The vast majority of Americans are carrying a large amount of debt. Even though they're trying their best to get out of it, they can't seem to shoulder the burden of becoming debt free. Of course, there are exceptions to the rule, but the average American is not debt...
Even loving parents who want the best for their children face hard financial times that make it very difficult or impossible for them to meet all their obligations. This not only throws the needs of the child into crisis, but may produce crisis in every area of a...
If you receive a foreclosure notice by mail, it means the bank is serious about repossessing your home. As scary as it may be, this doesn't mean you're going to lose your home in the immediate future. The bank must take multiple steps to repossess your property, which...
It doesn't take long to fall behind on payments to creditors. Maybe the balance on your credit card has been slowly going up for months because your living expenses exceed your income. Perhaps you experienced an unexpected illness or got into a car accident that left...
A colleague of mine reports that Rochester Bankruptcy Judge Paul R. Warren appears to be of the opinion that property can qualify for the homestead exemption even if it is used in part for non-residential purposes. The issue came up in a recent hearing before the...
A colleague of mine has passed on a letter one of his client's received from an alleged collection agency called "First Start Group". The letter includes the following: "WE ARE REQUIRED BYLAW TO GIVE YOU THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION ABOUT THIS DEBT. The legal time limit...
When he establishes a principle of law he intends to follow in future cases he prefers to spread the word informally. One such 'edict' (the judge's own word) was issued August 18, 2014, on the issue of the appropriate interest rate to be paid to creditors when the...
We know that bankruptcy code Sect 513(a)(8) does not allow a bankruptcy debtor to receive a discharge of student loans.I have previously written about the definition of private student loans in bankruptcy and about the Supreme Court case related to discharging student...
Tyler J. Halperyn was a chapter 7 bankruptcy debtor filed a petition in the Rochester Bankruptcy Court in 1994 (Bk #04-20226.) I (Peter Scribner) was assigned as his bankruptcy trustee. As trustee I had filed an adversary proceeding against the debtor, seeking to stop...
The median income of New Yorkers has been going up, and so will the median income for "Means Test" purposes in bankruptcy. The means test of chapter 7, and the disposable income test of chapter 13 compare the household income of the bankruptcy debtor from the previous...