Types of Bankruptcy

Author: Rebecca Miller

• Chapter 7 bankruptcy: Also known as liquidation (converting assets into money) or a straight bankruptcy. This is one of the faster ways of starting afresh and more so if there are no objections from any of the parties involved. Ordinarily, most (if not all) debts would be discharged within months of the attorney filing a bankruptcy petition. A trustee is appointed who collects all non-exempt property, sells the assets and distributes proceeds from this sale to appropriate creditors. Chapter 7 is different from other bankruptcy filings because the debtor needs not make a payment to the trustee.
• Chapter 9 bankruptcy: The purpose of Chapter 9 is to provide a financially-distressed municipality protection from its creditors while it develops and negotiates a plan for adjusting its debts. Reorganization of the debts of a municipality is typically accomplished either by extending debt maturities, reducing the amount of principal or interest, or refinancing the debt by obtaining a new loan.
• Chapter 11 Bankruptcy: Chapter 11 bankruptcy is known as the corporate bankruptcy or the reorganization bankruptcy. When business organizations are unable to pay their creditors or the claims of the creditors when exceed what the business organizations can pay, then the business organizations file for chapter 11 bankruptcy. In this bankruptcy, a reorganization of debts are as well the assets in possession of the business organizations are done, in order to help them relieve from a part of their debt and the remaining can be paid in best accordance to their ability.
• Chapter 12 bankruptcy: Entitled Adjustment of Debts of a Family Farmer or Fisherman with Regular Annual Income, provides debt relief to family farmers and fishermen with regular income. The process under chapter 12 is very similar to that of chapter 13, under which the debtor proposes a plan to repay debts over a period of time – no more than three years unless the court approves a longer period, not exceeding five years. There is also a trustee in every chapter 12 case whose duties are very similar to those of a chapter 13 trustee. The chapter 12 trustee's disbursement of payments to creditors under a confirmed plan parallels the procedure under chapter 13. Chapter 12 allows a family farmer or fisherman to continue to operate the business while the plan is being carried out.
• Chapter 13 Bankruptcy: It is also known as restructuring where you file a repayment plan with the bankruptcy court proposing how you will repay your defaults to your creditors. The amount of money you'll have to repay depends on how much you earn, the amount of debt you owe, the types of debt you have, and how much property you own. you don't have to hand over any of your assets to discharge your debts, but you must make use of your income to pay off your debts over the due course of time – it's usually three to five years, depending on the amount of your debts and your income.
• Chapter 14 bankruptcy: Chapter 14 Bankruptcy is recognized as the involuntary bankruptcy. In this bankruptcy the creditors file the bankruptcy appeal against their debtors. This bankruptcy is very rare, and most of the rare cases are seen in the corporate world rather than with individuals.
• Chapter 15 Bankruptcy: This is a newly added chapter in the Bankruptcy code or may even be termed as the new type of bankruptcy which is designed for international state of affairs. This bankruptcy gives rights to foreigners to take part in the state's bankruptcies cases.

It is essential to understand the different types of Bankruptcy because some are not appropriate legal action for certain individuals.

Article Source: http://www.sooperarticles.com/finance-articles/bankruptcy-articles/types-bankruptcy-35065.html

About Author:
Rebecca Miller is the contemporary writer of this article. Here she has discussed about the types of bankruptcy so that it helps a person to take a proper decision while filing for it.