How has the bankruptcy law changed in the last year?

Answer 1

Major changes were made to bakruptcy law in 2005, making it harder to file for chapter 7 and deferring more people to chapter 13.

In a Chapter 13 bankruptcy, the court will apply IRS living standards to determine what is reasonable for expenses such as rent and food, and the rate you need to repay your debts. The IRS standards are more strict than the courts have been in the past.


In a Chapter 7 bankruptcy, the income of the person filing will be subject to a two-part test. First, your income will be calculated with exemptions such as rent and food to determine whether you can afford to pay 25 percent of your unsecured debt such as your credit card bills. Second, your income will be compared to your state's median (middle) income.


You won't be allowed to file for Chapter 7 if your income is above your state's median income and you can afford to pay 25 percent of your unsecured debt. Even if your income is below the state's median income and you can pay 25 percent of your unsecured debt, the court may still deny your Chapter 7 filing. There will be very few exceptions to this test, no matter how sympathetic your case is.

Answer 2

the amendments were designed to correct perceived abuses by debtors who allegedly took advantage of the pro-debtor tone and provisions of the 1978 statute. The emphasis has been shifted from a pro-debtor enactment to one favoring creditors.

Answer 3

It added a means test to determine the eligibility of debtors to file under chapter 7. For example, there are certain income restrictions that prevent people from filing chapter 7, if there income to debt ratio proves they could pay back some of their debt.

Answer 4

Some of the new changes in the new bankruptcy laws are that you have to be in over 20 thousand dollars in dept and must prove that you can not afford to pay for all of the bills that you are trying to bankrupt on. Once one goes bankrupt they can not do it again for at least 7 to 10 years and they will not be able to raise there credit fast. It will be very difficult to get any kind of credit.

Answer 5

While certain things may alter (more than change), especially in procedure, last major changes were 2005.

Answer 6

Chapter 13 bankruptcy, which lasts for 10 years (at least) can only be granted once ever eight years from the previous date of filing. The law changed in 2005.

Answer 7

Not much