Business Bankruptcy Law | Small Business Bankruptcy Laws

My parents are divorced and I live between my mom’s house and my dad’s house. However, the address on my driver’s license is my mom’s address. Once I arrive to Montréal however, I will be exchanging my license for a Québec license which will have my new Québec address on it (one of the apartments I’ve been looking at). I am wondering which of my parent’s income to put in order to receive the most money from OSAP. My mom does not work, however she is disabled under the Canada Pension Plan so she receives a substantial amount from the Disability Benefit. I will also be receiving some of this money (Child’s Benefit, 214$ per month) as a child aged under 18-25 of a disabled parent attending school. On the Income Tax Return, my mom makes much more money than my dad does. My dad owns a small business, a cigar shop in which he is the only employee. Business is not good, he has a considerable amount of debt from credit cards and currently owns no more credit cards. He didn’t file for bankruptcy but almost did. He currently lives on the upper level of his store, so he technically doesn’t have a house. When I go to live with him, I stay in that upper level of the store. Needless to say, his yearly income on the tax return is much less than my mother’s. In your opinion, which of my parents should I put for the income part of the application?

The answer for me is to put my dad as he makes less money, but the problem is that the address on my license is my mother’s. However, I’ll be changing my license for a Québec one in about 7-10 days and that one will have a completely different Québec license. Please advise me with what to do and which parent to put, I would really appreciate it. Thank you so much!
To "It’s me":
Yes, they live in different households. However, would they cause me any problems if I put my dad’s income on the application but the address on my driver’s license is my mom’s? That would technically mean that I lied about living with my dad wouldn’t it? I actually live between both (1 week here, 1 week there) but the address on all my official documents is my mom’s. The license will be exchanged very shortly to a Quebec license with a new Quebec address on it but I’m just wondering in case…Thanks for your help.
To "Miss Priss":
My mom and dad both live in Ontario. I have lived here my life. I am only moving to Quebec for university in September.

My mom is thinking about filing for bankruptcy since she’s up to her eyeballs in credit card debt, not to mention a debt that my dad incurred that he now owes money to the IRS and money on a judgment against them for a small business that failed a couple years ago. I don’t know all the details, but that’s the gist of it. So her question is whether or not the bankruptcy will affect what she owes on both the judgment and to the IRS? I guess getting rid of her credit cards will allow her to pay the judgment and IRS off quicker if they aren’t affected by bankruptcy, but she was just wondering because she is thinking about trying to file for bankruptcy on her own because she obviously can’t afford a lawyer.

Unfortunately my business failed. I had numerous credit cards that were used to purchase business supplies, inventory, etc. When the economy fell, the business took a huge dip, leaving me with no way to pay for the monthly expenses to keep the business afloat. Not to mention, no way to purchase inventory to keep the business from failing further. I am in over my head and have considered bankruptcy but I have some circumstances that have caused me to have to delay the inevitable. In the mean time, creditors are threatening law suits etc. I have a family and this situation was an honest try to make a business work but obviously didn’t. Needless to say, I am worried about the amount that can be garnished as we are struggling already, living pay check to pay check. Can someone answer my question?

Ever since my college years been into credits, financing books, and businesses which didn’t pay off. My plan was that after school I’ll be able to get a good paying job and pay the debt but have not been able to till now. In fact, I have never made enough money to save enough to pay the 65,000 dollars I owe all together. I have always work two jobs , sometimes three, and with my wife we live to pay bills with no vacation , no nothing. I am getting tired. I have an equity loan of 30,000 ; 20,000 in credit cards; and 15,000 in federal students loan which I must pay. I own a small condominium with no equity on it. So, What do you suggest?

I had very good credit. Two years ago, however, I was forced to lose my home to foreclosure. Actually, it was two houses. After that, my big credit cards were cut or reduced, however, I never stopped giving payments. I’ve always been in good standing. I always give more than the minimum payment. Things were okay after the foreclosures, I could still afford to pay my balances, and it was all just alright.

