Yes, this is Roger Ghai with Law Offices of Roger Ghai, and I practice bankruptcy law in the Kennesaw, Acworth, and Marietta areas, primarily. And I wanted to talk today a little bit about in a chapter seven bankruptcy case, what types are dischargeable? That is, what types of debts can be wiped out? Normally speaking, in a chapter seven case, any unsecured debts can be wiped out. What I mean by unsecured, an example, would be any medical bills, any judgements, sometimes judgments can be wiped out, and credit card bills could be wiped out. Now, there are certain types of debt that you can not wipe out in a chapter seven case. Some examples of that would be secured debts. For example, if you have a home and you’ve got a mortgage on the home, you can’t file a chapter seven and then wipe out the debt and keep the home. You either have to pay on the home or surrender the home in the bankruptcy case.
The same rule would apply to vehicle loans. If you have a car loan, a truck loan, semi-truck lawn, whatever you have, you either have to pay for that property, and then you can keep it if the creditor will allow you to do that, or you have to surrender the property. There a different type of category too of debts that you could not discharge if you file a bankruptcy case. If you follow a bankruptcy case and you owe $10,000 in criminal restitution, you could not wipe that out if you file a chapter seven bankruptcy case.
Likewise, if you have debts that were the result of what we call in the laws an intentional tort, and an example that would be this. Let’s say that you were sued in a civil case, non-criminal case for assault, or you were sued for battery and there was a judgment against you for that. Or, there was a judgment against you for some type of civil fraud where you financially defrauded somebody. Those would not be discharged in a chapter seven bankruptcy case. If you have questions about what types of debts you can discharge and what types of debts you can’t discharge, please feel free to call my office at (770) 792-1000.
Bankruptcy FAQ:
Frequently Asked Questions: Table of Contents Who is permitted to file and maintain a chapter 7 case? Who should not file a Chapter 7 case? Is there anything that a person must do
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