Knoxville Bankruptcy Lawyer

Bankruptcy and Divorce 

If you are considering divorce and bankruptcy, filing bankruptcy prior to divorce proceedings might be in your best interest if there is an excessive amount of debt between you and your spouse. This can potentially make the negotiation process much easier on everyone during a divorce proceeding. A Knoxville bankruptcy lawyer can help with multiple issues, such as how any remaining debts should be divided, and offering ways to protect yourself from an ex who files for bankruptcy in the future.

About Joint Bankruptcy & Divorce in Knoxville

It may be in your best interest to consider filing for joint bankruptcy prior to divorcing. Filing joint bankruptcy tends to be less expensive than filing separately, and can still simplify the division of any remaining debt. Because both bankruptcy and divorce seriously impact one's personal property and finances, the help of a Knoxville bankruptcy attorney is necessary to sort through the challenging details of this type of bankruptcy case.

When one or both spouses file for bankruptcy, then is made a part of the bankruptcy estate available to pay debts. The estate is all of your owned property at the time of the bankruptcy filing. Once filing, a "stay" immediately goes into effect inhibiting creditors from collection of most debt. However, it is important to include that the stay will not prevent you from requesting the divorce court to order a spouse to pay alimony or child support.

If and when the bankruptcy court judges a property as exempt it will not be available to be sold off by a trustee in order to pay debts. The property can then be divided by the divorce court. What qualifies as an exemption of property is outlined by the Bankruptcy Code (federal law) and by the laws of the state of Tennessee.