Oksana Bennett was admitted to practice in the State of Maine in 1984 and since that date, has been representing clients in Central and Southern Maine in the following practice areas: Bankruptcy, personal injury, estate planning, probate and family law. The office offers a free initial consultation and affordable rates. Our office strives to respond to requests in a timely manner and to insure that your questions are answered and that you are kept informed regarding the progress of your case. For clients facing creditor harassment, the office does offer favorable payment options that will permit clients to direct creditor inquiries to this office. The Bennett Law Office can relieve the stress and pressure of mounting debt and give you the opportunity to have a fresh financial start. Bankruptcy is a legal procedure designed both to protect an individual or business that can't meet its financial obligations and to protect the creditors involved. To begin the process, proper papers must be filed. Consumer debtors normally use Chapter 7 or Chapter 13. Once the bankruptcy proceeding ends, the borrower is no longer liable. This occurs when the bankruptcy court enters a discharge order in a Chapter 7 case or the borrower has paid the debts due to the credit grantors according to a plan in a Chapter 11 or a Chapter 13 case. In legal terms, the court has discharged the borrower from the debts. The borrower then starts over again with a clean financial slate, but the record of the bankruptcy will remain on the borrower's credit record for up to ten years. CAN MONTHLY PAYMENTS BE REDUCED? If you have unmanageable debt and file a Chapter 7 straight bankruptcy, you will not be required to repay your debts. This affords you a clean slate with which to approach future obligations. Those electing to repay their debts under Chapter 13 must first determine their expected future monthly income or take-home pay. All types of income can be considered, such as wages, commissions, child support, spousal support, social security, workers compensation, unemployment, disability benefits, retirement, and dividends, so long as they constitute regular income. After determining income, an amount should be set aside to provide for normal living expenses. The amount of income remaining after providing for living expenses is the maximum amount available for debt payments. If you cannot repay your debts in full over three to five years, you may be eligible for a partial repayment plan, or a "best efforts" plan. According to the "best efforts" plan, the idea is to repay as much as you can afford. At the end of the plan, any unpaid plan debts will be discharged. In any event, Chapter 13 almost always reduces your payments to an amount you can afford. HOW WILL MY CREDIT BE AFFECTED? How your credit will be affected by filing either a Chapter 7 bankruptcy or a Chapter 13 debt reorganization petition depends on a number of individual factors. One is your credit status today. If your credit is perfect, bankruptcy will have a negative affect on your credit. If your credit is substantially impaired, now or in the near future, filing bankruptcy may be one of the best things you can do to improve your credit. There are two main reasons for this: After filing bankruptcy you are debt free, making your ability to repay any new credit better after bankruptcy than before, simply because you have no other debts to pay after declaring bankruptcy. There is no limit to the number of times you can file a Chapter 13, so long as pre-established percentages of debt have been repaid. However, you can file Chapter 7 bankruptcy only once every six years. .