Bankruptcy Court Essentials
Essentially, bankruptcy cases can be voluntary or involuntary. The general majority of cases will be voluntary. In these cases, debtors (the people who owe money) petition the bankruptcy court. In the case of involuntary bankruptcy creditors (the people who you money to) file the petition in bankruptcy. Involuntary petitions are generally rare and are sometimes utilized in business settings in order to force a company into bankruptcy so the creditors can enforce their rights.
The start of a bankruptcy case begins with an estate. An estate is what the creditors scope out to see if there is anything they want. The estate is comprised of all of the debtor\’s property interests at the time of the commencement. Not all property will be up for grabs, however. Some of it is subject to certain exclusions and exemptions.
If you are married, the estate might include particular community property interests of your wife or husband, even if your wife or husband has not filed bankruptcy. The estate might contain additional items including property acquired by will or inheritance within one hundred and eighty days after the the commencement of the case.
For the purpose of federal income taxes, the bankruptcy estate of someone in a Chapter 7 or 11 case is a separate taxable entity from the debtor. The bankruptcy estate of a partnership, corporation or other collective entity is not a separate taxable entity, neither are the estates of individuals filing for Chapters 12 or 13.
Bankruptcy judges in each judicial district make up a unit of the United States District Court. The judge shall be appointed for a fourteen year term by the United States Court Of Appeals. The District Courts have subject matter jurisdiction over bankruptcy matters, which means that they technically can deal with bankruptcy filings. But each district may refer bankruptcy matters to the Bankruptcy Court. Most district courts have an order so that all bankruptcy cases are handles by the Bankruptcy Court.
Mallory Megan works for a debt collection agency. She also does stories about finance and business, consumer spending and collection agencies. This and other unique content \’credit services\’ articles are available with free reprint rights.
Spanish Debt Collection Agency Humiliates Debtors Into Paying Up
Would you be mortified if a man in a tuxedo and a top hat followed you into a restaurant and silently joined your lunch date? How about a trio of men with more to love dressed like superheroes asking your neighbors for donations to assist you in your financial situation?
In Madrid, be sure your bills are paid off or you may be visited by one of these interesting characters. The recession has slammed Spain hard. Official figures show that the unemployment rate has sky rocketed, reaching 19.3 percent. That is one of the highest rates in Europe. Around four million people are not working. That\’s the same number of jobless people as France and Italy put together. One business is flourishing however, that business is debt collection.
Spanish law is pretty relaxed when it comes to paying debts. They permit 95 days to settle bills unlike the 30 in other parts of Europe. This, coupled with the fact that Spanish courts give the matter low priority put collection companies in high demand.
One agency, El Cobrador del Frac – which translates as \”The Debt Collector in Top Hat and Tails\” – has more than 250 collectors, and an equal number of secretaries and investigators.Their goal is to work out some deal and retrieve money, not to go after people without the means to pay.
For them, the new business stems from constructive trade which is suffering badly from a huge slowdown. Homeowners owe money to contractors, contractors owe money to construction companies, construction companies owe equipment makers, and so on and so forth.
Last year, the company had a wedding company contact them about a couple who didn\’t pay the $83,000 bill for their huge over the top wedding. The company obtained a wedding guest list and began calling up guests one by one on the phone and asking them if they had the chicken or the lobster, and then asked them where to send the bill. Eventually the shamed couple paid up.
These ideas are interesting, (I guess that\’s one way to describe it) but they won\’t be this effective in due time. In this time of crisis, too many people have debts and they honestly can\’t pay. And to these people, it doesn\’t matter how much you humiliate them.
Mallory McGuinness works for a debt collection agency. She also does stories about business, finance, consumer spending and debt collection. Get a totally unique version of this article from our article submission service