If you’re thinking about filing for bankruptcy in North Carolina, you might want to start talking to an attorney. Many people don’t realize that their creditors can go to court and request an involuntary bankruptcy. Filing for voluntary bankruptcy allows you to retain some control over the situation.
What is voluntary bankruptcy?
In bankruptcy law terms, voluntary bankruptcy is the act of filing for bankruptcy of your own volition. For example, if you talk to a bankruptcy attorney and file for Chapter 7, you’ve just filed for voluntary bankruptcy. This gives you more time to prepare and helps you tackle the situation head-on instead of waiting for your creditors to take you to court.
If you don’t file on your own, your creditors might ask the judge to initiate an involuntary bankruptcy. You’ll have to accumulate a high level of debt before your creditors can take the matter to court. If they do, the judge might initiate bankruptcy and require you to start paying off your creditors. This can happen to individuals as well as businesses and corporations.
For this reason, it’s best to file for bankruptcy ahead of time if you don’t see another way to get out of your debts. Depending on your situation, you might want to file for Chapter 7 or Chapter 13 bankruptcy. If you’re a business owner, you might file for Chapter 11. Either way, you won’t give your creditors the opportunity to catch you off guard.
How do you know if bankruptcy is right for you?
For most people, filing for bankruptcy is a last-resort option. You don’t want to wait for your creditors to take you to court, but you also don’t want to file for bankruptcy if you have other options. How do you know the best way to proceed?
An attorney may evaluate your situation and tell you if you should file for bankruptcy or not. They might look at your total debts, the amount that you owe to creditors, the assets that you could potentially sell off and more. They might also suggest alternative ways to pay your creditors, like consolidating your debts into one private loan.
