Tag: bankruptcy

What Happens Next: Tips for a Stress Free Bankruptcy

in Bankruptcy

Your bankruptcy case is filed. Whew… 

But what happens next?

After you’ve gone and collected all the documents, answered my questions, answered more questions, after I’ve filled out your petition and submitted it to the court and paid your filing fee, what next?

If you really want to know the truth, the tough stuff is done now.  The heavy lifting is over and now it should just be smooth sailing, automatic even. In order to guarantee that smooth sailing though, we do need you to take some simple steps.

This is what we need from you, a member of your bankruptcy team.

1.  Read your mail

You’ll get mail from the court and our office.  We will send you copies so you can see what’s going on and what we have done on your behalf.  The overwhelming majority of things going on in your case will play out via paperwork generated by our office, so please, read your mail.  It will keep you up to date. Additionally, this mail will tell you when your Meeting of Creditors or 341 hearing will be scheduled.  

2.  Look over what you have signed

A bankruptcy is a paperwork nightmare.  Trust us, we go through approximately 100 sheets of paper per client.  Because we go through so much paper, you have certainly signed your name to several sheets of paper.  Go back and take a look at everything you’ve signed. Read the questions and your answer. Make sure it’s complete and true to the best of your knowledge.  If you find anything that’s wrong or happen upon an omission, point it out quickly. Innocent mistakes that you identify and correct rarely a problem in a case. Mistakes are common and harmless if fixed.

3.  Keep in touch

If something major happens in your life like a move, job change, sudden inheritance or you’re seriously ill, I need to know.  Each of these situations can have an impact on your case. 

4.  Ask questions

If you don’t understand something, let me know.  If I don’t know you’re not fully understanding something then I can’t do anything about it.  You aren’t expected to understand bankruptcy the first or even the second time through. I’ve been doing this every single day for over a decade and have filed thousands of cases and there are subtleties about the law that I often learn as we go through this.  If you’re lost, let me know so I can explain it to you. 

5.  Respond quickly

When I ask for documents or call for information, please, get it to me quickly. Bankruptcy cases happen fast.  You need to get information to the right people quickly and delays can be quite harmful.

6.  Don’t freak out.

Bankruptcy may seem like a lot, and it is but what happens next depends on you.  It’s a new and strange situation in your life.  However, you made a good choice in hiring an experienced bankruptcy attorney to guide you through the process.  My team has decades of experience. If something comes up that we haven’t seen chances are, we can easily figure the situation out.  Most bankruptcies are very routine. There is no reason to lay awake nights terrified of some horror you’ve dreamed up. If it worries you, ask me about it.

In the end, we can work together to get your finances back on track and relieve some of the stress you’re dealing with in life.  If you find yourself in need of a bankruptcy attorney to help you navigate the complicated world of federal bankruptcy law, contact us today for a free consultation to find out how bankruptcy can help you. 

Who files bankruptcy anyways?

in Bankruptcy

Almost every day I hear a client say the words, “You know, this is the last place I ever thought I’d be.” The client often tries to explain to me that they aren’t the kind of person who doesn’t pay their bills or skip out on a debt.  People have been conditioned to think that people who can’t pay their bills are somehow defective.  

After saying all this, you may ask, “Well, Amanda, who exactly is the kind of person who files bankruptcy?”  To answer that, I have looked at numerous studies about the types of people who file bankruptcy and I explain below what the average bankruptcy filer looks like. 

The typical person seeking protection

Married, white, educated, mid 40s to early 50s.  Both have steady employment. You may say to yourself, What?!? That sounds like me, or my neighbor, or my parents or half the people I work with and you would be right.  It could be anyone. Not very distinctive, is it? That’s the average person who files bankruptcy. Most of them find themselves seeking bankruptcy protection for some reason or another, a loss of income, an extended illness, a failed business opportunity. In today’s world, it doesn’t take long to find yourself in financial trouble. 

Trends

Over the last few years, the age of those seeking bankruptcy protection has risen dramatically.  A lot of that is due to seniors carrying large mortgage payments and consumer debts into retirement.  Only once the income they’ve depended on has gone away do they realize that they just can’t make it anymore.  Even here in Metro Atlanta, where my practice is based, I’m seeing more and more people come in who had a salary in excess of $100,000 at their last job.  For one reason or another, they are now unemployed, underemployed or investments they made aren’t producing the expected amount of income. People who could make things work with their former salary suddenly can’t find a way to make ends meet now and can’t easily lower expenses.  

