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File chapter 13 bankruptcyTo file a Chapter 13 bankruptcy case, you must be an individual or a husband and wife filing jointly. If you own a business as a sole proprietor or partner, you can include all business debts on which you have personal liability. You have to file your case in your name, however, and not in the name of the business, because a business cannot file for Chapter 13 bankruptcy. On your bankruptcy papers, you will need to list all fictitious business names or DBAs (Âdoing business asÂ) that you have used as a sole proprietor or partnership.As with Chapter 7 bankruptcy, if you operate your business as a sole proprietorship or in a partnership with your spouse, or another party, you, or you and your partner, are personally liable for the debts of the business. For bankruptcy purposes, you and your business for your share of a partnership are one and the same. You can include all of the business debts in your Chapter 13 bankruptcy case. There is one exception: stockbrokers and commodity brokers cannot file a Chapter 13 bankruptcy case, even for personal, not business debts. You cannot file a Chapter 13 bankruptcy on behalf of a corporation, limited liability company (L.L.C) or partnership as such. If you want to file a reorganization bankruptcy in that situation, you must file a business Chapter 11 bankruptcy, which is beyond the scope of this book.You do not qualify for Chapter 13 bankruptcy if your secured debts exceed $1,010,650 or your unsecured debts are more than $336,900. You will have to offer evidence that you have filed your federal and state income tax returns for the four tax years prior to your bankruptcy filing date. This evidence can be provided by the returns themselves or by transcripts of the returns obtained from the IRS. You have to provide this evidence no later than the date set for your first meeting of creditors about a month after you file. The trustee can keep the creditors meeting open for up to 120 days to give you time to file the returns and the court can give you an additional 120 days. DEBTS THAT SURVIVE CHAPTER 13 BANKRUPTCY:
In a Chapter 13 bankruptcy, you are supposed to pay off your debts over time, but few debtors pay back 100% of child support except support owed to a government agency, back taxes, and other debts classified as priority debts, and some percentage of other unsecured debts, depending on the debtors disposable income and the value of the debtors nonexempt property. This section explains what happens to any remaining non priority, unsecured debt when your Chapter 13 plan is complete.
As in Chapter 7, several categories of debt may not be discharged in Chapter 13 bankruptcy:Some debts cannot be discharged under any circumstance and you will be stuck with them after your case is over.Student loans will not be discharged unless you convince the court that it would be an undue hardship to pay off the loan.Fraudulent debts will not be discharged, but only if the credit convinces the court that they should not be.
DEBTS NOT DISCHARGEABLE UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES:
Certain types of debts survive Chapter 13 bankruptcy, regardless of your income or circumstances. In both Chapter 7 and Chapter 13 bankruptcies, child support and alimony you owe directly to an ex-spouse or child are non dischargeable. Your Chapter 13 repayment plan must provide for 100% repayment of these debts. Although you do not have to completely pay back support you owe to a government child support, collection agency during the life of your plan, any amount that is left over after you complete your plan is not dischargeable.
Debts you owe on fines or restitution orders contained in the sentence for conviction of any crime may not be discharged in Chapter 13.Recent income tax debts that first became due within the three-year period prior to your filing date are priority debts and have to be paid in full in any Chapter 13 plan. If your Chapter 13 ends prematurely for any reason, the tax debts you have not yet repaid will remain; you will either have to pay them outside of bankruptcy or convert your Chapter 13 to a Chapter 7 bankruptcy. If there is evidence in the tax records that you tried to avoid your duty to file an honest return or pay your taxes, the taxes will survive bankruptcy without exception. If you operated a business, you cannot discharge taxes that you failed to withhold from an employee. And, in a departure from the old bankruptcy rules, tax debts for which you did not file returns are not dischargeable under any circumstances.
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