Bankruptcy Options

FL Bankruptcy

For the most part, a FL bankruptcy is the same as a bankruptcy in any other state. The same means test is involved in deciding whether you qualify for a FL bankruptcy under FL law, and the process of obtaining a bankruptcy is the same as that in any other state.

A FL bankruptcy is different from that of other states in that Florida has more liberal bankruptcy laws than some of the other states. They have chosen not to use the federal exemptions list, and instead use their own.

In order to file a FL bankruptcy, you must be a permanent resident of Florida, and has been for the last two years. Otherwise the person who wishes to file bankruptcy must file where they lived two years ago.

A person filing for a FL bankruptcy under Chapter 7 can keep items on which they have secured debt, such as a home and a car, as long as they agree to continue to pay that debt. They can also choose to surrender the property and have the debt cancelled. They are also allowed to keep a credit card or two as long as they agree to pay the debt for those cards. In Florida a person can get most of their unsecured debt forgiven while still keeping most of their belongings due to the more generous exemptions lists that are used in this state.

Exemptions for a FL bankruptcy include equity in your home, retirement accounts, your wages in the bank, insurance policies, government benefits, $1,000 worth of equity in a car, and 1,000 worth of personal property, among other exemptions.

These exemptions used in FL bankruptcy include an unlimited homestead exemption. This means that someone involved in a FL bankruptcy can keep their main residence even if it is a mansion, and the contiguous property up to 160 acres, and no lien can be made against it. They can not be forced to liquidate this property during a Chapter 7 FL bankruptcy.

However, a FL bankruptcy under Chapter 7 will not save your home or car if you are delinquent in your payments. If you want to get a FL bankruptcy that will save your home from foreclosure, you will need to file under Chapter 13 and work to pay back what you owe under a payment plan, as you would in any other state.

Due to the complexity of the new bankruptcy laws, it is advised that you use a FL bankruptcy attorney in order to file your bankruptcy. It is possible to download the forms needed to file a FL bankruptcy from the internet and file them without an attorney, however, this is very complicated and mistakes could end up costing you a lot of money or force you to start all over again. This is true in any state, not just Florida.