So many people have fallen behind with outstanding parking tickets. It doesn't take very many parking tickets in the city of Chicago to find yourself on the boot list. You might even have dozens of tickets and know that you're on the boot list, however, you do not take affirmative action to help yourself. What eventually happens, is that you will find yourself booted, towed and impounded. The best way to recover a vehicle from that situation without having to pay the full amount owed to the city of Chicago for parking tickets is to file a chapter 13 bankruptcy case with an experienced bankruptcy attorney. This is how the scenario typically plays out: Driving While On The Boot List You're + Click Here For Read More

I have been practicing bankruptcy law since 1991. I have seen a drastic difference in the way that student loans are handled in bankruptcy cases. Prior to 1998, a student loan was potentially dischargeable if it had been in repayment status for more than seven years. This basically meant that an old student loan debt could potentially be discharged. Oftentimes, if a student loan debt was in repayment status for more than seven years, then the lender either received a portion of the loan back or the debtor was simply not in a position to repay at all. For these debtors, the ability to discharge a student loan that was more than seven years in repayment status was a great benefit. It really + Click Here For Read More

In general, you can file a chapter 7 bankruptcy case once every eight years. For example, if you filed on January 1, 2008, then you would not be eligible to file another chapter 7 bankruptcy case until January 2, 2016. If you filed the case in between those two dates, the chapter 7 trustee or the United States trustee would likely bring a motion to dismiss the case for ineligibility. However, there is another chapter that you can file which would provide significant relief. You could file a chapter 13 bankruptcy case and proposed to repay your creditors as little as 10% over a three to five-year period. Additionally, you can keep your chapter 13 active until such time that you are eligible + Click Here For Read More

The Automatic Stay When a person files a chapter 7 or chapter 13 bankruptcy case, there is the immediate creation of the automatic stay. The automatic stay is the protection provided to the debtor which prohibits creditors from taking specific collection actions or other efforts to collect on a debt. Sometimes the notice of the automatic stay will come directly from the debtor's attorney via fax, email or mail. For most creditors, the automatic stay will come via US mail sent by the clerk of the United States bankruptcy court. If there is an urgency such as a wage garnishment or bank citation or other court action, the debtor's attorney will typically send that notice directly to the party + Click Here For Read More

Parking Tickets On The Rise Maybe the city of Chicago is getting more aggressive in issuing parking tickets. Maybe the need for revenue is increasing the activity of agents on the streets. Maybe there are simply not enough parking spots and it is leading people to park where they shouldn't. Whatever the reason, the increase in parking tickets is leading to huge debt situations for the Chicago citizens. When people fall behind on parking ticket debt owed to the city of Chicago, they find themselves on the boot list. They also find that their drivers’ licenses can be suspended for failure to pay parking tickets. In both of these situations, there is a great solution to get a handle on the + Click Here For Read More

Save Your Home & Pay Your Mortgage.. Through Chapter 13 Bankruptcy It is understandable that you will have tremendous fear when you fall behind on your mortgage and you start to receive threatening letters. You may not even know that bankruptcy is an option to save your home and stop a foreclosure case. You probably think like most people that bankruptcy will mean giving up the house and getting a fresh start. That would be true under chapter 7 of the United States Bankruptcy Code. Many homeowners during the peak of the foreclosure crisis decided that they simply could not afford their homes and elected to file a chapter 7 fresh start and walk away from their homes. There were many + Click Here For Read More

The case was filed with the understanding that the debtor would go ahead and file the most recent four years of taxes within 1 to 2 weeks of the date of filing. The debtor did have those taxes prepared however he was not able to pay the tax preparers entire fee. For this reason, copies of those returns were not furnished to the debtor and thus not turned over to the debtor's attorney or to the chapter 13 trustee. If the chapter 13 trustee does not receive proof of the federal tax return filings within 46 days of the bankruptcy case filing, then the case is automatically dismissed. In this particular case, the chapter 13 trustee brought a motion to dismiss for failure to provide proof of + Click Here For Read More

I have been getting more and more inquiries regarding prior clients with regard to their mortgage companies.  It appears that the mortgage companies are not reporting their timely payments to the credit bureaus. For this reason, I decided to address it in this blog. The bottom line is that your mortgage company is not required to report your timely payments once you file for chapter 7 bankruptcy and not reaffirm the debt. What you have is a unique situation whereby you still own the property and are allowed to make voluntary payments towards the debt. However, you are no longer legally obligated to make those payments. The bankruptcy code provided for reaffirmation agreements on specific + Click Here For Read More

It is understandable that nerves will run high at a bankruptcy creditors meeting. After all, the debtor is likely filing his first and only bankruptcy case in his life. He understands that he must appear in front of a trustee and be examined under oath with regard to the petition and schedules that were filed on his behalf. He really is unsure as to what the trustee is going to ask. He does not know how long the meeting is going to last.  He does not know which of his creditors will attend and try to ask probing questions. He may start to wonder whether or not he was 100% accurate in the information that he provided to his attorney. He may have neglected a particular item and he is wondering + Click Here For Read More

The Repo List It seems like in these tough economic times, there are more and more people driving around town worried about the repo man. After all, you don't have to fall very far behind in your car payment to have the creditor calling you day and night about your payment. From there it's only a short period of time until the vehicle hits the repo list. Once you're on that repo list, your vehicle could be taken in the blink of an eye. I have had clients who couldn't get to work because the car was taken prior to them getting into the driveway in the morning. I have had other clients that could not get home from work because their car was taken during the work day in the employee parking + Click Here For Read More