Even though most people don't consider themselves at a financial risk for bankruptcy, the sad statistics are that today more and more people are heading that direction. In fact, the various forms of bankruptcy such as chapter 7, chapter 13, and even chapter 11 are becoming a more popular financial out for people and businesses each and every day.
The U.S. bankruptcy laws were put in place by Congress in order to provide uniformity to the code and statutes throughout the United States. The bankruptcy laws were actually put in place to protect people from doing further financial harm.
At the time of this writing there are currently four different chapters to the bankruptcy code. For example, you may be familiar with the bankruptcy term Chapter 7 bankruptcy. The chapter 7 part is the section of code or the statutes that address the rules and regulations of Chapter 7 bankruptcy.
With these various chapters of bankruptcy, are explanations of how the various laws are set up to deal with the filing procedures and how the debt is relieved or negotiated down. There are also provisions regulating the behavior of the creditors themselves as it pertains to contacting and collection attempts by the creditor.
Although the bankruptcy codes were provided for by the U.S. federal government, each state has the right to pass other laws that will work within the framework of the federal statutes on bankruptcy; otherwise the states don't have autonomous power to govern how the overall bankruptcy code functions.
Keep in mind however, that even thought the states can't change or amend the basic intent of the core bankruptcy laws, they do have the latitude to interpret how the filings take place and how the laws should be applied.
As is the case with statutes, they tend to be somewhat dynamic; meaning they change with additions and deletions to the code over time as amendments are ratified through the body of lawmakers. Because of this dynamic, it is a very good idea for an individual considering bankruptcy as an option to seek the counsel of an attorney who deals in the area of bankruptcy code.
Any type of change to the top level of the bankruptcy codes and statutes will have to come from the United States Congress. On such change has come down the pike as it pertains to the filing of a Chapter 7 bankruptcy. The change to the core statute to this chapter had to do with the burden of proof. Essentially, it added additional criteria (or burden of proof)upon the person filing in order for them to meet the criteria necessary to have the right to file for bankruptcy.
In such a case, the debtor will only be allowed to file if they have fulfilled a financial and bankruptcy counseling session. The intent of such an addendum to the statutes is to help ensure that the bankruptcy relief statutes are not being taken advantage of by individuals who just don't want to pay their debt.
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