Chapter 7 Bankruptcy Attorneys in West Springfield, MA

Most people describe the same moment: they stop opening the mail. The balances have stopped moving no matter what they pay, and the calls have started coming to work.

Sclafani & Moriarty has represented individuals and families across Hampden County for over 25 years. Attorney Charles J. Sclafani Jr. handles the firm’s Chapter 7 practice, filing cases in the Western Division of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Springfield. Our office is at 776 Westfield Street in West Springfield.

The initial consultation is free and takes place in our office. Payment plans are available. Call 413-732-8356.

What Is Chapter 7 Bankruptcy?

Chapter 7 is a federal court process that erases most unsecured debt — credit cards, medical bills, personal loans — usually within a few months of filing. Hampden County residents file in the Western Division of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Springfield. Most filers keep everything they own.

Chapter 7 is sometimes called liquidation bankruptcy, which is a misleading name. In theory a court-appointed trustee sells property that is not protected and distributes the proceeds to creditors. In practice, the great majority of Chapter 7 cases are what the courts call no-asset cases: nothing is sold, because everything the filer owns is covered by exemptions.

The case runs on a federal timetable. You file a petition with schedules listing debts, property, income, and expenses. A trustee reviews them and holds one meeting. If there is nothing to administer, the court enters a discharge and the debt is gone.

What Chapter 7 does not do is restructure anything. It is a clean break, not a repayment plan.

What Debts Does Chapter 7 Erase, and What Survives?

Chapter 7 discharges most unsecured debt, including credit cards, medical bills, personal loans, and most money judgments. It does not erase child support, alimony, most student loans, recent income taxes, criminal fines, or debts arising from fraud or drunk driving injuries.

Discharged in most cases:

• Credit card balances
• Medical and hospital bills
• Personal loans and signature loans
• Deficiency balances left after a repossession
• Old utility and cell phone accounts
• Most civil judgments for money

Survives the discharge:

• Child support and alimony, which the Bankruptcy Code treats as domestic support obligations
• Most student loans
• Income taxes from recent years, though older tax debt can sometimes be discharged
• Criminal fines and restitution
• Debts incurred through fraud, and injury debts from operating under the influence

Secured debt sits in its own category. A mortgage or car loan is attached to property. Chapter 7 can erase your personal liability on the loan, but the lien stays on the collateral. Keep the house or the car, and the payments continue.

Because support obligations survive, a divorce and a bankruptcy have to be planned together rather than one after the other.

Do I Qualify for Chapter 7 in Massachusetts?

Eligibility turns on the means test, which compares your household income over the six months before filing against the Massachusetts median for a household your size. Filers at or below the median qualify. Filers above it move to a second calculation that subtracts allowed living expenses.

The means test sounds more forbidding than it usually is. Most people who genuinely cannot pay their debts pass it.

The first step annualizes your income from the six full calendar months before filing and compares it against the Massachusetts median for your household size. Those median figures come from the U.S. Trustee Program and are revised two or three times a year, so the threshold that applies to you depends on when you file.

Income above the median is not the end of it. The second stage subtracts allowed living expenses (e.g., housing, transportation, taxes, childcare, health costs, secured debt payments) to arrive at disposable income. Mortgage and car payments do a great deal of work at this stage, and filers who look ineligible on the first pass frequently qualify on the second.

Will I Lose My Home If I File Chapter 7?

Massachusetts protects home equity through the homestead exemption. Every owner of a principal residence receives an automatic exemption without filing anything, and a far larger exemption is available to those who record a written declaration at the registry of deeds. Most Hampden County filers keep their homes.

This is the question that keeps people from calling, and the answer is usually better than they expect.

Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 188 creates two levels of protection. Every owner of a principal residence has an automatic homestead exemption of $125,000 with no paperwork at all. Recording a written declaration of homestead at the registry of deeds raises that figure to $1,000,000.

These amounts have been revised more than once in recent years, most recently in 2026, and a good deal of published information about them is out of date. We confirm the current figures against the statute in every case.

What matters is equity, not value. A home worth $340,000 carrying a $260,000 mortgage holds $80,000 in equity — comfortably inside the automatic exemption before anything is recorded at all.

Recording a declaration is inexpensive and takes effect immediately, and for most Hampden County homeowners it is worth doing whether or not bankruptcy is under consideration. One limit is worth stating plainly: the homestead protects against unsecured creditors. It does not stop a mortgage lender from foreclosing if payments stop.

What Property Can I Keep?

Massachusetts exemptions protect a vehicle needed for work or transportation, cash and wages, household goods, tools of the trade, retirement accounts, and public benefits. A wildcard exemption covers property that falls outside the specific categories. Most Chapter 7 filers in Massachusetts lose nothing at all.

Exemptions are the heart of a Chapter 7 case. Under Chapter 235, Section 34, the Massachusetts schedule protects:

• A car needed for personal transportation or to get to work, up to $7,500 of wholesale resale value — rising to $15,000 where the owner is 60 or older or has a disability
• $2,500 in cash, savings, or bank deposits
• Wages, at the greater of 85% of gross earnings or 50 times the hourly minimum wage each week
• A wildcard of $1,000, plus up to $5,000 of any unused vehicle, furniture, or tools-of-the-trade exemption
• Household furniture, clothing, beds and bedding, heating equipment, and books

Retirement accounts, workers’ compensation, unemployment benefits, and veterans’ benefits carry their own protections under separate statutes.

