which is the one where you pay what you can for three to five years and your payment’s based on what you can make, your disposable income. If your pay has gone down, then your payment will decrease as well.
And of course, when you’re talking about three to five years, even though things may get a whole lot better, you’ll still have that payment based on the initial time that you filed. Again, I was thinking this opportunity might be ending around this time, but unfortunately for us, this pandemic is continuing. But in terms of your financial future, that is a possible silver lining.
Again, another benefit of this time is all hearings are being telephonic because nobody wants to take the risk of transmitting the disease at a hearing. You literally don’t have to leave your house. You can get me all your documents via email, fax or mail. I can meet with you via Zoom, FaceTime or any of those video apps. I’ve got them all.
And you can do your hearing with the trustee via telephone. And if you have to do anything with the judge, which is rare in a seven or 13, but if it does happen, that’ll be by telephone also. Be sure and get in touch with me. 1-888-DEBTLINE, or on Facebook at Oklahomans for Debt Relief.