There is a huge misconception out there that basically states that in order to file for bankruptcy relief you have to be penniless. This misconception stems from the fact that most people are not aware of Illinois personal property and real property exemption laws. The exemption laws are actually independent laws separate from the United States Bankruptcy Code. If you are being sued in Illinois and a creditor has a judgment against you, you have these property exemptions which protect you from losing everything to that creditor. If you exceed the limits of the exemptions, then the creditor can attach or seize your non-exempt property. Most people have no idea what property is protected and + Click Here For Read More

Third-Party Citations One of the ways that a creditor with a judgment against you can attempt to collect a debt is to attach or seize your bank account. This is done by filing a third-party citation to discover assets in the Circuit Court and having it served upon the bank. Once the bank receives notice of the citation, it must freeze up to two times the judgment amount that you have in your account. Bankruptcy can help alleviate this frozen account, but it doesn't happen overnight. The timing is critical in terms of whether or not the account can be restored and if the proceeds within the account can be returned to the debtor. Turnover Order When the bank citation is filed, there is what + Click Here For Read More

Over the past few weeks I have received several emails from bankruptcy prospects who have indicated to me that they didn’t feel that they could afford to file for bankruptcy relief. Most of the people that feel this way are mistaken. Now they may have checked on the Internet are called a few law firms and heard about some crazy high prices to file for bankruptcy. However, they have not found the right law firm as of yet. There are bankruptcy law firms that have a heart. There are bankruptcy law firms that will work a reasonable payment plan based upon your budget. In some cases, the payment plan can be as little as $50 every two weeks. So when you're talking about $25 a week to go towards + Click Here For Read More

Bankruptcy Lawyer Secret If you had good experience with a restaurant, hairdresser, pastor, CPA or other professional, you would be likely to talk about that person and refer friends and family to that person. In the case of a bankruptcy lawyer, most people keep that information to themselves out of a fear of being viewed as a failure. Unfortunately, this leads to many individuals finding their own bankruptcy attorney without the benefit of a word-of-mouth referral. This is dangerous to the person seeking an attorney and disadvantageous to the reputable attorney who should be attracting those potential clients. Refer Without Revealing That You Filed If you had a good experience with a + Click Here For Read More

New Court Approved Agreement Per Bankruptcy Judges The Chicago Bankruptcy Judges have amended the local forms again.  Beginning April 20, 2015, chapter 13 bankruptcy attorneys working on a flat fee arrangement are required to use the updated court approved retention agreement. This agreement spells out exactly what the attorney's duties are, what the debtor's duties are, as well as numerous explanations regarding what can happen in a chapter 13 bankruptcy case. The main difference in the new agreement is that it spells out the fact that the agreement is not a judgment, it talks about what happens upon conversion to chapter 7 and it lists in greater detail the actual amount including + Click Here For Read More

Assets Discovered Every once in a while if you file enough chapter 7 bankruptcy cases, you are going to come across a case where there is an asset available for administration. It may be a higher than expected tax refund in which the trustee can make a claim. It may be an inheritance which was completely unexpected at the time of filing. It could be a piece of property that was either undervalued or undisclosed by the debtor. Whatever the case may be, once the trustee is aware of an asset, you have to be prepared to negotiate realistically in terms of a buyout. Reasonableness Is Key Most of the trustees in Illinois are decent. There are only a handful of trustees that make things + Click Here For Read More

Federal Law It is true that the federal bankruptcy laws apply to every American in each state. However, there is a local flavor to filing bankruptcy depending upon which state you live in and in which County that you live in. For this reason, when considering bankruptcy, you want to find a bankruptcy law firm that is aware of the local tendencies. Let's look at the state of Illinois for example. Illinois is in the same federal district as the state of Wisconsin. However, each state utilizes a different set of exemptions which entitles debtors to keep property away from the trustee's administration ability and away from creditors. In certain cases, you may be able to protect more property in + Click Here For Read More

April 15 is not only tax day, but it's a great day to look at your financial situation to see if you need to make any adjustments. This is the time when you can analyze how you did financially in the past year. This is the time when you're required to have your income tax prepared, filed and paid. In some cases, you could ask for an extension. However, even with an extension, you are required to pay the tax that is due and owing as of April 15. This is also a great time to see whether or not your budget is falling in line with your desires. In other words, are you making ends meet or are you struggling or even falling behind? If you are falling behind on your bills and you are not able to + Click Here For Read More

It seems with ever increasing regularity, there is a chapter 13 emergency filing that my office has to complete. It used to be that a Sheriff sale was the main reason for an emergency filing. As long as the case was filed before the actual Sheriff sale took place, the homeowner had the right to reorganize the debt over a three to five-year repayment plan. Lately, I am seeing more and more emergency filings due to drivers’ license suspensions. These are typically caused by failure to pay parking tickets owed to the city of Chicago. Just yesterday, I had a client come in for an initial consultation which lasted approximately 30 minutes. After the consultation, she immediately retained the + Click Here For Read More

Imagine the surprise of getting up in the morning and finding that your car has been repossessed. Even worse, you may have been in the process of getting a chapter 13 bankruptcy case filed or you might have been thinking about filing a chapter 13 bankruptcy case to repay the debt on the car that you have fallen behind on. Before you think that you can't be helped, remember that chapter 13 will allow for the recovery of a repossessed vehicle provided that the vehicle has not yet been sold at an auction. Let me describe a situation that happened to one of my clients last night. The client hired me to handle a chapter 13 bankruptcy case to save their vehicle from repossession. The auto + Click Here For Read More