A lot has changed in the consumer bankruptcy world during the last 20 years, but one thing is constant – the written notices issued by the clerk of court and by the Chapter 13 trustee’s office will cause panic and confusion in the minds of bankruptcy filers. Perhaps the most common confusion notice – at [...]
January 2010
Bankruptcy is like an obstacle course for debtors. You can’t become a debtor without first taking credit counseling from an approved not-for-profit agency. The credit counseling must be no more than 180 days prior to the bankruptcy case. Most courts want you to have taken the credit counseling at least a day before your case. [...]
Take a breath. Slow down. You know better. Don’t act from panic, act from common sense. You select an attorney the same way you make any other important decisions. Ask questions, lots and lots of questions. How many cases have you worked on? What were the outcomes? How long have you been working in the [...]
In parts 1, 2 and 3 we discussed how mortgage companies often engage in “double dipping”, how they often fail to send you monthly statements, and they ways in which they misapply monthly mortgage payments during your Chapter 13 case. Part 4 discusses how a mortgage company can force a homeowner to add escrow to [...]
Even if you “surrender” your property in a Chapter 7 bankruptcy, the city or municipality can make you comply with code regulations. When you file a Chapter 7 bankruptcy, you have three choices on how to handle secured debt, such as a mortgage or property taxes. *You can choose to redeem the property – which [...]
Student loans are becoming more and more troublesome. People essentially mortgage their lives when they take out student loans. Student loans are not dischargeable in bankruptcy. Let’s say that again. Unless you can prove substantial hardship under the very difficult Brunner test, you won’t be able to discharge your student loans in bankruptcy. Let’s go [...]
