by admin on August 21, 2010
If you are sued it is important to see an attorney immediately before your wages or bank accounts are garnished or your real property property is attached by a judgment lien. Standard creditor attorney practice includes sending out wage garnishments, bank account garnishments and attaching any real estate in your name after they sue and obtain a judgment. It can take weeks to recover wages or bank account funds if garnishments can be recovered at all by filing bankruptcy. The removal of a judgment lien normally requires the filing of a motion to have that lien removed and obtaining an appraisal.
Only certain debts such as student loans and IRS Income taxes can garnish wages or bank accounts without first suing the Debtor and obtaining a judgment. If a creditor files a non-wage garnishment upon a bank whatever money is on deposit in your account, up to the amount of the judgment will be attached and sent to that creditor. The garnishment will often cause you to overdraft the account. Non-wage garnishments are not supposed to levy against social security funds in the account but you will often have to go to court to have funds refunded.
Wage garnsihments are supposed to be limited to 25% and employers are supposed to not dismiss an employee for the first wage garnishment. However employers have taken more than 25% and found other reasons for dismissing an employee. Wage garnishments often make an employer nervous about the possibility of employee theft.
Once a real estate lien or garnishment attaches it becomes hard or impossible to get property back. While bankruptcy will stop a creditor from garnishing wages once the lien attaches to property is acts just like a mortgage or car lien. It is far better to see an attorney as soon as you are sued.
Attorney Nick C. Thompson Louisville Kentucky How to file for Chapter 7 Bankruptcy
by admin on July 29, 2010
I Can’t Afford a Chapter 13 Bankruptcy Attorney?
Attorney fees in a Chapter 13 Bankruptcy come out of the money that would have been paid to unsecured creditors! If you file Chapter 13 Bankruptcy on your own, you are normally working for free. Poorly filed petitions can cause Bankruptcy Debtors to lose money, property or spend added time in court. The court monitors and authorizes fees to insure you are never overcharged.
How do you file exemptions for property you own or how do you compute the means test. That and 100 other rules of how to file have to be memorized to prepare a petition. The Bankruptcy Code is a complicated federal statute that involves technical terms, accounting principles and rules of law that even non-bankruptcy attorneys have problems with. If average attorney can’t properly file petitions, why do people believe they know how to file their own. Sure some people have done it.
The job of a panel Trustees is to take your property away. He is paid a commission to take property away from you. The failure to properly file your petition is a common reason for losing property. Often a Trustee will just smile while he takes the property of a debtor who didn’t use an attorney and how to file. Pleading I didn’t know how to file won’t prevent losaing property.
When a Debtor prepares their own case, it often unravels. A paralegal is not supposed to offer assistance (offering advice is practicing law without a license). A paralegal can’t tell you whether or not you would lose property and only works under the supervision of an attorney. An experienced bankruptcy attorney will review the debtor’s financial file, obtaining documents to ensure security interests are properly filed and that property wasn’t improperly transferred.
The bankruptcy attorney cannot always accomplish goals some clients demand like a free home. But a bankruptcy attorney can advise you and warn you about potential problems like the possible loss of a home and outline to you how you should file a bankruptcy.
It is worth the time and money to have an experienced attorney help you plan and file. Some Debtors try to save money by not hiring a lawyer. But often they end up having it costing more work, time and property. You can’t afford not to file with an experienced bankruptcy attorney.
Nick C. Thompson Louiville Kentucky Bankruptcy attorney
