A financial life preserver is available for people who are in desperate need of financial relief. Most people know that some debts will not be discharged in your bankruptcy, including most taxes, student loans and domestic support obligations.
Driving while intoxicated can lead to debts you owe for people you hurt. And these debts quite possibly will be denied a discharge. The applicable section of the bankruptcy code, 11 U.S.C. 523(a)9, states that debts will not be discharged if it is related to the "death or personal injury caused by the debtor's operation of a motor vehicle, vessel, or aircraft if such operation was unlawful because the debtor was intoxicated from using alcohol, a drug, or another substance".
Congress often changes the law to update which debts are discharged and which ones are not. As of now, four important words from this statute matter a great deal: intoxicated, caused, death and personal injury.
Now these debts survive the bankruptcy automatically. The victim need not do anything to protect their rights. If a debtor wishes to discharge a debt, he will have to ask the court for an order saying that the debt is discharged based on one of the elements not being met.
Was the debtor intoxicated? Naturally, each state is going to have their own legislative and judicial history on this subject so it will vary depending on where you live.
One court determined that a driver was intoxicated without a criminal charge or even a breath test being administered. Another court allowed a debt to be discharged because there was no evidence of intoxication.
A third case saw a court find that the debtor was intoxicated, notwithstanding the fact that he plead to reckless driving down from a DUI. There must be evidence to show the debtor was not intoxicated if the debtor hopes to have this debt discharged.
If it is determined that a debtor was intoxicated, he may still show the debt should be discharged if it is unrelated to the death or personal injury of someone else.
Debts relating to property damage will be discharged. A state charging you an extra fee as a consequence of an incident in which you were driving while intoxicated will also likely be discharged in bankruptcy.
If you are unable to show that you were not intoxicated or that the damage was not from a death or personal injury, there is still one more potential avenue. You can try to prove that you were not the cause of the injury or death. There are many variables that might exist in your situation that may help you here, but it is not easy.
The obvious goal of this law is to stop someone from benefiting from a bankruptcy after killing or hurting someone while driving under the influence. If you get drunk, then go for a ride and hit a pedestrian and that person dies, then it would be a pretty simple analysis.
Perhaps there are additional circumstances in your particular situation, however, that may make it difficult to predict how the court would react. It may be possible that another person was intoxicated and was the true cause of the accident.
The weather or street conditions can be viewed as a partial cause of the accident. Any number of circumstances might exist in your situation that makes causation a murky element.
If bankruptcy is something your are considering and you have a debt that falls under section 523(a)9, prepare for hard times. A discussion with an attorney should be in your best interests to see what avenues may be open to you.
Driving while intoxicated can lead to debts you owe for people you hurt. And these debts quite possibly will be denied a discharge. The applicable section of the bankruptcy code, 11 U.S.C. 523(a)9, states that debts will not be discharged if it is related to the "death or personal injury caused by the debtor's operation of a motor vehicle, vessel, or aircraft if such operation was unlawful because the debtor was intoxicated from using alcohol, a drug, or another substance".
Congress often changes the law to update which debts are discharged and which ones are not. As of now, four important words from this statute matter a great deal: intoxicated, caused, death and personal injury.
Now these debts survive the bankruptcy automatically. The victim need not do anything to protect their rights. If a debtor wishes to discharge a debt, he will have to ask the court for an order saying that the debt is discharged based on one of the elements not being met.
Was the debtor intoxicated? Naturally, each state is going to have their own legislative and judicial history on this subject so it will vary depending on where you live.
One court determined that a driver was intoxicated without a criminal charge or even a breath test being administered. Another court allowed a debt to be discharged because there was no evidence of intoxication.
A third case saw a court find that the debtor was intoxicated, notwithstanding the fact that he plead to reckless driving down from a DUI. There must be evidence to show the debtor was not intoxicated if the debtor hopes to have this debt discharged.
If it is determined that a debtor was intoxicated, he may still show the debt should be discharged if it is unrelated to the death or personal injury of someone else.
Debts relating to property damage will be discharged. A state charging you an extra fee as a consequence of an incident in which you were driving while intoxicated will also likely be discharged in bankruptcy.
If you are unable to show that you were not intoxicated or that the damage was not from a death or personal injury, there is still one more potential avenue. You can try to prove that you were not the cause of the injury or death. There are many variables that might exist in your situation that may help you here, but it is not easy.
The obvious goal of this law is to stop someone from benefiting from a bankruptcy after killing or hurting someone while driving under the influence. If you get drunk, then go for a ride and hit a pedestrian and that person dies, then it would be a pretty simple analysis.
Perhaps there are additional circumstances in your particular situation, however, that may make it difficult to predict how the court would react. It may be possible that another person was intoxicated and was the true cause of the accident.
The weather or street conditions can be viewed as a partial cause of the accident. Any number of circumstances might exist in your situation that makes causation a murky element.
If bankruptcy is something your are considering and you have a debt that falls under section 523(a)9, prepare for hard times. A discussion with an attorney should be in your best interests to see what avenues may be open to you.
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