Using the Bankruptcy Laws to Address Personal Tax Liabilities If you have fallen behind on your taxes, you may be under the impression that you cannot use the bankruptcy laws to help you get a handle on that debt. While it's generally true that most income tax arrearages cannot be discharged in a Chapter 7 liquidation proceeding, you may still be … [Read more...]
Filing Chapter 7 When You Don’t Want to Keep Your Home
September 12, 2019 by Leave a Comment
Using a Liquidation Proceeding to Terminate Your Mortgage Obligation Often, when you decide that a personal bankruptcy filing is your best option for getting your finances under control and getting a new start, you still want to keep your home. But what if that's not really in your best interests? What if the costs of keeping your home will be too … [Read more...]
Filing for Chapter 7 Protection When You Want to Keep Your Home
September 4, 2019 by Leave a Comment
Using a Personal Bankruptcy Proceeding to Keep Your House One of the most common factors leading to the decision to file for bankruptcy protection is the inability to stay current on mortgage obligations. If you're in over your head, a Chapter 7 bankruptcy proceeding can allow you to permanently discharge certain debts. That usually involves … [Read more...]
The Income Component of the Means Test in Chapter 7 Filings
August 31, 2019 by Leave a Comment
How the Bankruptcy Court Determines Your Eligibility Under the means test established by the 2005 revisions to the federal bankruptcy laws, the bankruptcy court will review potential Chapter 7 discharge petitions to determine whether the debtor has the means to repay creditors over a three-to-five-year period. Here's how the means test addresses … [Read more...]
Protecting Your Rights When Threatened with Repossession
August 27, 2019 by Leave a Comment
Strategies for Keeping Your Vehicle Are you struggling financially because of an injury, a divorce or the loss of your job? Are you in arrears on the payments for your car or truck? Have you received notice that your vehicle is about to be repossessed? You have rights! Here are some steps to take to protect your interests. The Requirement of a … [Read more...]
Bankruptcy or Divorce—Which is the Chicken and Which the Egg?
August 24, 2019 by Leave a Comment
Which Should You Do First—File for Bankruptcy or Finalize Your Divorce? Far too often, the underlying cause of divorce is financial difficulty. Even if financial problems are not the cause of divorce, they can arise when you no longer have two incomes to pay for your lifestyle. If you are considering filing for divorce, or if you know that your … [Read more...]
Your Rights When Dealing with a Bully Creditor
August 20, 2019 by Leave a Comment
Strategies for Working with Aggressive Creditors When you are having a difficult time making ends meet, the stress and anxiety you face can make your life a continual struggle. At times like these, there's nothing worse than an aggressive creditor or collection agency, someone calling you at all hours of the day or night, threatening you with … [Read more...]
Finding a Qualified Bankruptcy Lawyer
July 30, 2019 by Leave a Comment
What to Look for in a Texas Bankruptcy Attorney If you've decided to seek protection under the bankruptcy laws, one of the first things you'll discover—there's no shortage of bankruptcy lawyers willing to take your case. So how do you find the right person to guide you through bankruptcy and get a fresh financial start? Here's a checklist to help … [Read more...]
The Quick and Easy Chapter 13 Bankruptcy Filing
July 24, 2019 by Leave a Comment
The Simplest Way to Reorganize Your Debts in Bankruptcy When you've determined that a bankruptcy petition is the best way to deal with overwhelming debt and get a fresh start, and you want to keep your property (if possible), your best option is a Chapter 13 reorganization. While such a filing will customarily take more time and effort than a … [Read more...]
What Happens When You Reaffirm a Vehicle Loan While in Chapter 7
July 20, 2019 by Leave a Comment
The Impact of Promising to Make Your Car Payments In a Chapter 7 bankruptcy petition, you'll generally be allowed to permanently unload certain types of debt in exchange for transferring some of your property to the bankruptcy court, which will typically be sold to satisfy your creditors. In the alternative, if you don't want to lose property in a … [Read more...]