The faces of bankruptcy clients

In the past month, my newest clients have included people such as:

  • A woman in her 60s with a Ph.D who had to take a leave of absence to care for an elderly parent. 
  • A young woman in her mid 20s struggling because she cosigned a loan with her sister. 
  • A couple in their early 60s struggling with debt but looking squarely into the face of uncertainty in retirement. 
  • A high income professional in her mid 30s who is facing a divorce. 
  • A small business owner in his 40s who has seen his sales drop because of unexpected competition in his field. 

 

The kind of person who files bankruptcy, you ask?  Well, as you can see, people from all backgrounds, places in life and income levels. One thing all these people had in common though? They were smart enough to see that bankruptcy offers a way out of a difficult situation and opens the door to financial freedom and a brighter future. 


If you’re a person who is staring at your finances and wondering how you’re going to make it, don’t wait and don’t stress it anymore.  You NEED to come speak with an attorney TODAY.  Our attorneys have decades of experience helping people from every walk of life get their finances back on track. 

Profiting from Shame

in Bankruptcy

People are so scared in our society to talk about their financial difficulties.  It is a taboo subject that people avoid even more than discussing religion or politics. We all want to be like those people who made a fortune, we envy them and try to emulate them. At the very least, everyone expects to be able to live a middle class lifestyle if they work hard and play by the rules.  Many who aren’t living that lifestyle are asking themselves, what’s wrong with me?

Unfortunately people who are meeting with a bankruptcy lawyer are often manifesting an intense amount of shame.  They somehow feel like their financial failure is a moral failure, representative of some kind of failing they’ve had in life.  Because so many people are unable to discuss this outside the safe confines of their lawyer’s office, everyone thinks they are in this alone and that they’re a failure.  People even think that they’ll have to explain to the bankruptcy judge why they’re in the mess they’re in and justify it to them. 

Profiting off people’s shame

This feeling of shame and unwillingness to talk about financial problems is a big reason why debt settlement and debt management businesses are raking in cash.  They tell you that, for a price, they’ll handle your finances for you, pulling you out of the hole and keeping you from having to file bankruptcy.   

Debt settlement rarely works and is usually just a ripoff.

They fail because creditors often don’t cease collections even after they’ve been contacted by one of these for profit companies.  The company you hired pays themselves first and THEN tries to settle your debts. Inevitably, the creditors who aren’t getting anything and won’t settle end up going to court and get a judgement against you and you’re back at square one, only poorer than you were.  This only benefits the debt settlement people and works because they convince you that bankruptcy is shameful. 

Bankruptcy isn’t shameful or rare

Over the past few years more than 1.3 million people a year have sought bankruptcy protection and the numbers were even higher than in the last decade.  A recent study said that between 15 and 20% of all families in the United States would be better off if they had filed bankruptcy. The majority of people who live in the United States and need to file bankruptcy usually have a good reason.  The top three reasons for filing bankruptcy are job list, divorce, and some kind of illness, none of which are shameful. It isn’t like you’re out blowing money on gambling, cocaine and prostitutes. The average bankruptcy client is married, middle aged, white, working and has some kind of education beyond high school.  Again, nothing shameful there. Having generous and consumer friendly bankruptcy laws ENCOURAGES competition and entrepreneurship. Any country that wants to thrive in our modern economy needs to protect people who take reasonable risks and fail to encourage more entrepreneurship. It allows people to take business risks without the risk of a life sentence for failure. Bankruptcy is vital to protecting people from failure and allowing them to get back on their feet.  If you feel the need to speak with a bankruptcy attorney about your situation, don’t let someone shame you into making a mistake that may cost you money and peace.  Contact the attorneys at Harmon and Gorove today to learn how we can help you get back on your feet. 

