In today’s uncertain economic times, many people often find themselves bogged down by a pile of debt and their situation is made worse then by loss of a job or reduction in income.  This debt can be in the form of credit card debt, medical bills, real estate debt ……. the list can go on and on.    If you find yourself not being able to handle this mountain of debt, contact our office to discuss filing Bankruptcy.  In an office conference, we can get information from you and explain the different types of bankruptcy.  Please contact us to set up this office conference so that we can give you valuable information.  In most cases, if there is debt not being paid, you will be inundated with letters and phone calls.  Bankruptcy will stop these letters and phone calls.

In addition, real estate values have plummeted and often people are faced with short sale on a house or foreclosure.  If you are not paying your mortgage or considering a short sale on your house, you need to know that you may be sued for the deficiency on the mortgage (that is the difference for what the house sells for and the balance of the mortgage) or issued a 1099 by the Internal Revenue Service.  Bankruptcy will protect you from the above liability making it impossible for you to be responsible for an deficiency.  For these same reasons, some people are considering a strategic default.  This is for people who live in a house where the market value is significantly less than the mortgage balance.  The only way to walk away from a house and not face a potential deficiency issue is to file Bankruptcy.  All of this applies to people who are dealing with second properties or vacation homes in the same situation.  Feel free to contact me for more information.

How the Bankruptcy Process Works

• Step One: During a  consultation, your attorney will get the information necessary to decide what course of action is most appropriate for your situation. You can ask questions, tell your story, learn about fees and learn how the law will apply to your specific case.
• Step Two: If bankruptcy turns out to be the appropriate course of action for your case you will receive a packet of forms and information to take home and fill out. Later, you will review it with an experienced legal assistant to make sure everything is filled in correctly.
• Step Three: Your lawyer will thoroughly review all the relevant documents with you and make sure everything is in order. After any necessary changes have been made, you will sign your bankruptcy papers.
• Step Four: Your bankruptcy petition is filed with the court.
• Step Five: Within 10 days, you will receive a response from the court setting a date for a meeting with your creditors and with a bankruptcy Trustee. At this meeting, the Trustee will ask questions about your income, assets, expenses and liabilities. Creditors may protest your bankruptcy at this meeting, but they rarely even show up.
• Step Six: For a Chapter 7 Bankruptcy, the Trustee may object within 30 days of the meeting, and your creditors may object within 60 days. If both of these deadlines pass without an objection, your debt will be officially discharged. For a Chapter 13 bankruptcy, the bankruptcy trustee must review the feasibility and accuracy of the proposed plan, and creditors can object to the plan if they find it unreasonable.

Chapter 7 Bankruptcy is a complete wipe-out of most all credit obligations that can be incurred by individuals. Once the petition is filed, creditors may no longer garnish your paycheck, contact you or otherwise attempt to collect money from you. Once the bankruptcy is discharged, the individual no longer owes that money and can begin fresh, however, the fact that the individual declared a Chapter 7 bankruptcy will remain on their credit report for about ten years, however opportunities to get new credit will come quickly after a discharge is entered.

Chapter 13 Bankruptcy is similar to a consolidation loan in several ways. Chapter 13 is appropriate when there is money leftover each month after living expenses are paid, but not enough to pay an amount that is satisfactory to each creditor. In a Chapter 13, the debtor makes one payment a month to the Trustee and the Trustee then distributes payment to the creditors of the debtor. Again, creditors may not contact the debtor to collect on the obligation once the petition is filed with the Court.

During the initial free consultation, you will be asked various questions.  Most of these questions are so that I can decide if can or should file a Chapter 7 Bankruptcy or Chapter 13 Bankruptcy.  Other questions are to let you know the type of questions a Trustee will ask you.  It is important for you to be thorough and candid when answering these questions.  Things such as gifts to family or friends within the last 12 months or debt you assumed in a Divorce are important things for me to know.

Please contact me for a free initial consultation.