What is bankruptcy? It’s a choice that may or may not be right for you. It gives you legally approved options for addressing your debt in an honest and sensible way.

The U.S. Constitution directly authorized bankruptcy. It gives Congress the “Power . . . to establish . . . uniform Laws on the subject of Bankruptcies throughout the United States.” ( See Article 1, Section 8, Clause 4.) Bankruptcies are governed by federal law, contained in the Bankruptcy Code (Title 11 of the United States Code). State laws also have a direct effect on bankruptcies, especially in providing for the property exemptions that its residents may use to protect their assets from creditors.

Bankruptcy can help with your property taxes, either by allowing you to write off your other debts or by buying you more time to catch up with paying your debts.

Since Texas has no state income tax, homeowners pay relatively high property taxes. Property tax is the biggest single source of funding for all local governmental services.

In public perception, public transit is supposed to almost entirely safe. Why else would buses be the only vehicles left on the road that don’t come equipped with safety belts?

In reality, public transportation entities such as DART continue to present as many dangers as other forms of transportation.

Nothing prompts a long and intimate conversation with a friend as well as an emotional entanglement of some kind. We all have lots to say, share and dissect when we’re excited, frustrated or annoyed about a person in our lives.

The natural and even healthy tendency to discuss our emotional lives can cause problems, though, when that discussion is carried out on FaceBook, Twitter or another form of social media. Why? Social media:

• Provides a record in the event of litigation
• Reaches many more people than on a face-to-face conversation

Chapter 13 comes with many flexible and powerful tools. Here are just a few of the most important ones.

ALLOWS YOU TO PAY DEBTS THAT ARE IMPORTANT TO YOU FIRST

Chapter 13 provides many ways for you to pay important debts ahead of other creditors. Bankruptcy law favors certain classes of creditors for a variety of reasons. You can use these laws to your own benefit. For instance, if you fell behind on your home mortgage and want to bring it current, you are permitted to make monthly partial payments to gradually catch up. AND you can effectively take money away from your generic creditors in order to do so. Or as another example, if you are behind on your child support payments, you are allowed to pay that arrearage in full, even if that means paying little or nothing to your other creditors.