Bankruptcy can reinstate your suspended driver’s license. Depends. Can likely if it was suspended for an unpaid debt from an accident. We’re continuing a series of blog posts about the powerful but less obvious benefits of bankruptcy. Bankruptcy gives you immediate and long-term relief from your debts. But it can do other very important things you may not know … Read More
Unexpected Benefit: Remove a Judgment Lien from the Title to Your Home
Usually you can’t change a secured debt into an unsecured one, even in bankruptcy. But you often CAN remove a judgment lien from your home. We’re on a series of blog posts about the powerful but less obvious benefits of bankruptcy. Bankruptcy can do much more than just give you immediate and long-term relief from your debts. Today we … Read More
Unexpected Benefit: Resolve Your Preference Problem through Chapter 13
You can avoid the risks involved with dealing with the Chapter 7 trustee if you resolve your preference problem through Chapter 13. Our last several blog posts have been about the problem of preference payments: 3 weeks ago we introduced the problem resulting from paying a favored creditor before you file bankruptcy 2 weeks ago we discussed avoiding the … Read More
Unexpected Benefit: Negotiate Out of a Preference Mess
Your lawyer can likely negotiate with your Chapter 7 trustee to prevent the forced repayment of your prior payment to a relative or friend. Our blog post two weeks ago introduced an uncomfortable problem: preference payments to a friendly creditor. (Please read that blog post before reading this one.) Then last week we discussed two possible solutions to this … Read More
Unexpected Benefit: Ways to Resolve a Preference Mess
A possible preference mess is the forced repayment of your pre-bankruptcy payment to a relative or friend. Here are two solutions. Last week’s blog post introduced an uncomfortable problem: preference payments to a friendly creditor. (If you haven’t already please read that one before reading further here.) The Solutions We ended that blog post by listing and giving short … Read More
Unexpected Benefit: Prevent the Forced Repayment by a Favored Creditor
Prevent the forced repayment of a pre-bankruptcy payment to a relative or friend. If other solutions don’t work, Chapter 13 usually will. Our last two blog posts have been about one of the more confusing parts of bankruptcy: the law of preferences. This law says that if a creditor takes or receives money from you within the 90 days … Read More
Unexpected Benefit: Use Money from a “Preference” to Pay a Special Debt
Preference law allows you to use money that you paid a creditor before bankruptcy to pay another creditor, one that you want to be paid. Last week we introduced the law of preferences. This law says that if a creditor takes or receives money from you within the 90 days before you file your bankruptcy case, the creditor may need … Read More
Unexpected Benefit: Force a Creditor to Return Your Money
Filing bankruptcy stops garnishments and collections, but it also may be able to make a creditor return your money recently taken from you. Bankruptcy’s “automatic stay” is one of the most immediate and powerful benefits of filing bankruptcy. It immediately stops almost all creditor collection actions against you, your income, and your assets. See Section 362 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code. … Read More
12 Unexpected Benefits of Bankruptcy
Bankruptcy gives you immediate and long-term relief from your creditors. But there are many other unexpected benefits of bankruptcy. The next 12 blog posts will be about some of the most powerful and surprising benefits of bankruptcy. You’re likely considering bankruptcy because you need financial relief. You need immediate relief from debt collection pressures. You need long-term relief from having to pay … Read More
Beyond Paying Your Chapter 13 Plan
To finish your case successfully, sometimes beyond paying your Chapter 13 plan you may need to pay a debt directly and do some other things. The bankruptcy court’s approval of your payment plan (at the Confirmation Hearing) happens about 2-to-4 months after filing your case. At that point your Chapter 13 case is fully on its way. You likely … Read More
Finishing a Chapter 13 Case Successfully
Although a Chapter 13 case lasts so much longer than a Chapter 7 one, it often has huge advantages. But you have to complete it successfully. Once your Chapter 13 payment plan gets approved at the “confirmation hearing,” your case is on its way. Now you have to comply with that plan to get the advantages that Chapter … Read More
Finishing a Chapter 7 Case Successfully
Most likely your Chapter 7 case will be completed successfully. But be aware of these essential steps to make sure it does happen. You’ve filed a Chapter 7 “straight bankruptcy” case, which stopped all creditor collections actions against you. About a month later you’ve gone through the Meeting of Creditors with the Chapter 7 trustee. Now within two more … Read More
The Chapter 13 Confirmation Hearing
At the Confirmation Hearing (which you almost never need to attend) the bankruptcy judge “confirms” (approves) your Chapter 13 payment plan. The Chapter 13 Plan As we said last week about the Meeting of Creditors, a Chapter 13 case is all about “the plan.” The plan is your financial road map during the 3 to 5 years that you … Read More
The Chapter 13 Meeting of Creditors
At the Chapter 13 Meeting of Creditors you, your lawyer, & the trustee discuss your payment plan and any creditor & trustee questions. The Chapter 13 Payment Plan The core of your Chapter 13 “adjustment of debts” case is the payment plan. The plan is a detailed outline of who you will pay, how much, and when. A Chapter … Read More
The Chapter 7 Trustee Opposing Your Discharge of Debts
In most Chapter 7 cases nobody opposes your discharge of debts. They get written off. But the trustee is one who might raise issues. Last week we discussed the role of the Chapter 7 trustee in reviewing your assets at the “meeting of creditors.” Today we get into the other main job of the trustee, to, “if advisable, oppose … Read More