is bankruptcy for me?

[Keith]

several years ago my wife had a car repoed, and now we just discovered that they are garnishing her wages for it (just over $13,000). we live paycheck to paycheck and there is no way for us to be able to afford this. I have read that a spouse is able to declair bankruptcy alone, and she has almost no assets and no bank account. we just bought a new car and we rent.

my question is, is bankruptcy the way to go? or should we look into other options.
and if she goes it alone, and the car is in my name, is the car still up for grabs?

I dont know all that much about bankruptcy so please explain as much as you can so i can understand.

[rrockinggramma]

Bk

there are a lot of variables to be considered and the best bet would be to talk to an attorney in your area. Almost all give a free initial consult. Your wife can declare BK and that will stop the garnishment as well as wipe out the deficiency balance on the repo'd car. If the equity in the car you just purchased is within the exemptions allowed by your state, then the car you just bought is not in jeopardy. There are 2 chapters of BK however. Chapter 7 wipes away all debt and takes about 4 months from start to finish. This is where your monthly income is less than your monthly bills or equal to your monthly bills (minus all of the debt you would be wiping out). A chapter 13 is a 3 to 5 year plan that allows you to pay back some or all of your debt. You would go through an appointed trustee by the BK court and he would take care of your creditors. In both, an automatic stay stops all collections, phone calls, and garnishments. But there are many factors to consider in determining which chapter you qualify for so that is why an attorney is very important.