Missouri  |  Bankruptcy

The short answer is "yes". Let me elaborate just a bit.

There are several types of bankruptcy. A chapter 7 "liquidation" bankruptcy is the most common, and in this type of proceeding, the trustee "liquidates" all your non-exempt assets and divides the proceeds among your creditors. Your income and expenses must fall within guidelines of Form B22A (commonly known as the Means Test) in order to qualify for a Chapter 7 bankruptcy. If your income is below the median, you are automatically qualified, but if it's too much above, even deducting out the allowed expenses may not be sufficient for you to file a Chapter 7. Either businesses or individuals may file a Chapter 7.

A chapter 13 may only be filed by individuals (as opposed to businesses.) There is a limit on the amount of debt you can have to qualify to file a Chapter 13; the ceiling is around $330,000. In this type of bankruptcy, you make payments that are divided among your creditors. Several calculations are required to determine the appropriate amount of the payment. One of these is to figure out how much the creditors would have received in a hypothetical chapter 7 liquidation proceeding, and then match/exceed this amount over a 5 year course of payments. Remember, the chapter 7 only liquidates non-exempt assets; some assets are and some aren't. Don't make the mistake a withdrawing money from an exempt asset such as a retirement or $15k of home equity to pay unsecured creditors

If you have too much income for a Chapter 7, and too much debt for a Chapter 13, then you may want to consider a Chapter 11, which is available to individuals as well as businesses.

One final note: Some, but not all, assets you own with your wife may not be available to satisfy debts that are only yours. Whether both of you or only you should file would require much more extensive analysis and information.