Will a bankruptcy clear up my parking tickets?

Parking tickets sound like a debt that you could easily eliminate, right, because it’s just a bill for a parking ticket.  You didn’t purchase anything.  It sounds like it’s unsecured.  There’s no property they can take back or repossessed if you don’t pay.  However, parking tickets are a fine to the government or municipality and by that fact, they are determined to be non-dischargeable.
In a Chapter 7 bankruptcy case, you have a window of time of approximately 3 or four months where if you have parking tickets, your license will not be suspended during that period of time.  However, if you don’t make arrangements to pay off that debt during that window of time and you receive a bankruptcy discharge, it is then that the creditor can then come after you for those non-dischargeable parking tickets.  Coming after you can involve suspending your license, getting a judgment against you and possibly picking you up on a body attachment if you don’t appear in court several times.
Under Chapter 13 bankruptcy law, the parking tickets are paid through the Chapter 13 repayment plan.  Again, Chapter 13 will allow you to repay the debt in full or less than in full.  However, if you pay less than in full, please be aware that you are going to owe the amount that wasn’t paid through your Chapter 13 once your case is over.  If you really want to play it safe, make sure that you are paying back 100% of your parking tickets through your Chapter 13 bankruptcy case.  If you are filing a Chapter 7, do your best to pay off the debt owed to the parking tickets within that 110 day period or enter into some form of installment payment plan with the creditors so that after your bankruptcy case, your license will not be suspended and you will not be subject to a boot on your car.