Expert: Mark J. Markus- California Bankruptcy Attorney - 3/14/2009

Question
Morning. we had to shut down a business.  The personal guarantees associated with that business along with credit card debt amassed as a result of that business are forcing up to file for personal bankruptcy.  Excluding our home, the ratio of business to personal debt is 8 to 1.  On the Bankruptcy form 22A, there is a box you can check if you have mostly non-consumer debt.  Can you tell me what the process is if we check this and some idea of what we might expect in terms of a result?

Answer
If you check that box stating that your debt is primarily non-consumer, you don't need to complete the rest of Form 22A, which is a good thing.  However, if you have a lot of disposable income on Schedules "I" and "J", there still may be grounds for an objection to you being in a Chapter 7 case, but that really depends on the percentage of unsecured debt that could be repaid, who your judge is and a number of other factors.