Keep Your Vehicle In Spite of Paying Less Every Month
What if you really need to hang on to your car or truck, but can’t afford the monthly payments? Or if you’ve fallen behind and just can’t catch up? “Straight bankruptcy”—Chapter 7—won’t help you here. Most of the time, you have to either quickly catch up or you lose the vehicle. And very few vehicle […]
What Happens to Your “General Unsecured Debts” in Chapter 13?
In most Chapter 7 “straight bankruptcies,” most debts are legally written off, especially debts that are not secured by any collateral and don’t belong to any of the special “priority” categories of debt. But how about in a Chapter 13 payment plan? What determines whether these creditors get paid, and if so how much?
The Chapter 13 Trustee–A Trustee of Many Hats
Your Chapter 13 trustee plays a huge role in the success or failure of your Chapter 13 case. Except he or she actually has at least a half-dozen different roles. Some of which are contradictory. Let me explain. 1) The trustee serves as the gatekeeper of your case, forcing us to play by the rules […]
The Huge Advantages of Dealing with “Priority” Debts in Chapter 13
Chapter 13 is usually a much better tool than Chapter 7 for tackling priority debts. In my blog on Tuesday, April 17, I showed how Chapter 7 CAN be a good tool to pay off or pay down your priority debts—which are mostly back child/spousal support payments and taxes. BUT it takes an unusual situation […]
Ten Terrific Tools for Saving Your Home through Chapter 13–Part 2
Here are the other 5 powerful home-saving tools. Chapter 13 isn’t for everyone. But these tools, especially in combination, can often give you what you need to tackle and defeat your mortgage and other home-debt problems.
Alleviating the Burden of Business Tax Debts through Bankruptcy—Part 1
Just about every struggling business has tax problems. When expenses are very tight, it is very tempting for a small business with a few employees to withhold payroll taxes but then not pay them over to the IRS. Sole proprietors barely scraping by can’t scrape up the money to make their personal estimated income tax […]
Personal Bankruptcy in Florida – Steps to Chapter 7 and Chapter 13 Bankruptcies
Bankruptcy in the state of Florida can be filed by an individual without the aid of an attorney or document preparation agency. Yet, it is still recommended that anyone filing for personal bankruptcy should seek legal counsel. The federal bankruptcy code creates different categories of bankruptcy, known as chapters, which gives debtors different ways of […]
5 Common Mistakes Bankruptcy Clients Make
5 Common Mistakes Bankruptcy Clients Make Bankruptcy is governed by Title 11 of the United States Codes. Oftentimes, what makes sense in bankruptcy world does not make sense in everyday life. Here are the top 5 mistakes potential bankruptcy clients make. 1. Selling assets in an attempt to get out of debt What assets you […]
Bankruptcy May Not Cover Christmas Credit Card Binges
Does the following scenario sound familiar to you? The Smith family has had a difficult year financially. John Smith lost his lucrative career as a result of cutbacks to middle management at a previously thriving construction company and has been working two jobs in retail for several months. Jane Smith recently re-entered the workforce after […]
When Creditors Won’t Reaffirm
When Creditors Won’t Reaffirm By Jacqueline S. Edington, Paralegal Bob (not his real name) filed a chapter 7 bankruptcy. Bob stated that his intentions on a 2007 motorcycle were to reaffirm. In the usual frame of time Bob received his Order in No Asset, meaning Discharge was right around the corner. Bob realized that […]