Legal Question in Bankruptcy in North Carolina

If what you own are worth less than what you owe or if you cannot meet you payments as they become due, you qualify. Bankruptcy will discharge unsecured debt (except recent taxes, student loans and domestic support obligations). Discharge means it can never be collected from you and the creditor is in contempt of court if it tries to collect. Most secured creditors still could take the collateral. Thus if a car has a lien on it, you have the choice to keep paying or give up the car. The collateral, or the value of the car is all it gets. The house is different. In a bankruptcy, the creditor either gets the house or you catch up the payments. It could be that a fresh start in a Chapter 7 will help you now, or more so later. A Chapter 13 would allow you to stop any foreclosure and give you time (3 to 5 years) to catch up the missed 12 months of payments. You may not file in the near future, but you ought to consult a bankruptcy lawyer to find out the good and the bad filing now or later and Chapter 7 or Chapter 13. Note, you must have some kind of regular income to file a Chapter 13 in order to make the plan payments.