You finally decide to file bankruptcy. I do not expect you to be a lawyer, or to even know the law. There are two things you should never ever do financially, especially in the lead up to bankruptcy. Each basically involves debt consolidation instead of bankruptcy. When should you do them? NEVER! The things you…
Life insurance enjoys special treatment in bankruptcy. To begin, there are two basic types: Term life, and Whole life Term Life Insurance This type of life insurance I what most people have. It is the kind that if your employer will often provide as a benefit. Typically it has a far lower premium than it’s…
Involuntary chapter 7 bankruptcy happens when a creditor files against you in bankruptcy court to force the sale of your non-exempt assets to satisfy a debt. Not just any creditor can file such a proceeding against you: You cannot have more than 12 unsecured creditors. The filing creditor must have a non-contingent, undisputed unsecured claim…
What happens if you borrow too much money from your 401k to file bankruptcy? A client recently created this problem. She desperately needed to file a chapter 7 as the result of a very large garnishment. With the garnishment, she was unable to come up with the money to file bankruptcy to stop the garnishment. …
Being a good lawyer means being able to tell you when not to file bankruptcy. That’s right; Lorain County bankruptcy attorney William Balena is telling you that not everyone in debt should hire him. Take a look at my testimonial page. That was Randy’s experience. He was in debt. Lawsuits had been filed against him…
You need to know how your insurance cash value or surrender value policy effects your bankruptcy case. The first thing you need to know is that life insurance fits in two categories: Term Insurance Whole Life Insurance Term life insurance is exactly that. You buy a contract of insurance for a specific term for a…
Clients who come into my office often ask, “Do I need to hire a bankruptcy lawyer in Elyria?” The answer to that question is up to you. Bankruptcy lawyers, especially the ones who know what they are doing, are expensive. Overall the total cost to file, even if you hire the most expensive bankruptcy lawyer,…
What if you lie in your bankruptcy petition? The bankruptcy process is designed to give honest debtors relief from their bills. Honesty is the bedrock of the process. Clients are often concerned that someone will come into their home to inventory their things. The bankruptcy trustee and the court certainly have the power to make…
Have you been wondering if you can keep your car in Ohio and file bankruptcy? In a chapter 13 case it is not an issue. When you file bankruptcy the real question is, “do you even want to keep it?” In a previous post I addressed the reasons you might not want to keep your…
Do you know you can keep your 401k and file bankruptcy? Yes, all of it. The first post I did for this site cautioned against using your it as an ATM. Recently the news reported that record numbers of middle income families had tapped retirement funds for emergencies. Think about having a 401k retirement nest…