How Many Times and How Often Can You lot File Defalcation?

This commodity answers three mutual defalcation timing questions:

  1.  How many times can you file a defalcation case? and,
  2.  How often can yous file
  3.  How long you must wait in between filings in order to get a belch of debts

A.  How Many Times Can I File Bankruptcy Chapter 7 Chapter 13 Chapter 11?

In that location Is No Limit To How Many Times You Can File Bankruptcy Under Any Affiliate.

You can file bankruptcy as many times as you need (assuming you are eligible to file bankruptcy under a given affiliate).

B.   How Much Time Needed Between Bankruptcy Filings?

You Practise Not demand to await to file a new bankruptcy example, unless you need a belch of debts.

There is no time limit for filing a new instance.

That's right, I said information technology.  Yous can file another defalcation case right subsequently the prior one is airtight.

And sometimes in that location are very good reasons for doing so (run into below).

But usually the key effect is whether or not you tin can receive a discharge of debts in the new defalcation case.   Getting a discharge of  debts is normally (but not ever, equally explained below) the primary reason for filing a bankruptcy. See More On Discharge of Debts

And the answer to the dischargeability question depends on:

  1. Which chapter you lot are filing,
  2. Under which chapter you lot previously filed, and
  3. Whether yous received a belch.

Quick How-To Guide To Determine How Much Fourth dimension Between Defalcation Filings

Here is the definitive quick-reference guide to how long an individual (not a corporation or partnership) must wait after filing a bankruptcy to file another case if y'all want to receive a discharge of debts:

Case to be filed–Chapter seven :   You tin file a Chapter seven instance and receive a discharge of  dischargeable² debts unless:

  1. yous received a belch in a prior Chapter 7 or Chapter 11 case filed (commenced) within 8 years prior to the filing of the "new" case or,
  2. you received a discharge in a Chapter 13 case filed within 6 years prior (UNLESS the payments made in the Chapter thirteen totaled 100% of allowed claims in the example, or at to the lowest degree lxx% of the claims were paid and the plan was proposed in good faith and was the "best efforts" of the debtor).  So, if your previous case was a Chapter 13 and yous paid 70-100% of claims with the above provisions, then there is no fourth dimension limit for filing a and receiving a belch in a subsequent Chapter 7 case.

Case to be filed–Chapter xiii : You tin file a Chapter 13 case and receive a belch of dischargeable debts unless:

  1. yous received a discharge in a prior Chapter vii, 11, or 12 example filed (commenced) within 4 years prior to the filing of the "new" case or,
  2. y'all received a discharge in a Affiliate 13 instance filed within 2 years prior to the "new" case

Case to be filed–Chapter 11 :   You can file a Affiliate eleven case and receive a discharge of dischargeable debts at any fourth dimension unless: the Affiliate xi example is liquidating all (or substantially all) avails and no business concern is being conducted afterward consummation of the plan.  In that instance, the time period requirements are the same every bit for Chapter vii above.

Important Factors to Recall:

The appointment that the discharge was entered in the prior case is completely irrelevant.  It is the date the example was filed that starts the time clock running for this purpose.

Besides note that if the prior case did non result in a discharge, but was instead dismissed, then there is no time limit on filing a new case (absent a court order to the contrary)

Converted Cases:

If your prior case was originally filed under one chapter, then converted to some other chapter, most courts volition use the date of the original (pre-conversion) filing date to summate the time.  But this is an unclear legal issue at this time, and may also vary depending on which affiliate nether which you seek to file the new case.

Why File Some other Bankruptcy Now If I Am Non Eligible For A Belch Of Debts?

Even if you are not eligible to achieve a belch of debts, there are notwithstanding reasons to file the next instance, particularly a Chapter 13.

What are they, you might ask?

The automatic stay in bankruptcy, which prevents creditors from taking any collections actions during the bankruptcy instance, still applies regardless of the power of the debtor to discharge debts.

So how is this helpful?

Let's say you owe revenue enhancement debts and the IRS wants you to pay them in full within 24 months.  By filing a Chapter thirteen example, you tin stretch those revenue enhancement payments over sixty months, at nil percent interest!

Aforementioned thing tin can exist done with pupil loans, although unlike sure taxes, the student loans need not be paid 100% during the threescore month Chapter 13; thus, information technology may be necessary to file multiple back-to-dorsum Chapter 13 cases to continue the protection on student loan payments.

Or,  let'southward say y'all've simply filed a Affiliate 7 instance and gotten your discharge, but you lot have a junior lien confronting your habitation that tin can be removed in a Chapter 13 example (meet information on removing junior liens in Chapter 13 for more details on that).  In that case you can filed the Chapter 13 and remove the lien fifty-fifty though yous won't be getting a belch!  (and you cannot remove such liens in a Chapter seven)

The above is known to bankruptcy professionals as doing a "Chapter 20" example.

These, and more, are all possibilities to discuss with a qualified and experienced bankruptcy lawyer in your surface area.

Paradigm Courtesy of Ndevil