Some people with minimal credit card debt file Chapter 13 bankruptcy primarily to strip a second mortgage. You may be able to accomplish the same result without filing bankruptcy now that banks are becoming somewhat more flexible to work out mortgage solutions on upside down property. I’ve heard of cases where a second mortgage company [...]
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Joint Debtors Can Stack Their Chapter 13 Debt Ceilings In Some Cases
Many people who wanted to file Chapter 13 found that they were ineligible because their debts exceeded the Chapter 13 debt limits of approximately $1 million of secured debt or approximately $360,000 of unsecured debt. The debt limits have affected more people in the past few years because inflated real estate values during the boom [...]
Can Debtors File Joint Bankruptcy Petition If One Spouse Is In Prison?
A woman called me to ask whether she and her husband could file bankruptcy while her husband was in prison. The woman is concerned about her husband’s inability to attend the trustee meeting. She said her husband could not initiate phone calls, and that the state will not transport him to a bankruptcy meeting or [...]
Does bankruptcy help with inherited debt?
“Do I need to file bankruptcy on inherited debt?” In my twenty years as a bankruptcy lawyer, I’ve been asked about bankruptcy and inherited debt maybe four or five times. Someone’s mother or father passed away, leaving nothing but credit card and medical bills. What to do? Does bankruptcy help? Most people know that you don’t need to file bankruptcy–because you can’t inherit debt in America. I never [...]
Chapter 13 Debtor Opposition To Late Filed Unsecured Claim
Chapter 13 bankruptcy cases have claim deadlines by which date the debtor’s creditors are supposed to file claims in order to be included in the roster of creditors entitled to distributions of money out of the Chapter 13 plan. I represent a debtor who prior to filing owed money to a law firm which represented [...]
Before bankruptcy: Can I go to jail if I ignore this summons?
Around 100,000 people a year get arrested because they owe unpaid bills and ignore a court paper. Does this happen in Virginia. Yes! I’m a Virginia bankruptcy lawyer. About one-third of my clients don’t come to see me until the sheriff brings court papers to their door. Then it’s panic time! Here are questions people ask. “What do these papers [...]
Bankruptcy can discharge some old income taxes.
People often ask me if there are any taxes that bankruptcy can help with. Here’s the rule. You can discharge income taxes if they were due more than three years ago, if you filed them close to on time, and if the tax has been assessed for more than 270 days. Bankruptcy can discharge taxes three years after [...]
Chapter 13 Bankruptcy Mortgage Mediation Seems To Be Working Well
Mortgage mediation in Chapter 13 bankruptcy is turning out to be more effective than mediation ordered in state court foreclosure cases. This, according to a report presented at a local attorneys’ meeting. Mortgage lenders express greater willingness to modify first mortgages of debtors in Chapter 13 bankruptcy compared to other debtors already facing foreclosure in [...]
After bankruptcy, back to good credit
Just now got a call from Lester (not his real name) who filed Chapter 7 bankruptcy with me in July 2008. It was discharged in November 2008. Lester got a car loan at 7% less than three years after his bankruptcy. He was telling me this weekend, he got approved for a car loan at [...]
Bankruptcy Debtors Often Try To Hide Their Own Claims And Potential Lawsuit Recoveries
Your potential lawsuits against some else, such as personal injury suits or class action suits, are assets in your bankruptcy case. Many people innocently overlook a potential claim that has not yet been filed as a lawsuit; other people intentionally try to “play games” with their claim in order to justify, to themselves at least, [...]
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