Chapter 7 Bankruptcy

Whether or not you may re-file (and the amount of time that must pass before you may re-file bankruptcy) depends on whether or not you received a discharge under your most recent bankruptcy filing.

If you received a discharge under a Chapter 13 bankruptcy case, then you cannot file for relief under Chapter 7 unless:

1. Six (6) years have passed since the discharge in the Chapter 13 case; or
2. You paid at least 70 percent of your allowed unsecured claims in the Chapter 13 case, and your plan was proposed in good faith and represented your best effort to pay.

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If you received a discharge under a Chapter 7 bankruptcy case, then you cannot file for relief under Chapter 7 unless eight (8) years have passed since the discharge in the previous Chapter 7 filing.

If you filed a Chapter 7 or Chapter 13 case that was dismissed because you failed to obey court orders or you voluntarily requested a dismissal and did not obtain a discharge, then you cannot file for relief under Chapter 7 unless 180 days have passed since the dismissal of the previous filing.

Assuming that you meet the above time restrictions for re-filing, there is no limit to the amount of times you can file bankruptcy.

Your tax refund is what the bankruptcy court would consider an “unliquidated asset”, and is treated by the bankruptcy court like other personal property. Any unissued tax refunds would need to be listed on your bankruptcy schedules as assets, and properly exempted if you want to prevent that property from being seized by the Trustee and applied to pay your creditors. If the tax refund is fully exempt or is abandoned by the trustee, you will not be required to turn it over to the bankruptcy Trustee.

Having other people in your household will not implicate your cohabitant(s), inasmuch as the bankruptcy will not affect their credit or discharge any of their debts. However, the means test (for Chapter 7 eligibility or Chapter 13 plan commitment purposes) looks at the debtor’s “total household income” when considering the income available to the debtor. Therefore, it may be necessary to disclose to the court your cohabitant’s income. Some trustees will accept the argument that, in cases where the cohabitants maintain sufficiently separate finances, the debtor’s total income is not available to the debtor. However, the debtor would need to disclose, as income, the portion of income made available for the debtor’s benefit, including any amount the cohabitant pays toward the debtor’s monthly expenses.