Beasley, TX Bankruptcy Law Firms & Lawyers

A chargeoff is merely a bookkeeping entry.  It has nothing to do with whether or not you still owe a debt, or whether the creditor can take collections actions on it. Student loans are generally not dischargeable in bankruptcy.   You can seek an "undue hardship" discharge of the student loans by filing a complaint in your bankruptcy case, but the criteria you need to prove for this is very difficult. There are also non-bankruptcy alternatives, such as doing income-based repayment plans, but you have to get your loans out of default first in order to take advantage of such programs. I suggest having a consultation with a bankruptcy attorney in your area who is experienced with student loan litigation, to evaluate your options more fully. Mark Markus has been practicing exclusively bankruptcy law in California since 1991.  He is a Certified Specialist in Bankruptcy Law by the State Bar of California Board of Legal Specialization,  AV-Rated by martindale.com, and A+ rated by the Better Business Bureau.  

When you file a bankruptcy case, the court will want a list of every debt you think you might possibly owe to any person, anywhere in the world. So yes, you should include the unemployment over payment when you file. As to whether or not your bankruptcy case will eliminate that particular debt by discharging it, the answer usually is yes but that answer can sometimes change when a lien has been filed as you indicated has been done. When a lien has been filed, you have to look at the exemptions and compare those to the property before being able to guess. Something else that effect the answer is the timing of when the lien was filed compared to when the bankruptcy case was filed.