However, about maybe 3 months ago, I started thinking about filing for bankruptcy. My cards weren’t maxed out, but I was still finding it a little bit harder to make payments. Then, business started thriving again, and that’s where I started spending more. I’d never maxed out my cards. Now, they are full. So, basically, three months later, I find myself in the same situation. Business has gone down once again (even worst than the first time) and now it’s getting tougher and tougher to make payments. Up until this month I still made some big purchases. A dslr camera, and somethings because I could still afford it. 2 months ago I bought me a fridge (2,000) dollars. Business is completely dying, but I’m afraid of filing from bankruptcy and having my things taken away… How long should I wait before I file for bankruptcy? I’m also afraid of being charged for something I honestly had no thought of doing (stealing the banks so much money) I would say I’m about 10,000 dollars in debt (i know it’s not a lot, but for me at the moment it is…)

What should I do? How long would it be reasonable to wait so the court doesn’t think I went and maxed out my cards before i filed for bankruptcy? (seriously, that was not my intention) A couple of months would be good? With my small savings I think I could still afford to make the minimum payments… HELP
I don’t know what I was thinking when I said I’m 10,000 (I was thinking just about a few cards) dollars in debt. I am about 50,000 dollars in debt. If not, more. Like I said, I had great income, and very big cards.
Spalmer: I’ve always known how to manage my credit. I’ve never been a big spender. My business was a thriving one for 14 years. I’m a wedding planner, and believe it or not, I made the big bucks there. Somehow, things are not the same. I also had another business, a small landscape designs. Things happen. At the end, yes, I might have spent much more than I should have, but i DID have the money to do so. Its just that you never think something bad is ever going to happen to you.
I’m sorry not saying what my income was. It’s about 100,000 but, like I said, I’m nowhere near making that. I do not own expensive car. The home I recently (2 yrs ago) purchased I bought cash.

This year we went under on our home based business! We filed chapter 13 on September 15 2010! We filed on our credit cards and other non secured debt, but left our 1st and 2nd mortgages off! What I mean by off is that we would be paying directly to the lender and not through the trustee off the court! I thought that we were current with our first mortgage; I knew that we had gotten behind on the 2nd but caught up before filing chapter 13! To make a long story short I didn’t find out until I went online and checked our past bank statements that we were behind on the first mortgage! We are still current on the 2nd but the first is looking at foreclosure! We did receive mortgage modification forms sent to us by the mortgage company the other day! We didn’t ask for them they just them to us! My question is if the mortgage company decides to foreclose will this be grounds to have our chapter 13 dismissed?
@ Real, I have ask my lawyer and he didn’t think that this could be an issue! But I would just like some other knowledgeable people’s opinion on this!

I’m self employed. I recently fell on some hard times with my business and this economy. I’m still making money, but not nearly enough to cover my mortgage, business rent, and credit cards. For the past few months I’ve been spinning my wheels with the credit card companies and mortgage mods, but those just seem impossible. They aren’t helping me and are now hurting my credit.

I’ve heard about this bankruptcy thing, but I don’t want to lose the few assets and savings I have. I want to keep them in case I lose everything or for real emergency. If I sell it all off or use my savings I’ll still be behind so I need another plan. Thanks much for any advice on this!
thanks andy. what’s killing me is my mortgage combined with my business rent. I should be doing better in 3-6 months, but at this rate my credit will be ruined unless i somehow change something. i’m working on new income of course, but it just doesn’t seem like it will be enough and fast enough

