Yesterday I received a telephone call from a person who was looking into filing bankruptcy. She made it very clear from the get-go that price was the main concern when it came to choosing someone to help her with the bankruptcy filing. I understand that. If you are needing to file bankruptcy money is obviously tight and you want to get the best deal possible. While I am all for bargain shopping in most areas, one area where I would not recommend going with the lowest price out there is with [...]
We sat there in my office, large stack of bills on one side of the table and a half dozen judgments on the other side. The credit card bills had not been paid in some time and the judgments were a few months old. After some preliminary discussion on the debts and bankruptcy process the person sitting across from me asked if I thought bankruptcy was a good option. They expressed how much they didn’t want to file for bankruptcy and hoped to deal with their debt problem another way. [...]
This may seem like a random topic to write on but lately it has come up a few times. As I have mentioned in many other articles, after you file for bankruptcy you are required to attend a Meeting of Creditors with your attorney and bankruptcy trustee. While this meeting is generally short and nothing to be overly concerned about your attendance is mandatory. For people who have physical limitations, illness, or are otherwise home bound this can cause a lot of worry. For instance I have had clients who [...]
One of the first questions I get when I meet with people is if they will qualify for a chapter 7 bankruptcy. If you have been researching bankruptcy you have likely learned that in order to file for chapter 7 bankruptcy you have to meet certain income requirements. Specifically, you cannot make more than the median income for a household of your size. For example, in Arizona if you have a household size of 4 your gross income (before taxes) can not be more than $61,267 a year or $5,106 [...]
Losing your home is one of the great fears for those going through bankruptcy. At least it used to be. Before the Great Recession hit home prices in Arizona were skyrocketing. Do you remember lining up on Saturday mornings in hopes of getting a ticket so that you could enter a lottery to win the privilege of buying your McMansion? I do. It was not a matter of ‘do you have equity’ in your home, but how much did the value of your house increase this week? During those times [...]
I recently attended a continuing education course that was presented by a group of Arizona bankruptcy attorneys that I am apart of. The presentation was given by three Phoenix bankruptcy trustees. In every bankruptcy case that is filed there a bankruptcy trustee assigned to review your documents and administer your case. The main point of the presentation was to give us attorneys pointers on how to help our client’s bankruptcy cases proceed more smoothly from the view point of the trustee. Bankruptcy trustees generally have a lot of cases. The information we were [...]
You made “the call”. I realize that by the time my clients actually call me to set up a bankruptcy consultation there has been a lot of internal (and external) debate. Now that you have taken the all important first step of setting up the bankruptcy consultation I thought I would share a few ideas of how you can make this meeting as productive as possible. #1 – Whatever You Tell Me is Confidential When you visit with me in my office about your debt problems those discussions are protected [...]
I usually try and come up with some clever title for my articles (rarely do I succeed), but with this article I just want to relay pure information. If you need to file bankruptcy, do it now, don’t wait. Delay will only cause you further grief. Yesterday I met with a handful of families that were looking into filing bankruptcy. In each of there cases it was apparent that they needed to file and in fact all of them had been talking about filing for bankruptcy for quite some time. But the [...]
One of the drawbacks to filing chapter 7 bankruptcy is that you may lose some of your stuff. Chapter 7 bankruptcy is a liquidating bankruptcy – meaning if you have assets that you own free and clear of any liens and that are not protected under one of Arizona’s exemption laws, then in chapter 7 you could lose them. For instance, in Arizona there is no exemption for ATVs. So, if you own a Yamaha Banshee (my favorite ATV), in bankruptcy the trustee could require that you turn the Banshee over, they [...]
When you file for bankruptcy here in Arizona your case will be assigned to a bankruptcy trustee. This person works under the Department of Justice and in a chapter 7 bankruptcy, their job is to review your bankruptcy documents, determine if there are any assets that can be sold, and then distribute the proceeds to your creditors. If your chapter 7 case is typical you will only see your bankruptcy trustee on one occasion – the Meeting of Creditors. However, despite not having much face time with your trustee, your bankruptcy trustee [...]
