Rhode Island Bankruptcy Court gives key support to certain mortgage modifications.

Judge Long of the Massachusetts Land Court recently reaffirmed his groundbreaking May decision (Ibanez) invalidating a foreclosure sale due to a lack of properly-recorded proof of assignment. The assignment issue boiled down to this. Due to the bundling of mortgages for sale and trading on Wall Street, mortgages have been transfered more and [...]

Automatic stay prevents utility companies from shutting off bankruptcy debtors’ utility services on the basis of outstanding debts owed prior to the bankruptcy filing.
If a debtor’s utilities have been shut-off prior to the bankruptcy, the debtor, upon the filing of her case, should provide evidence of the bankruptcy proceeding to the company and demand that [...]

If a creditor sues you and obtains a court judgment for an outstanding debt, it most states (including here in Massachusetts) they then have the right to obtain an “execution” on the judgment. This execution can be recorded at a registry of deeds to create judicial lien on real estate.
This lien gives [...]

Generally speaking, the statute of limitations for a creditor to bring a lawsuit to collect a typical unsecured debt (like a credit card) in Massachusetts is six years from the date of the original breach, or failure to pay. This six-year period, however, is subject to a number of limitations. For instance, a subsequent payment [...]

Nicholas F. Ortiz, a Boston bankruptcy lawyer specializing in debtor-side issues, and John S. McNicholas, a creditor-side attorney with Korde and Associates, spoke together recently at the Boston Bar Association about bankruptcy case law developments in the First Circuit.
Highlights included a discussion of the recent decision by the United States Court of Appeals for the [...]

A perfect scam….someone purporting to be a debt collector calls demanding payment.  He has your bank account information, social security number, information about your relatives.  He demands payment by wire transfer within the hour .  Only the debt is fake and the caller is a scammer.  Could this happen.  Unfortunately, yes.  It is a problem [...]

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit today affirmed in re Rudler, a case in which both the Bankruptcy Court and the Bankruptcy Appellate Panel for the First Circuit allowed a means test deduction for a car payment when then car was being surrendering in the course of the bankruptcy case. The [...]

Certain actions prior to a filing can cause problems in a bankruptcy case. These problems can range anywhere from having certain debts be declared non-dischargeable, having a general discharge denied, having payments or transfers reversed, among other things. Once you have made the decision to file bankruptcy, there are a number of things you [...]

Debts that are generally dischargeable in bankruptcy include credit card debts, unsecured personal loans, outstanding medical bills, overdue utility bills and other types of unsecured obligations owed by a debtor. With secured debts, liens are generally discharged in special circumstances, via special proceedings. However, a debtor’s personal liability on the secured debt is [...]