Under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, a debt collector may call third parties to verify addresses of a debtor. The debt collector may not discuss your or their collection attempts with the third party. Debt collectors typically try to call relatives, employers, or neighbors in an attempt to collect their debt. Many debt collectors [...]
December 2007
No-one ever wants to file for bankruptcy, but the residents of Florida face an uncertain future. Business bankruptcies are going up. Consumer bankruptcies are going up, despite the New Bankruptcy Law. I hate to say it, but I believe that 2008 will make 2007 look like a economic dream year. My reasons are simple: The [...]
Massachusetts homestead law protects $500,000 of equity in a home for the benefit of the debtor and family. The 2005 bankruptcy amendments restrict a homestead to $125,000 if acquired within 1,215 days before the bankruptcy filing. In In re Walsh, U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Robert Somma ruled that a homestead, declared by married debtor who filed [...]
Chapter 13 plan payments are calculated with an even payment plan over a number of years, but some debts are paid off before others. The plan payment is calculated to pay an even amount every month until completed, but that doesn’t mean that each debt gets a payment every month that the plan is pending. [...]
Time to make those New Year’s resolutions. One of the best things about the New Year is to reflect on the past year and decide what, if anything, you want to do differently. We all want to eat better and do more exercise, but economic health maybe just as important. The vast majority of us [...]
U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Robert Somma ruled in In re Machado that a Massachusetts Chapter 13 plan may provide for separate payments to a student lender, depending on the particular facts of the case. This opinion approved a below-median income debtor’s 60 month plan where the regular unsecured creditors at $26,000 shared $276 per month, a [...]
