Norton Law Group PLLC
There are two basic types of
Bankruptcy proceedings. Chapter 11 bankruptcy allows a business to reorganize
and refinance to be able to prevent final insolvency. Often there is no trustee,
but a "debtor in possession," and considerable time to present a plan of
reorganization. The final plan often requires creditors to take only a small
percentage of the debts owed them or to take payment over a long period of time.
Chapter 13 is similar to Chapter 11, but is for individuals to work out payment
schedules.

A filing under Chapter 7 is called liquidation. It is the
most common type of bankruptcy proceeding. Liquidation involves the appointment
of a trustee who collects the non-exempt property of the debtor, sells it and
distributes the proceeds to the creditors. Not dischargeable in bankruptcy are
alimony and child support, taxes, and fraudulent transactions. Filing a
bankruptcy petition automatically suspends all existing legal actions and is
often used to forestall foreclosure or imposition of judgment. After 45 or more
days a creditor with a debt secured by real or personal property can petition
the court to have the "automatic stay" of legal rights removed and a foreclosure
to proceed. When the court formally declares a party as a bankrupt, a party
cannot file for bankruptcy again for seven years.

If any of the
following situations apply to you, you will have to add time to the three-year,
two-year or 240-day rules for your debts to qualify for discharge in bankruptcy:

1. If you submitted an Offer in Compromise, the 240-day rule is delayed
by the period of time from when the Offer is made until the IRS rejects it or
you withdraw it, plus 30 days.
2. If you obtained a Taxpayer Assistance
Order from an IRS Problems Resolution Officer preventing the IRS from
collecting, the bankruptcy court may require that you add the time collection
was suspended to the three-year, two-year and 240-day requirements.
3. If
you filed a previous bankruptcy case, all three time periods stopped running
while you were in the prior bankruptcy case. You must add the length of your
case plus six months to all three.

Norton Law Group

During your credit counseling session, a
certified credit counselor will help you explore your options. Your credit
counselor will be a qualified financial advisor who will help you decide if
bankruptcy is the right choice for you. In addition, he or she is required by
law to offer you impartial advice. This means that he or she cannot lead you to
make a specific financial decision.

Your session may be in the
form of a phone call to a credit counseling agency. You may even be able to send
a credit counseling agency your information through the internet. You will
probably spend about one hour discussing your situation with the credit
counselor. When you have completed your pre-bankruptcy credit counseling, you
will receive a certificate after paying a fee between $40 and $50. You will then
be eligible to file a Chapter 7 or Chapter 13 bankruptcy.

INTERGENERATIONAL CARE

Another trend that is shaping the way in
which employees and employers approach eldercare is the increased popularity of
intergenerational care facilities. These programs allow working parents who also
have obligations to care for their own parents to place both children and
elderly relatives in a single facility, where they will be cared for. Given the
steady growth of women in the work place and the success that many hospitals,
child care centers, and nursing homes have had with intergenerational care
programs, many analysts believe that the availability of such facilities will
continue to grow over the next number of years, especially in regions in which
competition for labor talent is intense. Indeed, demographic trends would seem
to guarantee the continued growth of intergenerational care facilities. A 2004
study conducted by the National Alliance for Caregiving and American Association
of Retired Persons (AARP) showed that 21 percent of adults (18 and older)
provided unpaid aid to friends and relatives; the caregiving population thus was
more than 44 million people. Sixty-one percent of caregivers were women, 39
percent were men. Such statistics indicate that businesses seeking to attract
and retain top talent will not only examine child care assistance options in
greater depth, but will also factor the elder care issue into their analysis of
options with increasing frequency.
ELDERCARE RESOURCES

Employees and
employers can turn to a variety of sources for information on dealing with the
many financial, medical, and personal aspects of eldercare. Local hospitals,
churches, and agencies on aging are often good sources of information on
eldercare issues. In addition, several national organizations maintain a variety
of services and information on the subject. Notable organizations include the
American Association of Retired Persons (202-434-3525), the Alzheimer's
Association (800-272-3900), and the American Association of Homes and Services
for the Aging (202-783-2242). Another good source of information is the
Eldercare Locator (800-677-1116), a federally funded hotline operated by the
National Association of State Units on Aging and the National Association of
Area Agencies on Aging.

Norton Law Group
PLLC Appraisers are agents who establish the value of businesses,
personal property, intellectual property (such as patents, trademarks, and
copyrights), and real estate through a process known as valuation or appraisal.
The demand for valuation of business enterprises has increased in the last
several years in many industry sectors for a variety of reasons, including the
rise in corporate restructuring, rising incidences of litigation (such as
divorce, in which value and possession of closely held businesses may be hotly
contested), changing employee-compensation packages, continued purchases of
existing businesses, and the proliferation of employee stock ownership plans
(ESOPs), which require annual appraisals of value. Indeed, the dramatic surge in
popularity of ESOP plans accounts for a significant portion of the increase in
appraisal/valuation activity across the American business landscape.

Problems in the Business Appraisal Industry

Beginning in the late
1990s but continuing still, the appraisal industry began a process of change and
consolidation driven primarily by changes in the real estate sector. Steve
Bergsman, writing in Valuation Insights & Perspectives, provides a summary:
"There was a time not so very long ago, at least as recent as the early 1990s,
when the appraisal industry—residential and commercial—was reliant on the
mortgage lending business. By the middle of the last decade, however, a number
of crosscurrents began to buffet that type of work … competition from other
appraisers and technology. First, competition caused pricing to flatten; even
banks admit there have not been rate increases in a number of years. Second, new
technologies, particularly automated valuation models, appeared, and more and
more data, i.e., historical records of home sales and multiple listing services,
became widely available on the Internet." As a consequence of these
developments, real estate appraisal has become a much less profitable part of
this business. Survivors of the shake-out, however, have found new opportunities
in business valuation and litigation.
Finding a Qualified Appraiser

A Chapter 13 can be filed if:

* The debtor received a discharge
under Chapter 7, 11 or 12 more than four years ago; or
* the debtor received
a discharge under Chapter 13 more than two years ago.
*
You have a
co-debtor on a personal debt. If you file for Chapter 7 bankruptcy, your
creditor will go after the co-debtor for payment. If you file for Chapter 13
bankruptcy, the creditor will leave your co-debtor alone, as long as you keep up
with your bankruptcy plan payments.
*
You have a tax debt. If a large
part of your debt consists of federal taxes, what happens to your tax debts may
determine which type of bankruptcy is best for you.

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visit: Norton Law Group PLLC or Norton Law Group PLLC