I filed bankruptcy with my husband 2 years ago, and I receive only disability payments every month that barely cover my living expenses. I no longer have a desire to use credit cards- I use only debit now and checks, or cash, and I have been up to date with bills since then. I’d like to get a government grant to rent a nearby building for an office space/coffee-shop type venture; anything that would involve the process of writing poetry, stories, books…I have no business experience but alot of ideas and dreams. I’d like to be able to 1) rent or lease property, 2)clean up the property (it’s been abandoned for years) 3)furnish with couch, chair, desk, computer, shelves,etc. 4)stock with office supplies, snacks, coffee-type drinks…5)have a few employees for accounting & legal help, cleaning & maintenance, and 6)clientele who are artists of the pen and paper (writer’s and poets who want to be published, as I hope to be someday)

I live in SE WI. Any serious guidance would be welcome…

my husband of 1.5 year has been very dishonest with me. A few things happened over the past year and I decided to forgive him and give him another chance. for example when he went to Las Vegas while i was on a business trip and lied about it to me. anyway, today i found out that he filed for chapter 13 bankruptcy about 3 years ago (before we got married) and never told me about it. He also has transferred K worth of debt under my credit cards (i knew about this). I’m totally devastated and thinking about leaving him, I think this is something major to share with your partner before you get married…I’m a professional and make good money and I can’t get over the bankruptcy dishonesty. Anyway idea?

I’m a RE agent and the only one at the family who works however I have not been making any money for 6 months! All my 4 children and my wife are students. We have been living a good life with a family of six since. We own three properties including my home. My efforts to sell any of my properties including home has not been successful. We have been using our credit cards and have max them all. As a result of this situation I am not able to refinance or obtain any other loans.
As a business person, I have started to set up another business which I can replace with my current career. It may take at lease six months to make money.
I have other valuable items that may bring me money if I sell them but those also take time.
The situation has kind of depressed me. What should I do in this situation? I spoke to a lawyer about filling chapter 13, but it looks like most lawyers like chapter 7 better. I know I can get back to my feet if I would have enough time to reestablish. please help!

I received a letter saying that a health care company/hospital is taking me to bankruptcy court for Chapter 11, something about Sale and Bidding Procedures. I have never been to this hospital and therefore never received a bill. I received the letter today – two business days from court date.

What should I plan on when I get there? Do I need an attorney? I have debt, about 5000 in credit cards but I work two jobs and pay my bills. I can’t afford court fees and am afraid to let it ride.

I owe about k in credit card debts. I make about 0k a year. From what i have been reading, i may need to file Chapter 13. Im not paying all my credit cards anymore for 3-4 months now, im focusing on my house, car payment & utilities. Business is still up and running good but it would take me atleast a year before i can even catch up on anything. It very very tight right now and its hard… please help.

Your Question
getting a feel for time?
I am in a difficualt situation where my buisness has dropped by 70% in the past 18 months – followed the recession perfectly – I have had to lay off my entire staff but two remaining and we are trying to sell our building inorder to pay our corporate debts – of hwich I have 135K some on credit cards some on various loans. all are personall guaranteed. i listed the building 5 months ago and we just atarted to get some interest as the market is starting to warm up here in central texas. I am pretty sure it will sell by summer, I hope. if we can sell it, then all our debts are paid and I can either resume business in a much smaller fshion or close it down and start anew in a new career that is less subject to economic fluctuations. my question is; we stopped making payments on our AMEX card about 5 months ago because we cant make the 30 a month payment. there is a balance of K. does anyone have a feel for how quickly or what the timeline is for them to actually file suit locally? is there any strategy I can employ to get some more time? I am just trying to buy time until the building sells, so I can pay them and everyone else. If they file a suit against me, I dont see any option but to protect myself by filing bankruptcy.

