Bankruptcy Shows No Respect for Religion
The Archdiocese of Portland in Oregon encompasses the western part of the state of Oregon, from the summit of the Cascades to the Pacific Ocean. The Archbishop of Portland serves as the Officer of the archdiocese whose bishop run dioceses cover the three states of Oregon, Idaho, and Montana. According to 2005 statistics provided by the archdiocese, it serves nearly 400,000 Catholics. There are 312 priests, 498 sisters, 124 parishes, and 24 missions in the archdiocese. There are 8,981 pupils in 42 parochial elementary schools, and 5,153 students in ten high schools. Nine hospitals served over 1.25 million patients. To sum it up, the Archdiocese of Portland is a large religious holding of the Roman Catholic Church demanding a lot of admiration and respect for the total work it has performed through the years. On July 6, 2004, the church’s sex abuse scandal led the Archdiocese to file for a Chapter 11 reorganization hours before two abuse trials were to begin. Portland became the first Catholic diocese to file for bankruptcy illustrating that bankruptcy shows no respect for religion.
If bankruptcy can happen to an organization like the church, surely bankruptcy can happen to anyone. It does not matter whether you are rich, powerful, famous, popular, or charitable, bankruptcy can happen to you. Bankruptcy is simply a legal proceeding designed to allow the honest person to work their way out of a bad financial situation. In the illustration, the church was forced to protect the good works that were continuing. They filed the bankruptcy to prevent any pending law suits from the scandal from crippling their other work.
As a society, we have come a long way since the days of debtor prisons and states. The Constitution provides for our protection against those antiquated ways when it gave Congress the power to legislate bankruptcy law making the primary laws governing bankruptcy federal. State laws supplement the federal laws by honing out some of the necessary details. The laws have been designed to protect both creditor and debtor
Unlike the business type of bankruptcy the church filed (Chapter 11), there are basically two types of bankruptcies an individual can file- a chapter 7 or a chapter 13. A Chapter 7, commonly called liquidation of your assets, is normally the simplest and quickest form of bankruptcy. It is available to individuals, married couples, corporations, and partnerships. A chapter 13 bankruptcy is the second bankruptcy available to individuals and is also called a wage earner’s plan. It enables individuals with regular income to develop a plan to repay all or part of their debts. If you have an income and qualify for a chapter 13, there are certain advantages for filing one. These advantages are: to save your home from foreclosure; to reschedule secured debts; to provide protection for co-debtors; to consolidate your loans under one plan; to keep non-exempt property; to extend certain tax obligations, student loans, or other such qualifying debts; and to qualify for bankruptcy relief. Filing a chapter 7 will not afford you these various opportunities listed. So, if you have assets you want to keep, you currently have an income, and you want to try to pay your creditors as much as what is reasonable, you may want to consider filing a chapter 13 bankruptcy. But, if you do not have many assets, you do not have a mortgage, you just want to get out from under the burden of your debts, and you qualify, you may want to consider filing a chapter 7 bankruptcy.
The moment you file a bankruptcy, a judge will order all collecting actions to cease, an important feature called the automatic stay. The automatic stay, applicable to all types of bankruptcy filings, means that the mere request for bankruptcy protection automatically stops and brings to a cessation certain lawsuits, foreclosures, utility shut-offs, evictions, repossessions, garnishments, attachments, and debt collection harassment. That means all creditors will have to go through a trustee in order to get any of their claims back. So, if you have gotten a foreclosure notice, and you want it to cease, filing a chapter 13 will immediately stop the process.
Choosing the appropriate bankruptcy to file can be a complicated and tricky process. More common sense will indicate you will need a bankruptcy lawyer in order to properly understand how these complex laws may apply in your situation. If you determine you are in need of relief from the stress associated with debt and you live in or around the metropolitan area of Portland, Oregon, contact us today at www.BankruptcyHome.com . We will help you find a bankruptcy attorney in your area that will help you with any questions you may have on bankruptcy law.
