New bankruptcy laws - anyone with any experience ?

There's certainly a lot of varied and interesting opinions here.

Just to set the record straight I have no debt currently (apart from the judgement).

we use the credit card sparingly and it's paid off each month,

We have no house and thus no huge mortgage.

The cars are owned.

We have some savings (not a huge amount unfortunately).


The only reason I am even considering BK is the large judgement that has just been awarded against me.

Financially this will wipe me out. Actually it will do more than that as it is more than 10 times the sum total of all my assets.
 
Your liability for the payment of federal income tax is a consideration.
If you settle a debt for less than the due balance, then IRS considers the amount of the reduction as income to you, upon which you must pay your regular income tax. If you go bankrupt, then IRS does not consider the discharge amount as income.
You do not seem to have sufficient assets for a creditor to economically pursue the due balance. The account will undoubtedly be sent to a collection agency which can do nothing more than make obnoxious phone calls or letters, but the federal law requires them to stop all such contacts if you demand that they do so.
If a judgment creditor wanted to take your automobile, they must first pay all outstanding loans against it before the sheriff will levy. That plus the sheriff's fee is enough to stop action against low value autos.
 
You did not explain the basis of the killer judgment against you. Some debts may not be discharged in a Chapter 7, but those same debts can be part of a Chapter 13 plan.
 
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