Expert: Mark J. Markus- California Bankruptcy Attorney - 6/13/2005

Question
Hello,

First I'd like to thank you very much for your assistance.

Here is some bankground:
I declared bankruptcy in June of 2004.  What I did was loan my car to someone, who drove it, and crashed it.  I was held liable because I was the owner so I declared bankruptcy before I could be sued by the insurance company.  I declared bankruptcy before anything could be put on my credit.

Now I'm wondering if the bankruptcy will affect my ability to purchase a house in the future.  I don't actually have any bad credit bills that I havn't paid.  There's just the chapter 7 bankruptcy.

My girl friend, who will soon be my wife, has about 18,000-22,000 in debt.  Student Loans, court fees, and more.  I'd like her to declare bankruptcy because I'd rather us have a fresh start, and I would assume that a bank would be more likely to give us a loan if we had that kind of money down.  She would rather not declare bankruptcy.

Can you please give me some reasons for her to declare bankruptcy, or tell me why it would be bad for us if she did?

Do you think my credit is really bad?  I had read that after 2 years credit companies don't count bankruptcy against you.

Thank you very much

Answer
Hello.  Your questions can only really be answered after a comprehensive analysis of your and your fiance's entire situation.  If she lives in California and would like a free phone consult, please have her visit my webpage at http://www.bklaw.com/consultation.html for what information will be needed, and once she has completed the forms and gathered the information, have her contact me to schedule an appointment.