Should I use the Massachusetts or the federal exemptions?

Massachusetts is one of a handful of states that lets a filer choose. You elect one schedule or the other and apply it to everything you own; the two cannot be combined.

Which serves you better depends on what you have. Homeowners with meaningful equity are usually better off under the Massachusetts schedule, because of the homestead. Renters, and owners with little equity, often do better federally, where a larger wildcard can protect cash. Working that out is among the first things we do.

What Does the Chapter 7 Process Look Like in Springfield?

A Chapter 7 case begins with credit counseling, followed by the petition and schedules. The automatic stay takes effect at filing. A trustee holds one meeting of creditors, and after a debtor education course, the court enters a discharge, typically a few months after the case is filed.

1. Credit counseling. A course from an approved provider, completed within 180 days before filing. It takes about an hour, online or by phone.
2. Petition and schedules. A complete listing of debts, property, income, expenses, and recent transactions. This is where the real work sits, and where errors cause problems.
3. Filing and the automatic stay. Protection begins the moment the case is docketed in the Western Division.
4. Meeting of creditors. A short hearing with the trustee, usually at 300 State Street in Springfield, roughly a month after filing. The trustee asks about your paperwork under oath. Creditors rarely appear.
5. Debtor education. A second course, taken after filing, required before a discharge can enter.
6. Discharge. The court order erasing the debt.

Two deadlines catch people out. A statement of intention is due for any property securing a debt, and your most recent tax return has to reach the trustee at least a week before the meeting. Filing requirements and local rules are published by the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Massachusetts.

What Happens to Creditor Calls and Wage Garnishment?

Filing triggers the automatic stay, a federal court order that stops collection immediately. Creditor calls, lawsuits, wage garnishment, and bank levies must all stop the moment your case is filed. A creditor who keeps collecting after notice can be held liable for damages.

The automatic stay is the fastest relief in bankruptcy, and it takes effect without a hearing. The moment the petition is docketed, further collection becomes a violation of federal law.

That covers phone calls and letters, pending lawsuits, wage garnishments already in place, bank levies, and utility shutoffs for nonpayment. A creditor who continues after being notified can be ordered to pay damages and attorney’s fees.

The stay has limits. It does not stop child support collection or criminal proceedings, and a secured creditor can ask the court for permission to proceed against its collateral.

What Does It Cost to File Chapter 7?

The consultation at Sclafani & Moriarty is free. We quote a fee for a Chapter 7 case after reviewing your situation, and payment plans are available. Court filing fees and the two required courses are separate costs, and the court fee can often be paid in installments or waived.

Bankruptcy has a cost problem close to a joke: the people who need it most are the ones least able to pay for it. We work around that where we can.

The attorney’s fee is quoted up front, once we know what your case involves, and we offer payment schedules. In Chapter 7, those fees are ordinarily paid before the case is filed, because the discharge would otherwise erase the very fee that produced it.

Separate from what we charge, the court has a filing fee set by federal schedule, and both required courses carry modest costs. The court fee can usually be paid in as many as four installments within 120 days of filing, and a full waiver is available to filers whose income is low enough. We go through all of it at the consultation.

Contact a West Springfield Bankruptcy Lawyer

Nothing about a free consultation commits you to filing. Most people leave with a clearer sense of whether bankruptcy is the right tool, and a fair number find out it is not.

Sclafani & Moriarty
776 Westfield Street
West Springfield, MA 01089
413-732-8356

Attorney Charles J. Sclafani Jr. offers free initial consultations in our West Springfield office and represents filers throughout Hampden County, including Springfield, Chicopee, Holyoke, Agawam, Westfield, and Ludlow. Payment plans are available. Call 413-732-8356 or use the contact form.

Frequently Asked Questions

How long does Chapter 7 take from filing to discharge?

Most straightforward cases run a few months. The meeting of creditors falls roughly a month after filing, and the discharge follows some weeks after that once the debtor education course is on file. Preparing the petition properly usually takes longer than the court process that follows it.

Does my spouse have to file with me?

No. Married people can file individually or jointly. Filing jointly costs one filing fee rather than two and handles shared debt in one case, but it also puts both credit records through the process. Which makes sense depends on whose name the debts are in and what each of you owns.

Will my employer or landlord find out?

Bankruptcy filings are public records, but nobody notifies your employer or landlord. Employers generally learn only if a wage garnishment has to be stopped. Federal law prohibits government employers from discriminating against someone for filing, and private employers cannot fire you solely because of a bankruptcy.

Can I keep a credit card open after filing?

All debts have to be listed, including cards with a zero balance, and issuers typically close accounts once they receive notice even when nothing is owed. Plan on losing existing cards. Secured cards are often available again within months of discharge.

What if I have filed bankruptcy before?

A prior filing does not necessarily prevent a new one, but there are waiting periods between discharges, and they differ depending on which chapters are involved. If your earlier case was dismissed rather than discharged, different rules apply. Bring the paperwork from the prior case to your consultation.

This content is provided for informational purposes only and is not legal advice. Laws and statutes are revised and updated periodically, and the information here may not reflect the most current version of the law. You are strongly advised to speak with an attorney about the specifics of your situation.