Today the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals entered a very brief opinion that is great news for bankruptcy debtors, holding that junior liens — second mortgages, home equity loans, etc. — can be “stripped off” of a Debtor’s principal residence in a Chapter 13 case when they are wholly unsecured by any equity in the property. [...]
December 2010
The Jacksonville bankruptcy bar has lost an honorable advocate for creditor rights. Sadly, Raymond Magley, Esquire of Smith, Hulsey & Busey passed away on Friday, December 10th after fighting brain cancer since being diagnosed this past January. He was 50 years old. When things heat up in Jacksonville bankruptcy court, trustees here often turned to [...]
So you have no money. You”ve come to that realization. You’ve sat down and figured out your goals – you know where you want to go. So, what now? If you have nothing to lose, then you have nothing to lose by doing nothing. A valid option that can apply to some people is to [...]
Patrick S. Layng has been appointed the new U.S. Trustee for Region 11, which covers the Northern District of Illinois and the Eastern and Western Districts of Wisconsin. According to the press release from the Executive Office for U.S. Trustees, for the past six years, Layng has been a “Regional Criminal Coordinator for the U.S. [...]
Once a bankruptcy is filed, all creditors are supposed to stop trying to collect debts that are dealt with or discharged in your case. But what happens if a creditor contacts someone after bankruptcy? As soon as a case is filed, there is an automatic stay that protects you from your creditors, and they can’t [...]
The most important impact of filing Bankruptcy is the automatic stay. That provides a guard against any collection activity including garnishments, foreclosures, and harassing collection companies. The second dramatic thing that happens is, most often, a dip in one’s credit score. Even if your score was pretty low to begin with, once the credit reporting [...]
