By Scott Riddle Posted in Bankruptcy Basics,Chapter 13,Chapter 7As we all know, April 15 is a bad day for almost all of us. This is the day we are supposed to report to the beloved Internal Revenue Service (and usually our state revenue departments) and find out how much we owe them in taxes (and, yes, that includes people who get a refund… Continue Reading
By Scott Riddle Posted in Bankruptcy Basics,Chapter 13,Chapter 7“Hate” may be a strong word, and it almost always is, so let’s change it to “dislike” or “disagree with” Dave Ramsey. If you do not know who Dave Ramsey is, you might not be interested in this post, but you can read his biography here. In short, he is a “financial planning guru” (my… Continue Reading
By Scott Riddle Posted in Chapter 7,Creditor Law,Debt Collection & Foreclosure‘Tis the Season … of very attractive offers from credit cards for cash advances or balance transfers at 0% interest or a very low interest rate (“teaser rates”). I get them just about every day from credit cards I have and ones I don’t have. The most aggressive bank sends me about two offers a… Continue Reading
By Scott Riddle Posted in Bankruptcy Basics,Chapter 13,Chapter 7We have discussed the Means Test in detail in this post. “Passing” the Means Test is the key to qualifying for Chapter 7 Bankruptcy, which is a much better option than Chapter 13 for many people. It allows people to get in and out of Bankruptcy in a few months, with no 3-5 year payment… Continue Reading
By Scott Riddle Posted in Chapter 11,Chapter 13,Chapter 7As this post is written, many people have either recently filed their tax returns or are getting ready to file by the April 15 deadline. While most of us are not happy happy happy this time of year, for some people it is a reminder of their lingering tax debt from prior years. A common… Continue Reading
By Scott Riddle Posted in Bankruptcy Basics,Chapter 13,Chapter 7As we discussed in this post about the discharge of student (or educational) loans, most courts apply some version of the Brunner Test in determining whether a student loan should be discharged because of undue hardship. The Brunner Test is named after a 1987 case in the Second Circuit Court of Appeals, Brunner v. New… Continue Reading
By Scott Riddle Posted in Bankruptcy Basics,Chapter 7The great majority of people who have to file a Bankruptcy case receive a full discharge of all of their unsecured debt, such as credit cards and medical bills, and many also receive a discharge of their secured debts unless they choose to reaffirm the debts. However, there are categories of debts that are not… Continue Reading
