what to do with overseas debt?

[arkanimal]

hello- i have posted this twice before with no responses, so i am gonna give it a go again before i speak with an attorney...

i have 25,000 in debt here, all gone to collections as of last week, but i also have debt on cc's overseas, where i was living for a few years. i have returned to the states for work after getting laid off (the recession in ireland is much much worse) and am now swamped. even if i am discharged here, i still have to pay the debt overseas as they have no bk - they actually still have debtor's prison - so, my question is: will they allow me to claim that debt as expenses seeing as i cannot discharge it?

thanks for any help you can give.

[jribe]

hello- i have posted this twice before with no responses, so i am gonna give it a go again before i speak with an attorney...

i have 25,000 in debt here, all gone to collections as of last week, but i also have debt on cc's overseas, where i was living for a few years. i have returned to the states for work after getting laid off (the recession in ireland is much much worse) and am now swamped. even if i am discharged here, i still have to pay the debt overseas as they have no bk - they actually still have debtor's prison - so, my question is: will they allow me to claim that debt as expenses seeing as i cannot discharge it?

thanks for any help you can give.

i don't believe so. You can only list secured creditors that you have to pay i believe. Do they have any type of judgement on you?

How much do you owe? Can you settle? Get a loan from someone and pay them back personally?

Honestly- i would consult with an attorney. However, i don't even know how much they would know. That would be more of an international issue; not something most BK attorney's have experience in.

I've done a lot of research myself; and have not come across anything like what you're mentioning.

[arkanimal]

thanks for the response

no - if i could get a loan from someone i would - i am just wondering if they are legitimate expenses, i am not looking to get them discharged, that is not possible, just to list them as monthly expenses...after rent, food, and these overseas payments, i am left with nothing - $0 - at month's end...

i would like to file pro se - no assets - but feel like this might raise a red flag in court...i have scoured the forum and found nothing like this...even if my american debt is discharged, i am still left with overseas debt...

anyone else ever had a similar issue?

[jribe]

there is not a way to list it as an expense; if you hire an attorney they may have some creative way to do it- but i wouldn't risk it doing prosea.

you can read the BK local rules for your area; just google you area's bk court. It will have more details there. But as i said earlier- unless it's "secured" in some way- there's not a way to list it as an expense. it may push you into a 13- but a 13 is still better than nothing..

no - if i could get a loan from someone i would - i am just wondering if they are legitimate expenses, i am not looking to get them discharged, that is not possible, just to list them as monthly expenses...after rent, food, and these overseas payments, i am left with nothing - $0 - at month's end...

i would like to file pro se - no assets - but feel like this might raise a red flag in court...i have scoured the forum and found nothing like this...even if my american debt is discharged, i am still left with overseas debt...

anyone else ever had a similar issue?

[lrprn]

To deal with your foreign debts, check out Ch 15 (yes, there is such a thing). The purpose of Chapter 15, and the Model Law on which it is based, is to provide effective mechanisms for dealing with insolvency cases involving debtors, assets, claimants, and other parties of interest involving more than one country.

See http://www.uscourts.gov/bankruptcyco...chapter15.html and http://bankruptcy.cooley.com/2007/02...olvency-rules/ for a more detailed explanation of how Ch 15 works to deal with international debts from inside the US.

Good luck - hope you can work out something that allows you to deal with your US and Irish debts effectively.