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Would I be less likely to be granted a chapter 7 bankruptcy if the
reason I needed it was credit card debts from online gambling? Please
no lectures. If you knew how I felt right now...
Thanks in advance.
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In article <18ks10pvsv9q62pb77afumk72l5ghorarr@4ax.com>, Jason
<ivecreatedmyownhell@yahoo.com> wrote:
Would I be less likely to be granted a chapter 7 bankruptcy if the
reason I needed it was credit card debts from online gambling? Please
no lectures. If you knew how I felt right now...
As long as there is nothing illegal involved, it doesn't matter
how you accumulated the debt.
-john-
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John A. Weeks III 952-432-2708 john@johnweeks.com
Newave Communications http://www.johnweeks.com
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On 2/2/04 13:42, in article 18ks10pvsv9q62pb77afumk72l5ghorarr@4ax.com,
"Jason" <ivecreatedmyownhell@yahoo.com> wrote:
Would I be less likely to be granted a chapter 7 bankruptcy if the
reason I needed it was credit card debts from online gambling? Please
no lectures. If you knew how I felt right now...
I recommend you cure your gambling tendency and wait to file bankruptcy
until then. Gamblers Anonymous can help. Otherwise bankruptcy will not prove
a solution. And, of course, the credit card companies will know if the cash
advances came from casino ATMs, and many bankruptcy judges think "bad faith"
when debtors seek to discharge gambling debts soon after incurring them.
(There's always Chapter 13, though.) A skilled bankruptcy lawyer will know
your local judges, and how far out you can push the envelope. Certainly you
shouldn't file within 90 days of incurring the debts. If need be, get caller
ID and stop answering your phone except for friends and family.
Aside from the bad-faith issue (under which a discharge could be denied),
payment for gambling debts have occasionally been attacked as fraudulent
transfers. That's an arcane issue, best left to your lawyer. In one case I
know of, In re Chomakos, 69 F.3d 769 (6th Cir. 1995) the argument didn't
work, anyway.
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On 3/2/04 20:28, in article vp002093303jmgjeh4ubpjrcem5ud60cts@4ax.com,
"John A. Weeks III" <john@johnweeks.com> wrote:
Would I be less likely to be granted a chapter 7 bankruptcy if the
reason I needed it was credit card debts from online gambling? Please
no lectures. If you knew how I felt right now...
As long as there is nothing illegal involved, it doesn't matter
how you accumulated the debt.
Slightly overoptimistic I think, based on my monitoring over many years of
the three major discussion lists of consumer bankruptcy lawyers.
Much depends on the district. And the debtor should certainly not file
within 90 days of having incurred the debts.
A very thoughtful memo on the subject appears at
http://www.dcba.org/brief/decissue/1999/art21299.htm
"Gambling Debts Discharged in Bankruptcy"
I am not licensed in Illinois and can't comment substantively on Mr.
Schaller's essay. I note that a U.S. Trustee's memo is somewhat less
sanguine
http://www.usdoj.gov/ust/press/articles/gambling.htm
"Not so long ago, bankruptcy courts regularly found gambling debt
nondischargeable. More recently, however, and perhaps as a repercussion of
the upsurge in legalized gambling in many states, the courts are allowing
discharge of this debt. Nonetheless, the nation's current climate of
bankruptcy reform, coupled with the increased frequency of gambling debt,
portends an uncertain future for the dischargeability of such debt."
As I said, credit card advances for gambling make some bankruptcy judges in
some parts of the country angry. I have occasionally had bankruptcy clients
thrown out of court for no valid reason except that the judge misunderstood
their case and their situation; if the client lacks the money to appeal
s/he's simply out of luck.
You (I am addressing the original inquirer) must be guided by your
bankruptcy lawyer. Be sure to get one who specializes in bankruptcy, knows
his or her way around the courts, and is willing to spend time with you to
understand your case.
I did look up the question in the terrific National Consumer Law Center
handbook for lawyers, which I keep on my reference shelf. It didn't have
anything to add to what I wrote, though.
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