[wrcol695]

If I filed file bankruptcy 4 yrs. Can I file for medical bankruptcy? My husband had medical issues and no insurance. What are our options, if any?

[twinkiedooter]

There is no difference in bankruptcy and what you term "medical bankruptcy". Bankruptcy is bankruptcy. You will not be able to file bankrutpcy again for another 3 years if you just filed 4 years ago.

[twinkiedooter]

Chapter 13 and Chapter 7 are two different animals. I thought they were talking about another Chapter 7. Chapter 13 just reorganizes everything but does not discharge like a 7 does.

According to Wikipedia the definitions are below of 7 and 13:

In Chapter 7, a debtor surrenders his or her non-exempt property to a bankruptcy trustee who then liquidates the property and distributes the proceeds to the debtor's unsecured creditors. In exchange, the debtor is entitled to a discharge of some debt; however, the debtor will not be granted a discharge if he or she is guilty of certain types of inappropriate behavior (e.g. concealing records relating to financial condition) and certain debts (e.g. spousal and child support, student loans, some taxes) will not be discharged even though the debtor is generally discharged from his or her debt. Many individuals in financial distress own only exempt property (e.g. clothes, household goods, an older car) and will not have to surrender any property to the trustee. The amount of property that a debtor may exempt varies from state to state. Chapter 7 relief is available only once in any eight year period. Generally, the rights of secured creditors to their collateral continues even though their debt is discharged. For example, absent some arrangement by a debtor to surrender a car or "reaffirm" a debt, the creditor with a security interest in the debtor's car may repossess the car even if the debt to the creditor is discharged.

In Chapter 13, the debtor retains ownership and possession of all of his or her assets, but must devote some portion of his or her future income to repaying creditors, generally over a period of three to five years. The amount of payment and the period of the repayment plan depend upon a variety of factors, including the value of the debtor's property and the amount of a debtor's income and expenses. Secured creditors may be entitled to greater payment than unsecured creditors.


Prognor - if the OP had medical bills sometimes medical bills can be quite extensive and filing a Chapter 13 would not be viable since the bills have to be paid over a period of 3-5 years. I really don't think the poster had this in mind when they asked the question. Not that many people opt for a Chapter 13 filing either. And in your "ding me" you did not state that you had to pay the bills within 3-5 years either. Don't think I deserved the ding either. Just because you filed 7 and then 13 does not make you an expert in bankruptcy either. I did the paperwork for 7 and 13 and 11's at a bankruptcy attorney's office for 9 years so I think I know a little bit about filing bankruptcies. Also, the bankruptcy laws have changed recently and a lot of people are no longer filing for bankruptcy like they did prior to the new laws being in place.

[Fr_Chuck]

Ok, actually if you file one chapter 7 under the new laws you can not file another chapter 7 any longer till after 8 years. It was part of the new changes.

Also under the new rules if you file a chapter 13 and it pays out less than 30 percent, it is treated just the same as a chapter 13 in that you can't file another chapter 7 for 8 years also now.

If you filed a chapter 13 and paid out over 30 percent you fall in that 4 or 5 year plan. All of those time frames and a lot of other rules changed this year.

So no, if your chapter 13 does not pay out at leats over 30 percent there is really no reason for it, unless there is secured debts that have late payments that have to be included.

[twinkiedooter]

They already changed the bankruptcy laws once since I no longer do this. Now they changed them again. Does not surprise me one bit anymore. The government is doing everything possible to keep the public from discharging anything anymore. The name of the game is give them all our money and we keep none. Pretty soon they will do away with bankruptcy altogether. There was a time when I was working at that office in Florida when people would come in every 7 years like clockwork and file again and discharge thousands and thousands of dollars of credit card debt only to go home after the trustee meeting to have their mailboxes stuffed with credit card applications! Some people thought it was a real game to take advantage of the system. They essentially ruined it for anyone now to file.