Archives for December 2014

I want to take a moment and thank all of the people that helped make 2014 such an exceptional year. I have had the privilege and the blessing to work with some truly dedicated people this year. People who really chose to put the client first in every regard. We were able to recover hundreds of vehicles that were either repossessed, booted by the city of Chicago or impounded. We were able to give our clients an opportunity to reorganize and repay the debt either related to those vehicles or otherwise associated with the vehicle such as parking tickets. The overwhelming majority of those clients still possess those vehicles that we worked so hard to recover. We also worked hard to save + Read More

When it comes down to consumer bankruptcy, the official forms do a pretty good job of setting forth the facts of the case, the assets involved in the case, the liabilities in the case, and the debtor's statement of financial affairs. However, there is a very important document that is missing from the official forms, in my opinion, in a chapter 13 bankruptcy filing. That form is known as a payroll control order or payroll control authorization. Here's how this could work: The Payroll Control Solutions In any chapter 13 bankruptcy filing where the debtor is going to be on payroll control, the official forms should have a check box which indicates whether a payroll control or payroll + Read More

This may be the season for giving. However, the city of Chicago is looking to do some taking. What I'm talking about is an expanded effort to attack those who have outstanding parking tickets. If you have three or more outstanding parking tickets, you are subject to the boot. If you are unable to pay the amount necessary to remove the boot, your vehicle will be towed and impounded and you will continue to incur storage fees. There is nothing worse than going out to your vehicle and noticing that you have a boot on it.  So what do you do if you can't pay it? Well, this has become such an epidemic in the city of Chicago that there are now advertisements specifically targeting those that + Read More

If you are thinking on spending extravagantly on Christmas, just remember that you may lead yourself toward the verge of filing bankruptcy. One of the main causes of bankruptcy filings is overspending via credit cards. There is no greater use of credit cards than during the month of December. Many people don't realize that high-volume spending in December may come back to bite them in February, March and April. Before you spend this Christmas, please keep a few things in mind: Don't spend more than you have. If you are putting all your Christmas gifts on credit cards, you're going to have to pay that debt at some point. If you don't pay quickly or within the grace period, the interest on + Read More

For nearly 10 years or so, there was a document filed in every bankruptcy case known as an electronic filing declaration. This declaration was signed by the debtor and it basically said that the case was being filed electronically and that the signature on such document was the equivalent of a signature on all the documents. This assured the court that the debtor had met with the bankruptcy attorney and had signed the document. Without the original signature, the bankruptcy court could not be assured that the debtor ever saw the petition that was filed on his or her behalf. This system was working well. Skipping forward a few years, the bankruptcy clerk's office and the bankruptcy judges + Read More