The United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Illinois includes several Metro East and Downstate counties.  There are two Courthouses in the District, one at 750 Missouri Avenue in East St. Louis, and one at 301 West Main Street in Benton.  New cases are accepted at either location, and then assigned to a [...]

I say bankruptcy is good for America.  I say it’s good for people to get out of unbearable debt and get a fresh start.  If we couldn’t keep the fruits of our labor, if everything we earned had to go to pay back debt, then sooner or later we’d stop working.  There would be no [...]

You do not have to talk to debt collectors. Unfortunately, this is something of a secret. Many consumers, when contacted by pushy, aggressive debt collectors, believe that they have no choice but to talk to them. This is at least partly because communicating with a debt collectors often involves a barrage of threats [...]

Believe it or not, more and more attorneys across the country are reporting that new and potential clients are asking them that very question! It might sound ridiculous if you’re familiar with the law but if you’re not, you’re at risk for being misled and misinformed (to put it kindly) by aggressive collectors with some [...]

Chapter 13 is a repayment plan for individuals with regular income sufficient to pay their current living expenses and make a payment on their old debts. The debtor gets to propose the plan; that plan may provide for payments that give creditors very little on their claims all the way to 100% of the [...]

The bankruptcy estate is entitled to a percentage of the refund the debtor expects to receive in the year in which the bankruptcy case is filed.  That percentage is equal to the number of days from January 1st until the filing date divided by 365.  Of course it is best for the debtor if there [...]

Many People are under the impression that you can’t wipe out IRS debt in bankruptcy. The good news is YES, you can wipe out not only IRS debt, but state tax debt, as well. BUT the tax debt must meet certain criteria. Mostly, for this article, we are talking about income taxes, [...]