Bankruptcy Preplan

Preplanning your Bankruptcy


Filing for Bankruptcy in MidMichigan or more specifically filing Bankruptcy in the"Lansing, Michigan" area I am not able to stress how important it is to create or define a"Pre Bankruptcy" plan. Is this something preplanning your bankruptcy illegal or underhanded? Absolutely not, pre planning bankruptcy whether it be Chapter 7 or Chapter 13 bankruptcy is an important factor in becoming informed on what the State of Michgan says regarding bankruptcy and what the Federal Government says about filing bankruptcy. Pre planning for filing bankruptcy in Lansing is no different than pre planning for bankruptcy in Okemos, Williamston, Dewitt or even Holt or other Bankruptcy districts in Michigan. Bankrutcy just requires planning in order to make it as smooth as possible to obtain your desired outcome when you actually decide to file for bankruptcy.


Why should I preplan my bankrutcy? Well, if you have used your credit cards, taken a loan or sold property 30-90 days before filing you may be required to pay the amount of money back to the creditors or worse yet, you may get nailed for fradulent activity. For example, you decide to buy youself a 60' flat screen tv on your your "Best Buy Credit Card" and next month you file for bankruptcy. You'll very likely either have to pay the credit card or sell the T.V.( although not typical). It is more likely you would be required to reaffirm the debt.


Preplanning also lets you know if you will be able to file chapter 7 or chapter 13 before you ever step into an attorneys office or ever contact your lawyer about filing bankruptcy. Just like you look for low rates or have done a credit card comparison you need to do the same with bankruptcy If you don't know what a "means tests" is then you definately have to start your planning for bankruptcy. Nothing could be worse if you have $20K-$80,000 of credit card debt and you try to file and come to find out you don't qualify for a Chapter 7 Bankruptcy and have to file under Chapter 13 bankruptcy rather than Chapter 7 bankruptcy which wipes all of your debts clean. Preplannig would let you know you should stop using your credit cards 90 days before filing bankruptcy. In addition to wating to file you would know that you may want to wait even longer if you have taken out a home equity line of credit(HELOC) to pay bills. Lack of pre planning could cause you to pay money to other creditors because you were responsible and continued to paid off some creditors with your HELOC.

The problem with making payments? You have just given preference to one creditor over another. The bankruptcy courts frowns uppon this. A perfect example is you paid back 8,000.00 to a family member because you owed them money. Guess what, you just made a preferetial payment to one creditor over another. Yes, your family member is considered a creditor.

Although this post describes the importance of "Pre planning" for your bankruptcy if you live in Lansing, Michigan or any of the surounding areas such as Grand Ledge, Charlotte, Bath or any of those other small towns and your considering filing for bankruptcy it is vital to conduct pre planning before you file your bankruptcy in any state or city whether it be Mid michigan or Lansing, Michigan.