Southhaven Legal Issues Blog

Bankruptcy law recognizes that debts might overwhelm Mississippi consumers. When individuals file for bankruptcy protection, they generally do so under either Chapter 7 or Chapter 13. The form of bankruptcy determines whether eligible debts will be discharged or if the person must continue to pay creditors under a court-mandated payment plan. The chapter under which people file also establishes waiting periods before they can file for bankruptcy again.

Under a Chapter 7 bankruptcy, the court relieves a person of financial burdens by discharging many unsecured debts. After people complete this process, the law requires that they wait eight years before seeking Chapter 7 protection again. If they want to file for Chapter 13 protection, however, they only need to wait four years after completing a Chapter 7 case.

Mississippi residents have helped Americans as a whole generate a total of over $1 trillion in credit card debt. Those who want to pay off that debt have several options to do so. However, the best option may be to start with the credit card that has the highest interest rate. This is because reducing the principal balance on that card also reduces the amount of interest paid to a lender.

Ultimately, people will be able to pay their debt down faster if more of each payment goes toward the principal instead of interest. Once a credit card balance is paid off, a debtor will then start paying down the balance with the next highest interest rate. While it may take longer to pay down a debt using this method, it will save a person money in the long run.

In most circumstances, it is not possible to discharge student loans through bankruptcy. However, some Mississippi debtors may be able to discharge them if a few factors are in place. These rules apply to both private and federal loans.

The borrower must be able to demonstrate that repaying the loans will lead to "undue hardship". What constitutes undue hardship has never been defined by Congress, but nearly all federal circuit courts use a standard called the Brunner test. The Brunner test requires that there be extenuating circumstances and that extreme hardship will result from paying back the loan that will not allow the person to keep up a minimum living standard. It also requires that the circumstances are unlikely to change for the term of the loan and that the person has made an effort to repay the loan. This does not necessarily mean the person has already made one or more payments. It can mean that the person has attempted to set up a payment plan or taken other steps. The 8th Circuit uses a similar standard while the 1st Circuit does not have a set standard.

Overall, the nation's economy is in relatively good shape. This means that unemployment rates are down throughout much of Mississippi and the rest of the United States. However, there is a somewhat new phenomenon that is showing a darker financial picture for some Americans -- there is a notable increase in bankruptcy filings for older individuals, particularly for baby boomers.

Anything that impacts the baby boomer generation, which represents approximately one-quarter of the population, is certain to have rippling effects throughout the entire economy. Economic researchers report that in the last 25 years, the rate of baby boomer bankruptcy filings has increased sixfold. The overall trend shows bankruptcy rates declining for those 54 and under yet dramatically increasing for the 55-plus group.