Texas bankruptcy
A legal proceeding, a bankruptcy can give a fresh financial beginning to anybody who is unable to pay his or her bills. A person can file for bankruptcy as per the federal law. As soon as bankruptcy is filed by a person, his creditors must stop making any attempts to collect any debts he may owe the, till the federal court had decided on the matter.
WHAT CAN BANKRUPTCY DO (AND NOT DO)
If a person is declared bankrupt, he is likely to be exempted from all or most of his debts. One can make the payments he or she has missed and the foreclosure of ones property like house or mobile phone may be stopped. Repossession of property may also be stopped and a creditor can even be made to return property post repossession. Any harassment inflicted by the creditor can also be stopped. The termination of any utility service may be prevented and even recovered. It is also possible to use bankruptcy to deal with fraudulent creditors.
Bankruptcy cannot however, eliminate all kinds of creditors, especially "secured" creditors. If a creditor has taken collateral for the loan in any form of mortgage or any lien on property, he becomes "secured". Though bankruptcy exempts the borrower from paying any extra amount if the property has been taken and also allows payments to be made to the creditor over time in the bankruptcy process, yet the collateral usually can't be kept unless the debt is continued to be paid off. Certain debts such as child support, alimony, certain other debts related to divorce, some student loans, court restitution orders, criminal fines etc cannot be discharged by bankruptcy. Co-signers in the debt, who are not bankrupt are not exempted.
TEXAS BANKRUPTCY EXEMPTIONS
Under The Texas bankruptcy exemptions chart, one may be able to keep certain properties even after bankruptcy has been filed. There is a limit on the exemption that is granted to any equity. Married couples filing for bankruptcy together are permitted to claim a full set of exemptions. In Texas, federal exemptions law is also in use, hence federal exemptions may be used besides those granted by Texas state.
In case of homestead, property cannot be more than an acre in a city, town or village or 100 acres anywhere else (200 acres for families). In case of personal property, exemptions are granted on sports equipments, firearms (a maximum of two), home furnishings, family heirlooms, food, clothing, ornaments (up to one-fourth of total exemptions), one motor vehicle, two-, three-, or four wheeler per member of family or single adult who holds a drivers license, domestic animals such as horses, mules or donkeys (a maximum of two per animal) with saddles, blankets and bridles, head of cattle not exceeding twelve heads and not any more than sixty head of other types of livestock, fowls up to a number of one hundred and twenty and other pets to $30,000 total. Burial plots and health aids are also exempted.
Among insurance, those that are granted exemptions include- Church benefit plan benefits, Fraternal benefit society benefits, Life, health, accident or annuity benefits or monies, Retired public school employees group insurance, Texas employee uniform group insurance, Texas state college or university employee benefits etc.
Among pensioners, certain cateories of people enjoy exemptions- County & district employees, ERISA-qualified government or church benefits, including Keoghs and IRAs, firefighters, law enforcement officers, survivors, municipal employees, police officers, retirement benefits to extent tax-deferred, state employees, teachers and judges.
Exempted public benefits include public assistance, worker's compensation, crime victims' award, medical assistance and unemployment compensation.
Tools of trade, such as those needed for farming and ranching, vehicles and books. Earned but unpaid wages and unpaid commission up to an amount of 75% are also exempted. Miscellaneous exemptions include any property of business partnership.
BANKRUPTCY COURTS IN TEXAS
The Texas Eastern Bankruptcy Courts are located in the eastern district at Beaumont, Lufkin, Sherman and Tyler. Counties of jurisdiction are located at Anderson, Angelina, Bowie, Camp, Cass, Cherokee, Collin, Cook, Delta, Denton, Fannin, Franklin, Grayson, Gregg, Hardin, Harrison, Henderson, Hopkins, Houston, Jasper, Jefferson, Lamar, Liberty, Marion, Morris, Nacogdoches, Newton, Orange, Panola, Polk, Rains, Red River, Rusk, Sabine, San Augustine, Shelby, Smith, Titus Trinity, Tyler, Upshur and Van Zandt.
