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Here’s what we need for our Be Happy meeting
Our Be Happy meeting reviews information the bankruptcy court needs to approve your case. So you can “be happy.”
On this page, I’m introducing Lexria, my virtual file clerk. Lexria gathers the necessary information and bankruptcy required documents.we need for our next meeting. I call our next meeting the Be Happy meeting. At the Be Happy meeting, we review the information that we need to get your case approved. So we can “be happy.”
The necessary information includes you name, address, social security number.  A list of your personal and finanial assets. and your budget.
The required documents include credit report, paystubs, bank statements, tax records, and IDs.
Please do not SKIP any questions.
Lexria won’t send your information to me if you leave anything blank. So, put NONE if the answer is none. If you don’t know, put DON’T KNOW.  If a question asks for a dollar amount you don’t know, put $999.99. When we talk again, we can discuss.
Try to be accurate on the budget. Usually the budget doesn’t matter much but sometimes it matters a lot.
Lexria won’t send me the bankruptcy required documents until you answer every question.
Please do not sweat the bankruptcy values of your clothes and furniture. But take the time to be accurate on your budget.
Together, We’ll get Your Credit Report.
You have a legal right to get a free one at annualcreditreport.com. But we can save some steps and aggravation if we get one for you. Lexria asks for permission for us to get your credit report.. (Lexria sends you a copy, too.)
We need paystubs and bank statements
Your bankruptcy eligiblity for Chapter 7, and your bankruptcy payments for Chapter 13, depend on your income. (And also on your money in the bank.) You can download paystubs and bank statements and send them to us. Or–for the big banks and big payroll services–Lexria can get them for you.  Please let Lexria know how you want to handle that.
OK, Here’s the Link:
Here’s the link to Lexria.  She will take you through the steps to gather the neccessary information and bankruptcy required documents. Then Vanessa will set up our second meeting, to go over everthing together.
Fine Print
I’m required to send you these fine-print notices.
This links to the way I calculate your Chapter 7 legal fee.  This is the price set by the court for Chapter 13 bankruptcy cases.
Meet Vanessa, my Paralegal.

Vanessa Hill, bankruptcy paralegal, has been with me for twenty-five years. Vanessa will schedule our next meeting as soon as we get all the required documents and necessary information.
    Meet Lexria, My Virtual File Clerk
Lexria, is my virtual file clerk. She can’t answer legal questions, but she is really good at getting the necessary informaiton and bankruptcy required documents.
 
 
The post Here’s What We Need for our Next Meeting appeared first on Robert Weed Virginia Bankruptcy Attorney.

Don’t sit on your Bankruptcy Eligiblity: It’s a moving target
In January, Larry came to talk to me about Chapter 7 bankruptcy eligiblity. He had a car repossession and about $25,000 in charged off credit cards. He was planning to get married and hoped to buy a house in a few years. His fiancé warned him they could never buy a house if he didn’t fix his credit.
Great, I promised, we can do a Chapter 7 bankruptcy to do exactly what you want.
Last month, in August, he came back, ready to go. But meanwhile, he had lost his Chapter 7 bankruptcy eligibility.
In February, Larry got as $4.00 an hour raise. He lost Chapter 7 bankruptcy eligiblity.
How Did Larry Lose Eligiblity?
In January, Larry was making $34.00 per hour. But in February, he got a raise to $38.00 an hour. In Virginia, as of April 2025, $77,420.00 is the cut-off for automatic eligibility for a single person, no children. His raise put him over the limit. Instead of clearing all his debts, he’ is forced to keep paying through the bankruptcy court in Chapter 13 for another five years!
Instead of being easily eligible to get a mortgage in two years (assuming enough family income), he’d need one of the few lenders who will work with him to get court approval. That can be a trap!  Because Larry needs to show the court he can now afford to buy a home, the Chapter 13 trustee can say, Larry now can afford a bigger bankruptcy payment.
(Getting a mortgage in Chapter 13 is not hopeless. Here are two lenders who reach out to people in Chapter 13 bankruptcy: NEXA and Peoples Bank. I don’t know much about either one.)
Conclusion
Trump says his casino bankruptcies are “brilliant.”
Some people say that bankruptcy should be a last resort. On the other hand, Donald Trump says using the bankruptcy laws can be “brilliant.”
Either way, when you get to that point, remember that bankruptcy eligiblity can be a moving target. Whether a billiant move or a last resort, don’t misss your chance.
PS Being over the Income Cut Off Isn’t Always the End of Chapter 7 Bankruptcy Eligiblity
Being a few dollars an hour over the cut off for automatic eligiblity doesn’t always means you can’t file Chapter 7.  We do dozens of those ever year.  But there needs to be unusual budget factors to help you pass the means test.
Those budget factors that can help you get approved for Chapter 7 can include:

1. Child support
2. Help for elderly family
3. Back taxes
4. Major, on-going medical expenses
5. A really, really big car payment

Larry didn’t have any of those. When he lost his automatic income eligiblity, he was stuck in Chapter 13.
 
The post Bankruptcy Eligiblity is a Moving Target appeared first on Robert Weed Virginia Bankruptcy Attorney.

Discharge in Chapter 13 is an Uphill Climb
For most people, most of the time, getting a discharge is the goal of a bankruptcy case. The Supreme Court put it this way.  “The principal purpose of the Bankruptcy Code is to grant a ‘fresh start’  to the ‘honest but unfortunate debtor.’ ” The discharge means the debts are gone.
About half Chapter 13 cases end up dismissed
Nationally, in Chapter 13, only about half the cases get a discharge. The other half get dismissed.
Here in the Alexandria Division, there were 238 Chapter 13 cases filed by lawyers during January through June 2025. Most of those cases, 162 out of that 238 were filed by just six lawyers. Those same top six lawyer also had 88 dismissals.
The two busiest lawyers filed 101 cases and had 66 dismissals. The next four lawyers filed 61 cases and had 22 dismissals. It looks like the busiest lawyers had more than half their cases dismissed; for the next busiest, about a third. (We filed seventeen Chapter 13 cases in the first half of 2025 and had four dismissals.)
(Are you looking for a lawyer to file Chapter 13 and hope to get a discharge? You may want a lawyer who does many, but not too many, Chapter 13 cases.)
The Bad News. Often, Chapter 13 dismissal is a disaster. People can end up losing their homes.
Chapter 13 dismissal sometimes means people lose their homes.
The Good News. Sometimes, people recover from a dismissed Chapter 13, by filing a new case and trying again. Sometimes the problem just goes away. Not all dismissed Chapter 13s are bad.
Examples of “Good Result” Chapter 13 Dismissals
Greg and Sally were falling behind on their mortgage and couldn’t pay their unsecured debts. We filed Chapter 13 to catch the house up. But, that case got dismissed, because they couldn’t afford the payments. Fortunately, Greg then got approved for an 80% VA disability, and they filed Chapter 13 again. With that VA income, they were comfortably to catch up the mortgage and pay their other debts. Sadly, two years later, Sally and then Greg both died a few months apart. Their remaining unpaid debts died with them, so the Chapter 13 was dismissed. (Afterward, their daughter sold the house.)
Marcus was in a divorce dispute with his ex wife about paying her half of the value of an overseas property in his name. He filed Chapter 13 to spread the payment over five years. After the bankruptcy was filed, they worked out a new agreement to just transfer that property to their daughter. That solved the problem and the Chapter 13 was then dismissed.
PS  In case you are wondering, I never use real names in my examples.
The post Discharge and Dismissal in Chapter 13 appeared first on Robert Weed Virginia Bankruptcy Attorney.