Tag: bankruptcy basics
Before Filing Bankruptcy: What to do, What to Avoid.
Before filing bankruptcy think about taking steps to make sure your case goes smoothly. If all goes well in a chapter 7 bankruptcy, unsecured debt, including typical credit card debt, goes away in just under 4 months. Can you keep your favorite credit card? Are one or two credit card […]
PERSONAL INJURY CLAIMS IN BANKRUPTCY
Personal injury claims in bankruptcy present a challenge. As with most challenges, knowing the landscape helps address the issue. Bankruptcy laws require that all assets be identified and listed in the various petitions, statements and schedules that are part of the filing. This is because, if you’re filing a chapter […]
Statement of Financial Affairs – Bankruptcy Forms
The Statement of Financial Affairs stands as one of many documents required in chapter 7 and chapter 13 bankruptcies. This document covers details from income to any business in which the filer has had an interest in the last six years. Gross income is listed for the present year to […]
Court Papers – Always Answer Complaints and Other Legal Documents
Court papers, sometimes served by a sheriff or process server, other times arriving by mail, should never be ignored. Failing to respond will result in a default judgment. Always answer a summons within the time limit. When you are served with a law suit, the papers will tell you the […]
Parking Tickets and Bankruptcy – Discharged?
Parking tickets – one of the nightmares of having a car in the city. People filing chapter 7 bankruptcies find tickets can be like a bad movie, they just won’t go away. Here’s the problem: The U.S. Congress enacted the bankruptcy code, so we can’t be surprised that the law […]
Suggestion of Bankruptcy
A Suggestion of Bankruptcy is a document filed in court giving notice that one of the parties in a pending case has filed bankruptcy. If the party is a defendant the filing stops the case by virtue of the automatic stay of bankruptcy. However the document can also be filed […]
Bankruptcy Exemptions: Why You Need Them
Like an iron gate protecting an entrance, bankruptcy exemptions protect a debtor’s property against loss in bankruptcy. Theory of Bankruptcy Exemptions In the old days when a person filed bankruptcy, the story goes, their property was taken and sold or ‘liquidated’, the proceeds then divided among creditors. Any remaining debt […]
BANKRUPTCY PETITION PREPARERS
Bankruptcy petition preparers offer an option sort of like a guy in a trench coat selling wrist watches. Bankruptcy petition preparers are not attorneys but offer ‘document preparation services’. With a word processor and a computer, pretty much anyone can create a pile of paper. But a troublesome issue looms […]
Debt Collectors and Bankruptcy Violations
Debt collectors must stop after a bankruptcy filing or they commit one of several bankruptcy violations. It doesn’t matter whether it’s a chapter 7, chapter 13 or other chapter. The filing of a bankruptcy creates what is called an automatic stay. Collection stops because the U.S. Bankruptcy Code imposes the automatic stay with […]
Charge Off: What is it? Do I Still Have to Pay Charged Off Debt?
A “Charge off” is an accounting device used by creditors. Generally, if a debt has not been paid for 180 days or more, the original creditor will write off your debt, removing it from their books. It does not mean that the debt no longer exists or that you no […]