My question is, how do I get out of a checking account that i co-signed, never used, don’t even know the account number, and now it has been reported to ChexSystems. My own personal accounts for 11 years are closing because my step dad had a negative balance, and ChexSystems has reported it to my accounts. Overdraft fees that he never paid had snowballed to a whopping 0. I never got notices or phone calls from the bank he owed…and don’t get me started with credit cards. I am 000 in debt all because of him. He hid these cards from me until they were in the verge of going thru collections…I have a great job, I’ve always paid my bills on time and had a good credit score…now, I’m forced into bankruptcy (Chapter 13) and he has left me in the dark. How do I stop my own banks from closing my personal accounts? Thank you so much in advance for answering my questions.
By the way, my step dad doesn’t have anything on his name. To be honest, he went to jail for 3 years for fraud. I thought he changed and I wanted to help him put his life back together. Biggest mistake of my life.

i owe wells fargo for a personal AND business credit card. total about 20k. (was expecting 40k that i overpaid on my taxes that i’m not getting…blah, blah). anyways, i offered to pay them whatever i could and they told me not to even bother unless i was going to make the minimum payment (which i can’t afford right now). they said when it reaches 90 days overdue that they will either send me to 3rd party collections or take me to court. my questions:

1. which do you think they will do?
2. should i even bother paying what i can a month or listen to them and not pay anything?
3. they say that after 90 days it will affect my business credit. isn’t my business credit already screwed? if i pay them at least something will it still affect my business credit? will it stop them from sending me to court or collections?

i’m not going to declare bankruptcy (already spoke with lawyer)
i’m hoping things will pick up business wise soon and i can start repaying my debt.

i also have 3 other credit cards i owe on and an office lease i got out of. total debt about 75k. they won’t work with me either, i already asked them. thanks.
also they call me about 30 times a day and even after i call them and tell them i can’t pay the calls from them continue. they will call me 5 minutes after i spoke with them. can they do that? they also call my brother in law (don’t know how they got his number cause he has a different last name) and my mother and father multiple times a day and harrass them.

Hello, I hope someone can help me out in this serious problem in my life.
I am 32 yrs old and have been jobless for the past 2 years and have been hunting for a job in vain since. I have approximately ,000 in unsecured debt (credit cards basically). I also have a Honda Accord for which I had been getting help from my mother to make payments for. The payoff amount for the car is ,500. My mother recently lost her small business and can no longer bail me out for any of my cards or car.

I am in a serious depression because I am eyeballs deep in debt with no income or any job potential. I am not a lazy and careless person. I had stopped using any of my credit cards long ago since I had no income coming in. The amount keeps getting higher because of the high interest rates.

Can I possibly file for bankruptcy? What are the repercussions? What can I expect from there on? How soon can I start building my credit again after I hopefully get a job? Is bankruptcy a good decision or are there any other options for me? Will I still have to pay the credit card companies?

Please, please help me out with any good and useful information you have. Thank you so much,

I have recently raised my credit score from very poor to poor. I have 4 credit cards that I pay off every month, which has raised my credit score significantly. I am starting my own business and need to apply for a specific kind of license. However, because of this thing, I can’t apply for this license until it is paid off. This thing was left on my by my exhusband. I’ve tried to make him pay but he won’t and the courts says I am responsible since my name is the primary. I was in chapter 13 bankruptcy for 3 years. I had it dismissed when i dismissed my husband. I think that why I keep getting denied. Just because the bankruptcy is on my credit. The banks never ask if it is dismissed or discharged. Can anyone help? I have been denied by the following:
Prosper
CitiFinancial
American General
HSBC
Cash Call
E loan
Bank of America
and the list goes on. Please help. LEGITIMATE HELP PLEASE.

Thank you

I understand that business credit is different than personal and that at first many entrepreneurs personal credit is their business credit at first or at least the basis thereof. My question is, if you open a business is there any effect on your personal credit score? The reason for the inquiry is my personal credit score is decent about 700 but is falling because of a high debt ratio. So, because of the high debt ratio, lately no credit cards will touch me and what I want to do is transfer to an introductory rate to get out of high interest debt. I am able to pay all of my minimum balances plus 100 percent each month but I am of limited income from disability but get ,000 a year for grants for Grda school each year, 000 of which is government sub loans. So what is happening is I get the installments twice a year. I immediately pay down all of my cards ranging from ,000 payment to 00. My total debt is about ,000 and most happened prior to my disability.

