CAN I TRANSFER ASSETS TO OTHER BEFORE FILING IN ORDER TO AVOID LOSING THEM IN A CHPATER 7 BANKRUPTCY?

In a bankruptcy case, trustees have a lot of power and discretion. They are working on behalf of the creditors in order to determine whether there are any assets of the debtor that can be seized and distributed. As a result, the trustee is not going to look favorably upon a debtor transferring property or assets in order to keep them out of the hands of the trustee. In my experience, any transfers done within one year prior to the filing of the petition can be reversed by the trustee or he/she can pursue those assets. This is referred to as the "lookback period." If the transfer was made more than four years ago, those assets will usually be outisde the scope of the bankruptcy proceeding. The gray area comes in between those two periods. If the trustee feels the transaction was performed primarily to keep the assets out of bankruptcy, he will likely pursue them if it was done within the last four years. If the transfer looks like a bona fide good-faith transaction, the trustee will probably have no problem with it provided it occurred over one year ago.

WCZ
http://www.westmontattorneys.com

DOES BANKRUPTCY STOP LAWSUITS OR COLLECTION ACTIONS?

When you file a bankruptcy petition with the court, an "automatic stay" is issued. An automatic stay places a stop or hold on all current lawsuits and current collection activities and continues throughout the case. This means that no creditors can call you, send letter, file or continue with a lawsuit, or contact you in any other way in order to attempt to collect on a debt. Doing so would violate federal statute and the offending creditor could face punitive penalties. If you are tired of creditors contacting you, call one of our bankruptcy lawyers today to see if filing bankruptcy is right for you and get those creditors off your back.

WCZ
http://www.westmontattorneys.com