What is bankruptcy?
Bankruptcy is a legal proceeding in which a person who cannot pay his or her bills can get a fresh start. The right to file for bankruptcy is provided by federal law and all bankruptcy cases are handled in federal court. Filing bankruptcy immediately stops all of your creditors from seeking to collect debts from you, at least until your debts are sorted out according to the law.

What can bankruptcy do for me?

1. Eliminate the legal obligation to pay most or all of your debts. This is called "discharge" of debts. It is designed to give you a fresh financial start.
2. Stop foreclosure on your house or mobile home and allow you an opportunity to catch up on missed payments. Bankruptcy does not, however, automatically eliminate mortgages or other liens on your property without payment.
3. Prevent repossession of a car or other property,
   or force the creditor to return property even after it
   has been repossessed.
4. Stop wage garnishment, debt collection harassment,
   and similar creditor actions to collect a debt.
5. Restore or prevent termination of utility service.
6. Allow you to challenge the claims of creditors who have committed fraud or who are otherwise trying to collect more than you really owe.

Will bankruptcy wipe out all my debts?
Yes, with some exceptions. Bankruptcy will not normally wipe out:

1. Money owed for child support or alimony, fines and some taxes;
2. Debts not listed on you bankruptcy petition;
3. Loans you got by knowingly giving false information to a creditor, who reasonably relied on it in making you the loan;
4. Debts resulting from "willful and malicious" harm;
5. Student loans owed to a school or government body, except if the loan first became due more than seven years before the bankruptcy was filed or the court decides that payment would be an undue hardship;
6. Mortgages and other liens which are not paid in the bankruptcy case
   (but bankruptcy will wipe out your obligation to pay any additional money
   if the property is sold by the creditor).
   

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establish the attorney-client relationship.