Services
Chapter 7
Eliminate Unsecured Debt, Keep Your Home and Car
In a Chapter 7 bankruptcy case, you will be able to eliminate most unsecured debt. This may include credit card bills, medical bills, signature loans, and amounts owed after a home or car is surrendered to creditors (if you decided to surrender these items). You may decide to give back a home or car and owe nothing on the remaining debt. But if you choose to keep your home or car, you will need to continue making payments and stay up to date on those payments.
Chapter 13
Stop Foreclosure and Repossessions
In a Chapter 13 bankruptcy case, you file a Chapter 13 plan showing how you will pay off some or all of your past-due and current debts over a period of three to five years. In certain circumstances you will only be required to pay a minimum of 10% of the debt that you owe. The most important thing about a Chapter 13 case is that it will allow you to keep valuable property—especially your home and your car—if you can afford to make the payments that the bankruptcy laws require you to make to your creditors. In most cases, these payments will be at least as much as your regular monthly payments on your mortgage or car loan, with some additional payment to catch up on the amount that you have fallen behind. However, in most Chapter 13 cases, the debtors’ Chapter 13 plan payments are dramatically less than the payments that were being demanded by their creditors prior to filing Chapter 13.
A Chapter 13 bankruptcy proceeding will usually be the most beneficial for individuals who own a home, have fallen behind in their mortgage payments, and are in danger of losing their home because of financial problems. In addition, it generally benefits those individuals who are behind on their debt payments and can afford to pay back most or all of their secured debts and at least a portion of their unsecured debts if they are given some additional time to do so. It can also benefit individuals who can afford to pay their creditors from their income over time, but who have valuable property that is not “exempt” and which would be sold by a Chapter 7 trustee. However, Chapter 13 debtors must have enough income to pay for recurring living expenses for necessities (i.e., rent, food, clothing, utilities, insurance, etc.) plus the Chapter 13 plan payments that are required to be made to their creditors by the bankruptcy laws.
Foreclosure Defense
Foreclosure is a process in which a creditor or lender enforces its rights in a mortgaged estate, whereby the property becomes owned by such creditor or lender. In the event that a homeowner cannot make its mortgage payments, the lender has the right to foreclose, meaning it will auction off your house and keep the proceeds in order to recover its investment. If the property cannot be sold for what you owe, a deficiency judgment could be pursued against you in order to obtain the remaining amount.
Strategies that we may employ to defend a foreclosure action brought against you include but are not limited to the following:
- Extend the time in which you can sell your house for what it is worth
- Present counterclaims or affirmative actions for predatory lending
- Eliminate excessive fees merged into default judgments
- Negotiate a deed in lieu of foreclosure
- Obtain a mortgage modification agreement or forbearance agreement
- Mediation
- Bankruptcy