72 Month Loans: A Car Buying Nightmare

in Bankruptcy, Credit and Credit Cards

For many Americans, buying a new car is a reason to celebrate.  People often choose to buy a car when a major milestone occurred such as graduation from school, a marriage, the birth of a child getting that promotion or reaching the retirement milestone.  However, today’s new cars are more expensive than ever, causing more and more people to take out car loans that stretch past the traditional limit of 48-60 months.  72 month loans are pretty much standard practice with 84 and even 96 month loans becoming commonplace.  While this may seem like a good idea when you’re looking at your monthly payment, this practice is leading Americans down a road of debt that is difficult to come back from,

The Hidden Costs of Car Ownership

With the average cost of a new car climbing over $37,000 in 2019, the average American family is finding it harder and harder to get into any car at all, much less their dream vehicle.  This is where unscrupulous car dealers and banks come into the equation. Car dealers and now selling people cars and financing them for periods exceeding 60 months at an alarming rate.  An example cited in a recent Wall Street Journal article described the plight of a young man who recently purchased a car understanding that he needed the payment to be $400 a month or less.  Once the dealer got them into the finance office, they convinced him to add on high margin items like extended warranties and tire protection packs that added another $100 a month to his loan.  In order to get close to the payment he needed he ended up financing his $27,000 car in a 72 month loan which will ultimately cost him $9,000 in finance charges and not be paid off until 3 years after the bumper to bumper coverage expires and long after any secondary warranties expire as well.  This could potentially leave him paying thousands of dollars out of pocket to cover repair costs in addition to his $500 a month payment.

Fortunately, There’s help

If you are one of the unfortunate people who have found themselves underwater on a car that requires thousands of dollars in repairs, isn’t running at all or is now worthless because of unscrupulous car dealers tricking you into thinking you could afford a vehicle by spreading payments out over an extremely long term, you should consider speaking with one of the attorneys at Harmon and Gorove.  Our attorneys have decades of experience helping good people free themselves from the bondage of debt and unscrupulous creditors.  Contact our office today for a free consultation to learn about how bankruptcy can help you get your finances back in order and your life back on track. 

Testifying at a Meeting of Creditors

in Bankruptcy

Are you heading for your first meeting of creditors?

I know you’re nervous, apprehensive, and possibly even nauseous. Clients often imagine a worst case scenario where they are raked over the coals and tricked into admitting something, just like in Matlock.  Believe me, the trustee isn’t Matlock and they aren’t going to go off the rails in a, “you can’t handle the truth” monologue like in the movie, A Few Good Men. 

In all reality, the Meeting of Creditors will most likely be a snooze fest. 

In the link below, I show you a pretty comprehensive list of questions you’ll likely be asked, depending your your circumstances list of questions a trustee might ask.

Below, I list my own rules for answering those questions.

ALWAYS listen carefully to the question

You’ve read the list above and you’ve been prepped by me prior to the hearing.  Now, it’s showtime. You need to pay close attention to the trustee and make sure that you really hear the questions. 

Number one, it’s polite.  There’s no need to be rude, shifty or evasive.  The trustee is just doing their job. Number two, you need to make sure that you know what the trustee actually wants to know from you.

Remember, your testimony is being recorded and you’ve sworn to tell the truth to the best of your knowledge.  It is imperative that you are answering the question that the trustee actually asked.

Answer Honestly

Honesty is the price of receiving bankruptcy protection.  This isn’t the best time to be dishonest. You’ve recently seen several celebrities go to jail for lying about things under their bankruptcy.  Just because you aren’t a celebrity doesn’t mean they won’t do the same thing to you if they find out you’ve knowingly lied. You are testifying under oath.  

Be brief

Just answer the question the trustee asked, honestly, without getting verbal diarrhea. Don’t try to explain your situation, don’t attempt to justify why you did what you did and most certainly don’t ramble on aimlessly. Just answer the question and if the trustee wants more information about a particular topic, they can follow up with other questions. In all honesty, the trustee usually just tries to make sure that it seems like they have done their job. The trustee has a long list of cases he must get through every day.  Don’t make their day any longer by rambling on. 

Don’t guess

If you don’t know the answer just say you don’t know the answer.  Not knowing is ok, remember, you’re just here to tell the truth. If not knowing is the truth, you’re set.  In all likelihood, your attorney can help. Chances are there are documents that provide the information that the trustee is looking for. That is why you’re paying us, afterall. 

This is one time where faking it most definitely won’t make it. 

In the end, just be yourself and just be honest.  If you follow these four rules, your first meeting of creditors will be your last.  Then you’ll be on your way to being debt free and having that fresh start you so desperately need. 

If you need help dealing with your debts and getting the fresh start you so desperately need, contact the attorneys at Harmon and Gorove and let us help you get back on your feet and brighten your future.