Do I "not" have enough debt for a BK?

[socal1105]

Hello again... I recently had a consultation with the Attorney firm that represented me during my civil judgment matter. They are not BK specialists, but I took the liberty of picking their brains while I was picking up my court documents. Unfortunately, they were not able to give me a lot of great info, but they did bring up some concerns that I should look into.

One of which is how the Trustee will view me filing for BK mainly to discharge a $27k civil judgment and some very old CC collections totaling about $4k. The Attorney brought up that the owner of the judgment can argue that I'm only filing for BK to discharge his judgment and not due to hardship. Which I can see his argument since I'm not under a mound of debt and the only other debts I have are those small collections from over 2-3 years ago and they've quit harassing me.

So is this something I should be concerned about? Do I "NOT" have enough debt to warrant a BK7? How strange I'm asking this question

[backtoschool]

That is not a lot of debt to have a bankruptcy on your record for ten years.

Also, if that is your only creditor that creditor most likely will file an AP so that they can get details on all your financial records going back 2 years.

If they file an AP, your cost of filing bankruptcy will go up by thousands of dollars since that is a separate fee schedule and procedure and is not included in your bankruptcy fees your lawyer is charging you.

[socal1105]

That is not a lot of debt to have a bankruptcy on your record for ten years.

Also, if that is your only creditor that creditor most likely will file an AP so that they can get details on all your financial records going back 2 years.

If they file an AP, your cost of filing bankruptcy will go up by thousands of dollars since that is a separate fee schedule and procedure and is not included in your bankruptcy fees your lawyer is charging you.

actually, I have a hearing next week to present all my financial documents so he can try and get whatever he can from me (of course, all my bank accounts are closed, I have no assets and all he can do is garnish my wages... which is another reason for me to quit earlier than I had originally anticipated). But with that said, I guess he can still file an AP just to make my life more miserable than it already is. Thanks for that suggestion... now I have to go and learn more about this AP so I can know what to anticipate

[debtmonster]

My mom went bankrupt on about $20,000 back in 1993.

I guess it all depends on your income. If you only make $6/hr., that's awfully hard to pay that back. My mom was unemployed at the time and I think my stepfather barely made $30-35k.

[shabam]

You can my have $100K if you like.. lol

[socal1105]

You can my have $100K if you like.. lol

LOL.... at this point, I wish I could.

[HakunaMatata]

Ooohh...I'll throw in an underwater money pit house! Wow, we're such a generous group!

[Pizza]

There's not an actual 'minimum' amount of debt you have to owe to file, but you have to ask yourself if it's worth it, or if you can somehow conquer that (relatively small) debtload.

[music12]

well, the question is whether you are really bankrupt or not! some people say that you are bankrupt when your debt is equal to or greater than your yearly income. so, are you making more or less than $31,000 a year?

[OhioFiler]

I'm not all too familiar with the AP process or Chapter 13 as I hope neither is in my future. However, could she keep the AP off the table with a C13? Under median with limited income I could see a small monthly payment to satisfy this debt.

[catleg]

I have seen it argued that a BK filing was in bad faith when made right BEFORE a civil trial in which it was expected that a judgment would be entered. HOWEVER, in your case the "debt" if you will has been decided, it is not disputed, contingent, or unliquidated, the only question is whether it is dischargeable. For that you can look to the exceptions for ch 7 discharge and ch 13 super discharge. So if it's a criminal act requiring restitution or drunk driving injuries, maybe it's not dischargeable in BK. You'll have to look at the circumstances and decide for yourself, or with an attorney.

Ironically I have read that there are rules to prevent a debtor from being pushed into an involuntary bankruptcy by a single creditor. I have never heard of the opposite.

[HHM]

There really is no objective amount that you can say is too little to file BK over.

A person on SSI earning $20,000 but has $10,000 in CC debt, is just as much a BK candidate as someone earning $80K a year with $60,000 in debt.

[ThisorThat]

I'm in a similar situation... wonder if anybody has any experience with discharging judgments with CC?