Nearly all of my Grad school grants and loans are going to my credit cards and by the end of a semester I am out of funds from supporting my wife and son and myself. So, I use the credit cards I originally tried to pay down at the beginning of the semester and the whole thing cycles again. What should I do, bankruptcy? I really feel a moral obligation to pay off my debt, I spent the money and that is my responsibility. The problem is that because my debt ratio is so high and I constantly teeter on the limits of my cards I get hit with crazy rates. The last one was a raise from 5.9 percent to 15 percent and 32 months later a raise to 29.9 percent from Citibank. I think that with the upcoming laws the credit card companies are trying to lock me into these high rates and since my situation is that of a stressed borrower they immediately hit my account with any raises.

That was really long winded. The 2 questions I have are will opening a business help my personal credit and can I freeze my credit card APR’s or cards because of becoming "permanently" disabled in the span of accruing interest about 2 years ago. Any advice would be really appreciated, I”m really stressed out and trying to support my family while going to grad school and on disability all the while making the maximum amount allowed to stay on disability per month, 0.00. I’m so bogged down in interest that I can’t make any head way on my credit cards because al of my payments go primarily to interest. Thanks.

My husbands in a lot of trouble and because of it I am too. He filed a bankruptcy here in California and signed my name to it.

The cops showed up with a marshell and took a lot of stuff away. Then they locked me out of my own shop so I cant make a living now.

A year ago he was out of a job. His benefits run out. Him and his brother decied to start a lawn business. They used a lot of credit cards from home depot, lowes, tractor co, master card and visa and an ameirican express card.

Adds up to about 65 thousan dollars. His borther lives in Oregon and they bought a trailer using another card an then hauled it all off to his brothers house.

They were suppose to be partners but I never seen a dime out of it. Well this weekend I found out what happen. His brothers keeping the money till hes out of bankruptcy.

I seen the papers he filed and he lied about everything he could to hide stuff. Hes got a big gun collection and its all registered and they took it away. It wasnt in the papers he filed. He bought some jewlry 2 months ago on a credit ccard and they took that away too.

The only thig he didnt lie about was my shop. He made suer to put it in there.

I called hsi ex-sister in law all frantic since theyre close. She admitted to an affair with him an its been going on for a year.

Wonderful husband of mine is a devout Christian. Hes been this way for 2 years cuz he says its right. He calls from jail tellin me to have faith in him and itll be alright an Godll bless us soon.

Is frauding people a sin? I want to throw his crap right back into his lying face! Give me some lines r something.

I cant wait to get my lawyer to sue for divorce. That husband of mine is a lying scum.
I talked to my lawyer today an call my parents. Im moving back to be with them and givin up the house and the shop. Everything. Anything to get away from that lier.

I am wondering about the accuracy of the media’s reports regarding the supposed tightening of credit markets and credit lines for individuals and small businesses. In my area, banks and other lending institutions have been heavily bombarding the radio and tv with ads stating that there is no credit crunch, that they have ample money to lend, that if you could have gotten a loan a year ago, you still can, etc. -basically they are begging people to come in and get a loan for everything from a house to a car to a 0 personal loan!

Also, the media’s reports of a tightening of credit card lines also seems to be a fable. I have talked to various individuals in my area and have discovered that 4 of my friends and family have had their credit lines automatically increased on their credit cards and so have those of several small business owners that I have talked with.

"Maybe" this is a result of the 700 B. TARP, but I am doubtful of that since one of the major lenders to GM shut down their credit line even when it was looking like they would get their bailout loan (or maybe the lender was just scared to lend to a failing company facing bankruptcy, but I digress).

I am just wondering basically if anyone else is seeing such a push in their local area from lenders trying hard to get people to borrow money. Has anyone seen this? If not, what is the situation that you are seeing. I am on the east coast, by the way.