Bankruptcy

For over twenty-five years Joe Thigpen has been assisting people who find it necessary to file a bankruptcy. Since 1986 Joe Thigpen has filed hundreds of bankruptcies for people primarily in the Eastern District of Texas and the Northern District of Texas. Filing bankruptcy is a difficult and personal decision. You may have heard that in 2005 the bankruptcy laws were significantly amended. Primarily the law was changed to provide for what is called "means testing." This is an income test to determine whether you should file for Chapter 7 or Chapter 13. There are several chapters of bankruptcy, but the most common are Chapter 7 and Chapter 13. Chapter 7 is primarily designed for people to discharge unsecured debt. Chapter 13 is designed to assist people in reorganizing their financial affairs to catch up an arrearage on a home or vehicles or to pay tax debt and deal with issues like wage garnishment from the Internal Revenue Service. One of the primary issues in every bankruptcy is the property that the person is allowed to keep. Compared to the other states, Texas has a very generous allowance for property that a person or family is allowed to keep. This is called "exemptions." The examples are too numerous to detail here, but the first issue is always what property is owned by parties and a discussion of how that interacts with the homestead law of Texas or the Federal Exemptions.

We are a federally designated Debt Relief Agency under the United States Bankruptcy Laws. We assist people with finding solutions to their debt and credit problems, including, where appropriate, assisting them with the filing of petitions for relief under the United States Bankruptcy Code.

The United States Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Texas is located in my same office building, as is the United States Trustee's Office, the Chapter 13 Trustee's Office and the United States Attorney's Office.