Chapter 7 Bankruptcy Fees

Since the history of trade, man has been in debt. At one way or another, somebody out there owes something to someone else. Whether it’s money or other things, people have developed a habit of utilizing things that they do not essentially “have” or “own”. This was where debts began and have been dealt with in various ways, up until the modern era where rules have been set for such cases. Of course, to be able to work within the system, there are fees to be paid. This is where the legal process of Chapter 7 Bankruptcy comes in.

Before going into the fees, one must learn what Chapter 7 Bankruptcy is basically about. Fundamentally, Chapter 7 Bankruptcy is a means of “having a fresh start”. Commonly known as a Straight Bankruptcy simply because it is straight to the point and it tries to solve debt issues as quickly and effectively as possible. It is a means of clearing one’s debt in totality, removing unwanted marks (excluding some exceptions such as Child Support and Student Loans) and returning the borrowed money to the ones who lent them, and the cycle that commonly follows this debt process. There are three main characters in this economic play, the Debtor, the Creditors, and the Trustee. The Debtors, being the ones who owe the money to the Creditors, and the Trustees who essentially handle the business between the two, work around this issue to solve the problems.

Here’s a simple example: when the Debtor has debt, and he/she is not able to pay it, and also does not have the ability to earn enough to pay it within the given time, they can file for a Chapter 7 case. In this scenario, order to pay off the debt, the Debtor must liquidate his non-essential assets. The Trustee is the one who takes the assets of the Debtor such as land and/or other goods that are not a necessity for living or the non-essential assets, sells them or liquidates them, and distributes the money from the assets to/among the Creditor’s, thus alleviating the Debtor’s debts.

Of course, there are fees to be paid and the predominant fee from the short list would be the Filing Fee. To file a case of Chapter 7, one must have a court to address the said situation, and the facilities for the court must be paid for. As of November 12, 2012, the fee was set at $306.00 and in spite of this, over the past years there have been a largely growing amount of people who avail of the Chapter 7. Apart from the minimal Filing Fee, one must have an attorney to represent him/her in court, which would cost additional fees. These are basically the two major fees one would need to file for a Chapter 7. If Chapter 7 fails, however, one can also avail of, with the right requirements, the Chapter 13 Bankruptcy.