The 2005 new bankruptcy law revision says you cannot get a discharge if you have filed previous cases under certain circumstances. It is too complicated to get into here.

If you have not filed a previous case, Chapter 7 will discharge all honest debt. It will not discharge student loans, marital and support obligations, recent taxes, fraud, tickets and fines, and won't get rid of liens on property. The same in Chapter 13, unless you pay those debts in a Chapter 13.

The purpose of a consumer Chapter 7 or 13 is to reorganize your debt. Most of the time you pay only the part you want to, or have to pay.

Sometimes, there is no debt you want to pay. In any case, people often say, "This sounds so easy. There must be a catch to it."

Things usually work out as I have set forth in this book. There are exceptions. The Bankruptcy Code states that you can be denied a discharge of your debt. The most common reasons are lying on your bankruptcy petition, or "abuse" of the Bankruptcy Code by hiding or transferring assets, or by running up the credit cards with the intent to cheat creditors.

The Law Offices of Peter Francis Geraci has represented thousands and thousands of debtors, in both Chapter 7 and Chapter 13 cases. I have about 100 feet of files open at any one time. I have had a few cases in which a Court denied a discharge. So, in my experience, your chances of "not getting" a bankruptcy discharge, are about 1 in 100,000, and it would usually only be because you did not co-operate, or you lied.

Don't worry about not getting a discharge. We tell you up front if we notice anything unusual. Bankruptcy is very predictable, it is very calm, and there is very little emotion involved. Only if you are one in ten thousand will you not get a discharge.

Of course, individual debts such as newer student loans are by their nature, according to the law, not dischargeable. But you will know what debts are not dischargeable before you start.

So, don't worry about not getting a discharge of debts.