All of your belongings are considered assets when you file for a Chapter 7 Bankruptcy. While this means that everything you own is now determined as an asset by the court, no matter how expensive your belongings are, it does not mean everything you own will be taken when you file for bankruptcy.
Bankruptcy Exemption
When you decide to file for bankruptcy, a large number of your belongings will fall under the category of being "bankruptcy exempt." This keeps everything you own from being liquidated. In fact, most people actually keep all of their belongings after they file. The only assets that are not protected are ones that are valuable enough to pay back your unsecured debts. These items will be explicitly stated as unprotected from bankruptcy exemption as you begin the process of filing.
Types of Assets
There are three different categories your property will fall under when you file for bankruptcy.
Personal Property
Personal property is the easiest to define. It is all of your stuff. It is anything that you can pick up, see, and touch—things like your clothes, jewelry, furniture, cars, boats, etc.
Real Property
Real property is your belongings that are tied to the land. This can be land itself or the things that sit on your property, like a house. Sometimes even timeshares can be considered real property.
Intangible Property
This is anything else that is not included in the first two categories. It's the things that you cannot grasp. These are your retirement funds, insurance policies, tax refunds, money in your bank accounts, etc.
Where We Can Help
One of the more stressful parts of filing for Chapter 7 bankruptcy is assigning a value to each of your assets on a bankruptcy form. If you are fearful of losing any of your belongings, do not hesitate to schedule your free consultation with our team here at . We can help you see if you can cover everything you own by an exemption to make sure that you keep all your belongings when you are filing for bankruptcy.
Contact our seasoned team of lawyers today at to schedule your free consultation.