Miami Personal Bankruptcy Lawyer Jordan E. Bublick has over 25 years of experience in filing Chapter 13 and Chapter 7 bankruptcy cases. His office is centrally located in Miami at 1221 Brickell Avenue, 9th Fl., Miami and may be reached at (305) 891-4055.www.bublicklaw.com
Withdrawals from your IRA or other tax deferred retirement accounts is part of income for purposes of calculating eligibility for Chapter 7 bankruptcy under the means test. Many debtors facing bankruptcy are using retirement income to survive financially, and some debtors over 70 ½ year of age are required to take minimum retirement distributions.
You may want to consider buying a car prior to filing your Chapter 13 bankruptcy case.
Filing bankruptcy isn’t a matter of going to your bankruptcy lawyer’s office, plunking your money down, and signing a few documents. It involves planning.
To qualify for filing Chapter 7 bankruptcy the debtor’s household income must be below the applicable median income, or the family expenses must offset income to the extent that the debtor passes the means test. Bankruptcy debtors do not have to pass the means test if their debts are primarily non-consumer debts.
A debtor files a Chapter 13 bankruptcy and makes plan payments for several months. Then, the debtor loses his job and is unable to make the Plan payments. The debtor files a notice of conversion to Chapter 7.
Chapter 7 bankruptcy debtors are excused from the means test if their debts are primary non-consumer debts. The distinction between what is a consumer debt and what is a non-consumer debt is sometimes unclear. Mortgage debt on the debtor’s primary residence is a consumer debt.
