Exemptions are laws that allow a debtor to keep, and not pan with, certain types and amounts of money and property. For example, exemption laws allow a debtor to protect a certain amount of equity in the debtor's residence, motor vehicle, household goods, life insurance, health aids, retirement plans, specified future earnings such as social security benefits, child support, and alimony, and certain other types of personal property. If there is any non-exempt property, it is the Trustee's job to sell it and to distribute the proceeds among the unsecured creditors.
Although a liquidation case can rarely help with secured debt (the secured creditor still has the right to repossess the collateral if the debtor falls behind in the monthly payments), the debtor will be discharged from the legal obligation to pay unsecured debts such as credit card debts, medical bills and utility arrearages. However, certain types of unsecured debt are allowed special treatment and cannot be discharged. These include some student loans, alimony, child support, criminal fines, and some taxes.
Bankruptcy's Effect on Your Credit
By federal law, a bankruptcy can remain part of a debtor's credit history for 10 years. Whether or not the debtor will be granted credit in the future is unpredictable, and probably depends more on what good things the debtor does in the nature of keeping a job, saving money, making timely payments on secured debts, etc., and the fact that the debtor filed bankruptcy.
In some cases it may actually be easier to obtain future credit after bankruptcy, because new creditors may feel that since the old obligations have been discharged, they will be first in line. They also recognize that the debtor cannot again file bankruptcy for at least the next four years in the case of chapter 13 or eight years in the case of chapter 7. The truth is that if a debtor cannot pay his or her bills, and the debtor's credit is already ruined or exhausted, filing bankruptcy can actually be an important first step in re-building credit.