The Chief Judge of the Eastern District Court is Hon. Bill G. Parker. Hon. Brenda T. Rhoades is also assigned on duty here. The clerks of these courts are Joseph D. Tokoph who is the Bankruptcy Clerk and Michael Hanicek, the Deputy in Charge
The location of the courts of the Texas Southern Bankruptcy Court are Brownsville, Corpus Christi, Houston, McAllen, Laredo and Victoria. Counties of Jurisdiction are situated in Aransas, Austin, Bee, Brazoria, Brazos, Brooks, Calhoun, Cameron, Chambers, Colorado, De Witt, Duval, Fayette, Fort Bend, Galveston, Goliad, Grimes, Harris, Hidalgo, Jackson, Jim Wells, Jim Hogg, Kenedy, Kleberg, LaSalle, Lavaca, Live Oak, Madison, Matagorda, McMullen, Montgomery, Nueces, Refugio, San Jacinto, San Patricio, Starr, Victoria, Walker, Aaller, Webb, Wharton, Willacy and Zapata
The chief judge of the South District Courts is Hon. Karen K. Brown. Other judges working here are Hon. Richard S. Schmidt, Hon. Wesley Steen, Hon. Marvin Isgur, Hon. Letitia Z. Clark AND Hon. Jeff Bohm
The bankruptcy clerk here is Michael N. Milby. he is assisted by deputy in charge Joyce Bjork
Courts of the Texas Northern Bankruptcy Courts are located in Albilene, Amarillo, Dallas, Fort Worth, Lubbock, San Angelo and Wichita Falls. Location of the Courts of Jurisdiction are Archer, Armstrong, Bailey, Baylor, Borden, Brisco, Brown, Callahan, Carson, Castro, Childres, Clay, Cochran, Coke, Coleman, Collingsworth, Comanche, Concho, Cottle, Crockett, Crosby, Dallam, Dallas, Dawson, Deaf Smith, Dickens, Donley, Eastland, Ellis, Erath, Fisher, Floyd, Foard, Gaines, Garza, Glasscock, Gray, Hale, Hall, Hansford, Hardeman, hartley, Haskell, Hemphill, Hockley, Hood, Howard, Hunt, Hutchison, Irion, Jack, Johnson, Jones, Kaufman, Kent, King, Knox, Lamb, Lipscomb, Lubbock, Lynn, Menard, Mills, Mitchell, Montaque, Moore, Motley, Navarro, Nolan, Ochiltree, Oldham, Palo, Parker, Parmer, Pinto, Potter, Randall, Reagan, Roberts, Rockwall, Runnels, Schleicher, Scurry, Shackleford, Sherman, Stephens, Sterling, Stonewall, Sutton, Swisher, Tarrant, Taylor, Terry, Throckmorton, Tom Green, Wheeler, Wichita, Wilbarger, Wise, Yoakum and Young.
The chief judge in this district is Hon. Steven A. Felsenthal. Other judges here include Hon. Robert Jones, Hon. Robert Jones, Hon. Barbara T, Houser, Hon. D. Michael Lynn, Hon. Russell F. Nelms and Hon. Barbara T, Houser
Tawana C. Marshall is the Bankruptcy Clerk of this district and is assisted by Margaret Malone and Judy Hendrick
The Texas Western Bankruptcy Courts are situated in Austin, El Paso, Midland, San Antonio and Waco. Andrews, Atascosa, Bandera, Bastrop, Bell, Bexar, Blanco, Bosque, Brewster, Burleson, Burnet, Caldwell, Comal, Coryell, Crane, Culberson, Dimmit, Ector, Edwards, El Paso, Falls, Freestone, Frio, Gillespie, Gonzales, Guadalupe, Hamilton, Hays, Hill, Hudspeth, Jeff Davis, Karnes, Kendall, Kerr, Kimble, Kinney, Lampasas, Lee, Leon, Limestone, Llano, Loving, Martin, Mason, Maverick, McCulloch, McLennan, Medina, Midland, Milam, Pecos, Presidio, Real, Reeves, Robertson, San Saba, Somervell, Terrell, Travis, Upton, Uvalde, Val Verde, Ward, Washington, Williamson, Wilson, Winkler and Zavaia are where the counties of jurisdiction are located.
Hon. Larry E. Kelly is the Chief Judge of this district. Other judges of the courts include Hon. Frank R. Monroe, Hon. Leif M. Clark and Hon. Ronald B. King The Bankruptcy clerk of the western district courts is George D. Prentice, II. the deputies in charge are Cynthia Gutierrez, Christy L. Carouth, Mary Croy, Bridget Hardage and Mark Vargas.
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