What does personal bankruptcy cover in Virginia?

What does personal bankruptcy cover in Virginia? This is an extremely important question if you are considering filing bankruptcy, since not all debts will be able to be handled by bankruptcy protection. 

Personal bankruptcy in Virginia will generally help you to deal with:

• Credit card debt
• Medical bills and medical debt
• Personal loans that you have borrowed from a bank, credit union or other lender and that are unsecured

Personal bankruptcy in Virginia will not cover:

• Student loan debt, which is not dischargeable except in very rare cases where you are able to prove that having to pay back your student loans would be undue hardship. Student loans are afforded extra protection under the law, and unless you've become permanently unable to work and paying back the debt would be a huge burden, you're not going to get relief in bankruptcy under current laws
• Unpaid child support, which is not ever going to be discharged in bankruptcy because support obligations are viewed by the law as so important
• Back tax debt
• Judgments against you, like judgments from a personal injury case

The exact result of the bankruptcy and what it does to your debt will vary depending on whether you file a chapter 7 or a chapter 13. In a chapter 7, a portion of the money you owe will be repaid by a sale of your assets but you'll then have the rest of the debt forgiven. In a chapter 13, you'll repay some of the debts through a repayment agreement that lasts for a three to five year period. 

To get help determining what chapter of bankruptcy is right for you and what that bankruptcy filing will do to your debt, you should talk to a lawyer who specializes in bankruptcy.