The Odorisi Law Firm represents clients in both Chapter 7 and Chapter 13 bankruptcy proceedings in United States Bankruptcy Court (USBC). Our representation includes counseling clients prior to and after filing, attending Section 341 Meeting of the Creditors and Chapter 13 Confirmation Hearings.

We understand that filing bankruptcy can be emotionally difficult and may have an effect on your credit for years to come. As a result, we will also explore with you possible alternatives to filing bankruptcy including debt reduction, consolidations, settlement negotiations, and if all else fails, how to protect your assets from creditors if we determine that bankruptcy is not a viable option.

You may qualify for either a Chapter 7 or a Chapter 13 bankruptcy. We have detailed for you below the general differences between the two. In either case, you may be able to keep certain essential assets that will be exempt from the bankruptcy. Generally, you will be able to keep either equity in your home (up to certain limits) or $2,500 in cash, one automobile (with certain limits), and certain household items. Generally, student loans, income taxes due and other priority debts may not be discharged in either chapter. We will discuss all of this at our first conference.

Chapter 7
If we determine that your financial situation qualifies you for the filing of a Chapter 7 bankruptcy, generally all of your debt (with some exceptions) will be eliminated and you will not have to pay any additional funds to the bankruptcy trustee. Once you have fully retained our firm, you may notify your creditors that you have hired us to represent you in the filing of your bankruptcy. This notification should stop those annoying telephone calls.

Chapter 13
If we determine that you qualify for a Chapter 13 bankruptcy, you will be required to forward to the bankruptcy trustee, your monthly disposable income for a period of up to 60 months. Your bankruptcy trustee will then collect these funds and forward them on to your secured creditors first (paid at 100%) and then to your unsecured creditors (at a certain lower percentage on the dollar). There are certain federal standards applied when calculating your disposable income. Therefore, certain monthly expenses you may think are necessary, may not be considered necessary in this calculation. In any event, if you are behind on payments for secured debt, like your home and/or automobile, you must be able to catch up on all your delinquent payments within this 60 month period of time.

Complete Our Confidential Bankruptcy Questionnaire

To assist us in representing you in your bankruptcy, please call the firm at (585) 381-4320 to speak with one of our bankruptcy attorneys. Then enter your Social Security Number below and answer the series of questions presented. Once you have completed our questionnaire, we will upload this information into our system and set up a conference to review it.

You will need all of your information on hand to complete the questionnaire. Therefore, gather your bills, calculate your monthly budget, and make a list of all your assets prior to entering any information into the system.