Choosing the Right Medicine for Saving Your Home through Bankruptcy
Both Chapter 7 and Chapter 13 stop a foreclosure of your home. One or the other COULD be better for you and your home, but which one is it? Many considerations come into play in deciding whether a Chapter 7 or 13 is better medicine for you. I could list literally dozens of possible ones. […]
Stopping the Foreclosure of Your Home Temporarily and Permanently through Bankruptcy
Both Chapter 7 and Chapter 13 can help you save your home. Which one is better for YOU? You have almost for sure heard that the filing of a bankruptcy stops a foreclosure. You may have also heard that Chapter 13—the repayment version of bankruptcy—can be a good tool for saving your home in the […]
The Amazingly Powerful “Automatic Stay”
Don’t take for granted the extraordinariness of bankruptcy’s automatic stay. That’s the federal law that stops creditors from pursuing you, your money, and your other possessions the moment your bankruptcy case is filed. In my last two blogs, I told you about the relatively rare situations in which the automatic stay does not apply—situations in […]
Don’t Get Disqualified from the All-Important “Automatic Stay”
In VERY RARE circumstances, ALL of your creditors can pursue you even if you file bankruptcy. Here’s how to avoid those rare but dangerous circumstances. In my last blog I listed three special classes of debts for which you can still be pursued in spite of filing bankruptcy. They are exceptions to the automatic stay, […]
Creditor Collections NOT Stopped by a Bankruptcy Filing
You can’t count that filing a bankruptcy will instantaneously stop every act against you by every one of your creditors. Or can you? Isn’t one of the most important benefits of filing bankruptcy the fact that it puts a screeching halt to all collection efforts of your creditors against you and your property? Yes, and […]
Property Exemptions in Bankruptcy—A Grand Political Compromise
The amount of property you get to keep in a bankruptcy is the result of a 200-year-old Constitutional battle of states’ right versus federal power. The Bankruptcy Code provides for a uniform federal set of property exemptions, but if you live in one of 35 states you cannot use those exemptions. Instead you’re stuck with […]
Does Filing Bankruptcy Affect a Non-Citizen’s Immigration Status?
Usually not. But in some limited situations the indirect consequences can be huge. Considering what’s at stake, if you are either a legal or illegal immigrant considering filing bankruptcy, this is definitely an area where you need the advice of both a bankruptcy and immigration attorney. It’s my job to give my clients advice, but […]
Do Non-Citizen Debtors Get All the Benefits of Filing Bankruptcy?
In a blog last week I said that non-citizens—legal or not—can file bankruptcy. All they need is appropriate identification. But that begs two questions: 1) Would that non-citizen receive all the benefits from that bankruptcy that a citizen would receive? 2) And would filing the bankruptcy hurt a legal non-citizen’s efforts to become a citizen, […]
Can Non-Citizens File Bankruptcy?
The answer is simple: Yes. The Bankruptcy Code does not limit who may file based on citizenship status. It states that “only a person that resides or has a domicile, a place of business, or property in the United States . . . may be a debtor . . . .” The “person” is simply […]
The U. S. Trustee–The Behind-the-Scenes Bankruptcy Administrator and Hope-You-Never-Meet Enforcer
I know who my bankruptcy trustee is, but now who is the ”U. S. Trustee”? You’re about to file a Chapter 7 or Chapter 13 case. You know in a Chapter 7 that your bankruptcy trustee is the person who looks over your paperwork and talks with you for a few minutes, mostly to decide […]