Bankruptcy

The difference is not which is worse. It is income, home equity and whether you are behind on secured payments. Here is the test, in order.

Credit cards, medical bills and personal loans go. Support, most student loans, recent taxes and fraud debts stay. The full list, plus the gray areas.

Pro se filing is legal and thousands do it. Here is every form, fee and deadline in order — plus the four situations where doing it alone goes badly.

It uses your last six full months, not your current pay — which is why timing changes the answer. The two-part calculation, and four ways people pass.

Equity and payments — not the mortgage itself. If your equity is exempt and you keep paying, you keep the house. Here is how to work out whether it is.

Reaffirm, redeem, or surrender. Which applies depends on equity and whether you are current — and reaffirming has a risk nobody warns you about.

FHA and VA at two years, conventional at four, USDA in between — measured from discharge, not filing. Plus what to do during the wait.

Older income tax can be discharged; recent tax cannot, and liens survive either way. The 3-year, 2-year and 240-day tests, and why timing decides it.

The automatic stay takes effect the moment you file. What it stops, what it does not, and when garnished money can actually be recovered.

The order arrives, the case closes, and then two things need doing that nobody tells you about. A month-by-month plan for the first twelve months.

Ten minutes, a trustee, no judge, and creditors who almost never show up. The standard questions, what to bring, and why the horror stories are rare.

The court fee, the two courses, and attorney fees — plus the full waiver that makes filing free for low incomes, which almost nobody mentions.