December 3rd, 2008 by Reed Allmand 
Many debtors who are filing for Chapter 7 or Chapter 13 bankruptcy have one or more liens on their personal assets. The most common questions about liens during bankruptcy are 1) What is a lien? and 2) Can filing bankruptcy get rid of a lien? To answer the first question, a lien is a legal interest of a creditor in a particular asset. For example, a lender who has loaned a debtor money to buy a car, has a lien on the vehicle. Filing bankruptcy does not remove any existing liens (including a lien on a car) unless the judge orders the removal of a lien. But, what a bankruptcy will do is eliminate the debtor’s personal responsibility to repay the loan/debt. In the case of a car, the lien holder can still repossess the vehicle after the bankruptcy has been discharged; but the lien holder cannot force the debtor to pay any of the remaining loan balance before or after the car has been auctioned.
If you have a lien against your wages or a bank account speak with a bankruptcy attorney to find out what actions, if any, can be taken to negotiate the removal of these liens.
About Reed Allmand
Allmand's vision is rooted in his own financially precarious childhood in Abilene "My father always had difficulty holding a job and supporting our family, so after my parents divorced when I was 12, my sister and I got jobs to help make ends meet," he recalls. "I remember what it felt like as a child to worry that our car would be repossessed or home foreclosed on."
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