My name is Ron Drescher. I’m an attorney practicing bankruptcy and creditor’s rights in Maryland, Delaware, Pennsylvania, and Virginia, and today I want to answer the question, “I’m current on all of my bills, but I think I’m going to have a problem next month. Do I qualify for bankruptcy?”

The short answer to that question is probably yes. The bankruptcy laws don’t take into consideration whether you are current or not on your bills. What they’re going to look at is what your income is, what your expenses are to decide whether you should be in Chapter 7 or some other chapter, and then they’re going to see if you have listed all of your assets and listed all of your creditors. They’re going to send a notice to creditors that you filed. The trustee is going to decide if there are assets that can be liquidated for the benefit of your creditors. Sixty days are going to go by in a Chapter 7 and if nobody objects to your bankruptcy, you’re going to get a discharge of all of your debts, and creditors won’t be able to seize your post-bankruptcy earnings or assets in order to pay down their claims. Whether or not you’re current on your bills at the time you file bankruptcy is really not a factor. That’s why you should really consider talking to a bankruptcy lawyer while you are still current to decide if it makes financial sense for you to consider filing a bankruptcy case or to continue to struggle to pay your bills.

My name is Ron Drescher. I’m an attorney practicing bankruptcy and creditor’s rights, and if you have a question about whether or not you qualify for bankruptcy, please pick up the phone and call me. I’d love to hear from you.