The U.S. economy needs a stimulus. Many American households would be better served by filing bankruptcy to free-up some income to support their family, rather than waiting for Congress or the banks to help move us forward. It doesn’t sound right, does it? You file bankruptcy to help the economy? But right now, President Obama [...]
Wendell Sherk, Missouri Bankruptcy Attorney
As outlined in earlier segments of this series, bankruptcy law primarily comes from federal and state laws. But critical parts also are based on rules written by the court system itself. The laws that Congress enact are typically broad definitions of rights and responsibilities. Congress will often leave the specific procedures of how the broad [...]
When you file Chapter 7 bankruptcy, one option you have is to reaffirm your mortgage. Do you have to reaffirm in order to refinance later? Of course not, but your lender may try to tell you otherwise. Other articles here discuss the actual process of reaffirming a debt. And the pros and cons of doing [...]
Bankruptcy is about providing relief to folks who can’t really afford their debts anymore. But we often hear from folks who have heard that Chapter 13 can’t help because they won’t have any money left over to live on. Like many rumors, this one is usually not true. Bankruptcy is one of the most common [...]
Bankruptcy has some of the more powerful protections for consumers around — the automatic stay and the discharge. There’s an unfortunate secret about the law that no one wants to brag about — with the automatic stay, you can often violate it until someone tells you to stop. Debt collectors know all about the stay [...]
Chapter 13 bankruptcy repayment plans are meant to be flexible. One way to save money is to give up a car you are paying for in order to keep your payment low. But the timing of when you make that decision could be important. If you just filed a Chapter 13 bankruptcy then you can [...]
