At long
last, the end of the series!
Personal
bankruptcy is usually filed by an individual for very different reasons than
corporate bankruptcies. Whereas the primary motivation behind filing a business
bankruptcy may be protection of the business or satisfaction of debts, personal
bankruptcies are frequently filed for asset protection, in addition to satisfaction
of debts.
The two
sections of the bankruptcy code that apply to personal bankruptcies are chapter
7 and chapter 13. As with business bankruptcies, chapter 7 for personal
bankruptcies is a process of liquidation and seeks include all non-exempt
assets of the petitioner in the bankruptcy estate in order to liquidate them to
pay off debts. Chapter 13, on the other hand, seeks to reorganize the debt of a
petitioner pursuant to a payment plan, which typically last from 3 to 5 years.