Back almost three years ago, one of the good bankruptcy attorneys in the Indiana Zuckerberg bankruptcy law office made a remark that I quoted in Bankruptcy in Indiana. That remark is truer today than ever: “No one can work in this field of bankruptcy law,” she said, “without thinking every day, ‘There, but for the grace of God, go I.’”
In fact, as a debt consolidation lawyer offering bankruptcy services in Indiana for more than twenty years, one of my missions is to help Indiana bankruptcy clients focus on the future rather than on their own past failures. Two of the top 15 myths about bankruptcy in Indiana have to do with failure:
- Filing bankruptcy means you’re a bad person
- Only deadbeats file bankruptcy
You can imagine, then, how fascinated I was, as a longtime bankruptcy lawyer in Indiana, by the notion that failure may actually be an important, even an indispensable, ingredient in success!
That’s exactly the concept presented by local author Robby Slaughter in his new book Failure: the Secret to Success. We Full Article…
Occasionally a client is under a misconception that a Chapter 7 bankruptcy discharge will erase all creditor interests in secured property. In other words, after the bankruptcy there is no house loan or car loan, and the debtor is able to keep the house or car.
The word bankruptcy is derived from two Latin words, bancus, meaning “bench,” and ruptus, meaning “broken.” The term was used to describe the breakup of a tradesman’s business (often resulting in physically breaking the tradesman’s table or bench, signifying the end of the business). Early bankruptcy laws were concerned with protecting creditors from insolvent businesses. Usually this meant total liquidation of the business. In some cases a creditor could have the tradesman imprisoned for non-payment of a debt.
Modern bankruptcy law in the United States is more forgiving and promises the individual creditor a fresh start. The United States Bankruptcy Code is enacted by Congress via authority granted by Article I, Section 8 of the United States Constitution. United States bankruptcy laws have evolved to protect the honest, but unfortunate debtor and provide a discharge of overwhelming debts. Debtor’s prisons were abolished in the United States.
The cornerstone of the bankruptcy fresh start is the bankruptcy discharge, a permanent court injunction that prohibits creditor collection against the debtor. The bankruptcy discharge is available to individual debtors and is generally ordered at the end of the bankruptcy case. A discharge is not available to a non-individual, like a businesses or corporation. The discharge order forbids creditors from contacting the debtor to collect on a debt, or taking legal action against the debtor personally. The bankruptcy discharge is very broad and is enforced through a contempt action with the bankruptcy court.
Certain debts are not affected by the bankruptcy discharge including child support obligations, debts obtained by fraud, criminal fines or restitution, most student loans, and certain taxes. While these debts are non-dischargeable for policy reasons, other common debts like medical bills and credit card debts are discharged by the bankruptcy. The Bankruptcy Code offers certain protections to the debtor to repay non-dischargeable debts during a bankruptcy case.
If you are struggling with debts and need a fresh start, discuss your options with an experienced bankruptcy attorney. The modern bankruptcy law offers many legal options for paying or discharging personal debt. Learn how a bankruptcy discharge can start you on a path to a fresh financial start.
Introduction
On August 20, 2010, Petroflow Energy Ltd. (“Petroflow”), filed a petition for bankruptcy in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware. Months prior to Petroflow’s filing for bankruptcy, the company’s subsidiaries, North American Petroleum Corporation USA and Prize Petroleum LLC, filed petitions for bankruptcy in Delaware. After Petroflow filed for bankruptcy in August, it filed a motion with the Bankruptcy Court seeking to have the orders entered in the “First Filed Debtors’ Cases” (i.e. Nort