I’m unfamiliar with bankruptcy laws so I’m wondering if a contractor owes me money and plan to file bankruptcy, if I don’t sue before they file, will I still be able to sue later on. I don’t want to precipitate any action but I also know that they are trying to do the right thing. Unfortunately, there’s a lot of money at stake and I don’t want to lose out more than what I have to. Any advice? This is for an unfinished/late contract.
I have already received a petition from the court. I can’t afford a lawyer to handle so I want to do the right thing and get this taken care of without going to court or having my wages garnished. Please help 
A few months ago I took out a ,000 loan for my Father. I declined the first four times he asked. He kept on asking & it got to a point where I felt I was forced to apply & sign the documents because it was someone I had to do for him. He has poor credit & had already maxed my mother and sister out -s o I was next. It was hugely ignorant & immature of me to do so but he insisted it was for business & to "move the family ahead". I also had pressure from my mother and sister as my Dad is very convincing when he wants people to "move the family forward".
Anyway, long story short is that since then his drinking (he has a problem) has spiraled out of control over the past few months & he blew all the money whilst also making our live hell. Finally the entire family has seen the light & he will be moving out by next weekend & we will be getting on with our lives.
My mother is in 150K debt & she has no choice but to go bankrupt (see has been the one earning money over the years but unfortunately she hasn’t seen a cent & she has been forced to sign loan and credit card applications under duress). My sister is a teacher & is well paid so she’s fine. However I’m a full time student & only work 2 days a week & I can’t afford it. It was a huge gamble I took on my Dad’s character in hoping/expecting he’d do the right thing by us & it looks like it’s going to cost me more than I could afford.
Is there anything I could do so he’s accountable for the loan? (I live in Australia BTW) His credit rating is shocking so I can’t transfer it across. Legally is there anything I can do regarding signing under duress? He actually submitted the applications & made most of the phone calls himself pretending to be me (he’s my Father so he knows all my private details). It’s just without his support now the family will be very tight financially & I also have a younger brother who is still in school that needs looking after.
I’m not looking for anyone telling me how naive I was because I’m already well aware of this. However all other replies would be MASSIVELY appreciated!
I’m working in colections to settle my own gambleing debt and would never think of selling my El Camino , but I had to go to the house of this guy who was down on his luck and lost 50 times on the Bears last week end . I mean, who would bet the Bear any ways, but this schmoe did . So his kids were crying , a 5 year old in a diper that looked realy wet and the battle axe looked like she wanted to kill him and I had to convince him to give me the keys to his pride and joy a ‘78 Trans Am that was nice . If I were’nt so far behind my self I would have considered borowing it un till he got the dough to pay up , but I don’t and I had to bring the car to Johny’s chop shop whitch also seams to be owned in part by the bookie I’m indebbet to . The guy had a tear in his eye and I know how he feels he pleeded with me to brake his arm in stead but his kids where right there .
Did I do the right thing ? I mean, he Johny gave me 0 over what the guy owed and I gave it back to the dead beat who’s now driving an old rusted out Isuzu .
After trying to find ways to be able to take care of our responsibilities we have come to the last resort and that is to file bankruptcy. We don’t own any homes or any real property. what I am curious about is which is better chapter 7 or chapter 13. We want to be able to start saving a soon as it done and when feesible start rebuilding credit. Our credit card debt is only 00 which is a lot, but it could be worse. We just had two bad years with this one being the worse. I am looking for advice on the best way to go between the two. Chapter 7 or Chapter 13 and why.
We are not happy about doing this as we have tried everything. We don’t have anything of value and we have tried to pawn stuff but couldn’t get .00 for most. We live very modestly. So please do not answer this question if you are going to be negative.
Thank you so much. We want to do the right thing so we can start over and never have to do this again.
Thank you so much for all that has given advice so far. I guess I need to add just a few details to make the situation clearer.
As I stated it has been a bad 2 years, actually almost 3 years. I got real sick and had to leave my job and am now on disability. My husband took on a second job a year ago. He pays child support. Between the two of us we have 5 kids between the ages of 9-16. We have two vehicles, which one is in the shop. We also are surrendering this vehicle.
We have an attorney and he is recommending chapter 13. I (we) have a lot of medical bills. After I had to leave my job I couldn’t afford the cobra payments for continued health insurance. To maintain health insurance with my husbands employment (state worker) would have cost more than the cobra payments.
My ex- husband filed bankruptcy and I did not know that anything he had when we were together, came back to me.
I never thought I would get sick and have to quit work. I was not prepared.