One of the smartest ways to pay your priority debts—including recent income taxes or child/spousal support arrearage—is through Chapter 13. Priority Debts under No-Asset and Asset Chapter 7 Our last two blog posts described how Chapter 7 can sometimes be a sensible way of dealing with priority debts. (Those are ones you can’t “discharge”—legally write off–the most common being … Read More
Priority Debts in an Asset Case
If you have a Chapter 7 asset case, your bankruptcy trustee collects and sells your asset and pays your priority debt with the proceeds. Our last blog post was about what happens to priority debts in a no-asset Chapter 7 case. Most consumer “straight bankruptcy” Chapter 7 cases are no-asset ones. This means that the bankruptcy trustee does not … Read More
Priority Debts in a No-Asset Case
In a Chapter 7 no-asset bankruptcy case, the trustee collects nothing from you and pays nothing on your debts, including your priority ones. Most Chapter 7 Cases Are No-Asset Cases Chapter 7—“straight bankruptcy”—is the most common type of consumer bankruptcy case. They are generally the most straightforward, lasting about 4 months start to finish. Usually everything you own is … Read More
Priority Debts in Bankruptcy
In bankruptcy some debts are treated much, much better than others. Priority debts are treated much better in various important ways. Debts Are Different So the Law Recognizes Some Differences The law does not treat all debts the same. That’s because you have different kinds of creditors that you owe for very different reasons. The law tries to be … Read More
Challenged Co-Signed Debt
If you have a co-signed debt, your discharge of that debt may be challenged by either the cosigner or the underlying creditor. Last week we discussed obligations on co-signed debts, both to the joint creditor and to your co-signer. In that discussion we assumed that both those obligations could be discharged (written off) in bankruptcy. But what if the … Read More
Co-Signed Debt
If you have a co-signed debt, you’re concerned not just about the joint debt, but also about your separate liability to your con-signer. If you have a co-signed debt you tend to be more concerned about one of two sets of problems. You’re either mostly worried about the other co-signer, or about the creditor you’re both owe on the … Read More
More Resolving Mortgage Accounting Disputes
Chapter 13 gives you a good way to resolve accounting disputes about a lender’s additional fees and charges, and whether you’ve cured the default. Last week we described a Chapter 13 procedure to force mortgage lenders to resolve mortgage accounting disputes. This procedure focuses on changes to the monthly mortgage payment amount during the case. These are often just … Read More
Resolve Mortgage Accounting Disputes
It’s often hard to get straight answers from your lender about the right monthly payment amount. Here’s one way to resolve mortgage accounting disputes. Catching Up on Your Mortgage over Time A Chapter 13 case gives you the power to catch up on your home mortgage(s) over an extended period. This “adjustment of debts” type of bankruptcy can give … Read More
Bankruptcy Buys Time to Sell Your Home
Chapter 7, in the right situations, buys time to sell your home. It may buy only a couple of crucial months, or sometimes much longer. Our last several blog posts have been about using bankruptcy to either prevent various kinds of liens hitting your home or deal with those liens if they happen. For example, in the last few … Read More
Bankruptcy Protects You from Your Homeowners’ Association
Homeowners’ association debts are dangerous. Chapter 7 may help, but Chapter 13 protects you better by giving you lots of time to catch up. Filing bankruptcy gives you limited, but potentially very useful protection from your homeowners’ association liens and debts. A Chapter 13 “adjustment of debts” filing could especially help. Your Homeowners’ Association Is a Particularly Dangerous Creditor … Read More
Bankruptcy Prevents a Support Lien
Chapter 7 prevents a support lien by discharging other debts so you can afford the support payments. Chapter 13 does so by stopping liens directly. Child and Spousal Support Liens If you fall behind on child or spousal support payments, your ex-spouse can put a lien on your home. (Most likely a lien can be imposed on your other … Read More
Prevent Income Tax Liens with Chapter 13
Chapter 13 can prevent income tax liens on dischargeable taxes. But it’s riskier. It takes years, and you may pay some of that tax. Two weeks ago we showed how the filing of a bankruptcy case stops the recording of an income tax lien. A bankruptcy filing imposes the “automatic stay.” That law makes it illegal for the … Read More
Prevent Income Tax Liens with Chapter 7
Chapter 7 can effectively prevent income tax liens if it’s filed before a tax lien is recorded and the tax qualifies for bankruptcy discharge. Last week’s blog post was about filing bankruptcy to prevent the IRS/state from recording income tax liens on your home. The “automatic stay”—bankruptcy’s broad freeze of creditor collection actions—stops tax lien recordings immediately when you … Read More
Protect Your Home from Income Tax Liens
Bankruptcy can protect your home from income tax liens. In the right situations you pay nothing on the tax, instead of needing to pay it all. Income Tax Liens Are Dangerous Our last two blog posts were about judgment liens. First was about how filing bankruptcy can sometimes remove, or “avoid,” a judgment lien from your home. Second … Read More
Protect Your Home from Judgment Liens
Bankruptcy can protect your home from judgment liens. It can stop a lawsuit from becoming a judgment, and then a judgment lien. Judgment Liens Are Dangerous Our last blog post was about how filing bankruptcy can sometimes remove, or “avoid,” a judgment lien from your home. This is a great potential benefit of bankruptcy if a judgment lien has … Read More