Bankruptcy Exemptions and the Use of Technology at 341 hearings

June 11, 2010 - PRLog -- There are two different types of exemptions that people use to protect their house, cars, and bank accounts. Anything that is considered to be an asset, your attorney will use Federal or State Exemptions to protect your assets.

Federal Exemptions are normally used to protect your assets when filing for a Chapter 13 or a Chapter 7. Federal exemptions are the way to go in most cases. The reason is because there is an exemption that allows you to protect your cash on hand and in your bank. This exemption is called the wild card. This exemption is good to have to protect assets that there may not be an exemption for.

State exemptions are normally used when you have a large amount of equity in your home. Every state has different exemptions for their state. In the state of Texas, the state exemptions allow you to protect all of your equity in your home. There are also exemptions that allow you to protect the same assets as you would under the Federal exemptions. Using State exemptions however, will not allow you to protect cash on hand or cash in the bank. In a Chapter 13 this means that you can keep those items, you just have to pay back a percent to the unsecured creditors. The reason being the trustee feels that under the circumstance that you are not in bankruptcy, that money would have been available for them to get paid with. In a Chapter 7, however, the trustee that is appointed over your case will have the option to take that cash from you and disburse it to the unsecured creditors. In most cases the Chapter 7 trustee will do this if you have cash in excess of $2,000.00. The reason, is because the trustee will have to go through procedures of notifying the creditors and opening a trust account to disburse to all the creditors that file a proof of claim in the case. So if you have $100-$200 in non-exempt property (property that was not able to be exempted by State or Federal Exemptions) then you will be safe, because he is going to have to dedicate more money and time to get that out to the creditors.

If you ever have concerns about how your assets are being protected, you need to ask your attorney how the process works, to totally understand it; especially if you are going to get a Tax Refund in a large amount.

We are now in the era of technology. We are constantly connected to work, friends, family, etc. It is a rare occasion that someone cannot reach us. In some instances technology has become more of a burden then a benefit. However, now with laptops and wireless connections it can increase productivity during 341 hearings.

Attorneys have always gone to the office and made notes in the file, returned to the office and sent out notes to the paralegals as to what needs done, and then made notes in the computer file for each client. Now, we can use our laptops at the 341 hearings and only make notes once.

Our office has a new program designed to be used during 341 hearings. Attorneys take their laptops, log into their remote server, and have access to every client’s file. No more wasting paper or doing double work. The attorney can make the notes directly into the computer file. And, with the new software our office is using, the notes will go onto a list of things for the paralegal to do. The attorney will no longer have to go back to the office and send out an email to each paralegal to let them know what needs to be done.

This new software and the advances in technology have helped save time and are doing double work for bankruptcy attorneys. Plus, if a hearing is delayed for some reason or you are stuck doing hearings all day with an hour or two break, you can now do work during that break instead of wasting the two hours just waiting for your next hearing.

For more information visit http://www.bankrupcy-alternative.com/effect-of-bankruptcy... or call us directly. Here is another bankruptcy article http://www.prlog.org/10732361-bankruptcy-qualification-an... for your reading enjoyment.

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