Lot has been already discussed about the various types of bankruptcies however I have not much discussed how much they actually cost. As a matter of fact, even if you don’t have any money left and still considering “Bankruptcy”, there are some costs involved. Well, the cost is involved because bankruptcy involves the courts and the employees of the court have to get paid!
To avail the Bankruptcy Help you have to shell of certain amount of money. The bankruptcy cost in fact breaks down into three types – required credit counseling, bankruptcy filing fees and attorney fees.
Before delving deeper let us briefly summarize the types of Massachusetts Bankruptcy. The new bankruptcy law teamed with the Bankruptcy Attorneys has typically defined 4 different types of bankruptcy which are - Chapter 7, Chapter 11, Chapter 12 and the Chapter 13 bankruptcy. However, this doesn’t mean that you are free to file for bankruptcy with any of the Chapters because each chapter has its advantages and downsides. Such as, not everyone is eligible for filing bankruptcy under Chapter 7. This is typically because as the debtor you will be subjected to a means test for evaluating and determining your financial state and to know your ability in clearing the substantial percentage of your debt. And if in case you can then you won’t be eligible for filing Chapter 7 bankruptcy and this will be typically under Chapter 13 of Bankruptcy. In other words, Chapter 13 bankruptcy is typically a reorganization bankruptcy where you renegotiate your debts so that you can pay them off in 3-5 years.
Now let us come to the point of “Money part”. In fact prior Bankruptcy Filing, the court generally requires you to get the credit counseling from an approved counseling organization. Well, the cost of these programs however varies from one area to the other; hence you have to do the legwork to find the actual cost of filing for bankruptcy.
Bankruptcy Filing Fees
The Judicial Conference of the United States adopted a new court fee schedule on September 13, which will become effective November 1, 2011. The revenue generated by the fee change will go into the Judiciary’s budget.
The new filing fees will be:
• Chapter 7: $306.00
• Chapter 11: $1046.00
• Chapter 13: $281.00
Attorney Fees
Well, this is where the numbers are not that clear because here you are paying the Bankruptcy Lawyers for filing the paperwork. This can run anywhere from several hundred to several thousand dollars but it’s generally recommended that you hire an attorney for the process.
The maximum amount any bankruptcy credit counseling agency can charge towards Bankruptcy Cost for counseling is set by law. However, no bankruptcy credit counseling agency can charge more than $50.00 for counseling bankruptcy.
This content has been taken from: http://www.zimbio.com/Bankruptcy+Service/articles/63OslWUd0FU/Bankruptcy+Cost+Get+bankruptcy+help?add=True
