Dealing with the Internal Revenue Service is a scary proposition, especially if you owe them money.  The Bankruptcy Court is one of the tools a taxpayer has at his/her disposal in dealing with "the tax man" in a variety of situations. 
The Bankruptcy Court can be used to:
 -Stop wage garnishments, bank account garnishments, levies, seizures of property and remove income tax liens that are in excess of the value of the property claimed as exempt;

 
The "Means Test" is  part of the bankruptcy code which determines if you  qualify for a Chapter 7  or  a Chapter 13 Bankruptcy.   A Chapter 13 Bankruptcy  also determines your disposable income.  Disposable Income is the amount of money you have to pay out of your monthly income to the Chapter 13 Trustee which in turn gets distributed to your unsecured creditors.

 My general rule of thumb is a person will be able to obtain a credit card on reasonable terms after two (2) years of your bankruptcy discharge.  Now you can acquire an FHA loan to buy a house after two (2) years from your bankruptcy discharge. Take time in choosing your new credit card and mortgage because terms and conditions vary from company to company.  FICO scores are important to some while others value how long it's been since you were past due on any obligation.

According to multiple sources, including the American Bankruptcy Institute and the National Association of Consumer Bankruptcy Lawyers, efforts to amend the bankruptcy code to allow bankruptcy judges to modify home mortgage including reducing the outstanding debt to the current market value and modifying the interest rates to current rates is moving forward.  It is not clear what the final legislation will look like inasmuch as there are multiple versions of the amendment being offered and there is bound to be last minute changes to the legislation as well as changes made to resolve differe

It has been said that if you tell a ‘story' often enough over a long enough period of time, sooner or later people will become to believe the ‘story' to be the truth regardless of how outrageous it is.  This is exactly what has happened concerning the proposed changes to the bankruptcy code; to allow bankruptcy judges to deal with home mortgages by restructuring the loans and by reducing the debt to fair market value of the property.

Gay couples, especially those that are in a long term relationship, present a unique set of problems when it comes to seeking relief under Chapter 13 of the Bankruptcy Code.  Gay couples in a long term relationship usually hold the majority of their assets jointly as well as the debts they have accumulated.  This situation is similar to most "married couples".

A consumer being harassed by ‘Debt Collectors' has significant rights under federal law: including the right to demand that a Creditor stop communicating with you.   Under the "Debt Collection Practices Act", a federal statute, there are two (2) ways to stop those harassing phone calls or for that matter any form of communication to you. 

 Life is uncertain that's for sure.  You watch the news and we're told these are scary times and that our ‘banking institutions' have made mistakes and need help - billions of dollars of help.  Where is the money coming from - looks like it may come from you and me.