Bankruptcy in Brief

Who is eligible for Chapter 13? 

 To file Chapter 13, you must be 

• an individual (no corporations or partnerships); 
• have a regular income greater than your reasonable  living expenses; and
• have liquidated, unsecured debts not exceeding $336,900  and secured debts not exceeding $1,010,650
    Telling if a debt is  secured.   

While you can only get a discharge in Chapter 7 every 8 years (longer now with the '05 bankruptcy amendments), you can file a Chapter 13 bankruptcy even if you got a Chapter 7 discharge 4 years ago.  

A strategy frequently used is to file Chapter 7 to discharge those debts that are dischargeable, and file a subsequent Chapter 13 to repay those debts that were not discharged in Chapter 7.   That strategy seems to be viable even after the 05 amendments since the debtor does not need a discharge in the subsequent 13, he just needs time to pay the non dischargeable debt.

  How does Chapter 13 work?