Chapter 13

Published on: October 26, 2016

Bankruptcy Myths

As a Jacksonville Bankruptcy Lawyer I have had many clients come to me to file bankruptcy with many misconceptions about bankruptcy. Because of these misconceptions, clients often put off filing bankruptcy until they have absolutely no other option. Yet most of these misunderstandings are false. Here are the most common misconceptions my clients have had about filing bankruptcy. In fact, after reading this filing bankruptcy might not seem as scary of a process.

1. Credit:

The most common misconception I have heard about filing a Jacksonville Bankruptcy is that filing bankruptcy ruins your credit and you will never be able to get credit again. This notion is absolutely false. However, it is true that a bankruptcy filing can appear on your credit report for up to 10 years. However, this does not necessarily mean the bankruptcy will hurt your credit rating. In reality, filing bankruptcy most likely will only help improve your credit score. The reason that filing bankruptcy will help improve your credit score is because your credit score is most likely already ruined by the time you file bankruptcy. Therefore, filing bankruptcy will likely not do any more damage to your credit report. Instead, filing bankruptcy helps to improve your credit report by taking away your credit card balances, stopping all of the negative credit reporting and finally giving you the opportunity to start improving your credit report.

If you file a Chapter 13 Bankruptcy you can even obtain new credit during your Chapter 13 Plan. You will just have to obtain permission from the court first. If you file a Chapter 7 Bankruptcy, then you might find that you receive many new credit card offers in the mail in no time after receiving your Bankruptcy Discharge. This is because you no longer have any debt and are seen as a good candidate for credit by credit card companies. But, keep in mind these credit card offers aren’t going to have the best interest rates. However, over time, as long as you pay your credit card on time each month, you will improve your credit score and will be able to get a credit card with a good interest rate in the future. Continue reading →

Published on: September 22, 2016

What is a Bankruptcy Cram Down?

By Kendal Schoepfer

One of the best benefits of declaring a Chapter 13 bankruptcy in Jacksonville, Florida is the ability to “Cram Down” certain assets such as a car loan, certain real estate debts, or even some personal property. A cram down allows debtors to lower the principal balance and interest rates on debts they owe on secured debts. A Jacksonville Bankruptcy Attorney can help you determine if any of your debts might be eligible for a cram down through bankruptcy.

So how does an asset qualify for a cram down? First, the debt must be a secured loan. A debt is a secured loan when a lender has a security interest in the asset or collateral. This interest grants the lender certain rights to the asset, such as the right of repossession of the item if the debtor defaults on his or her payments. The most common type of security interests are found in cars and houses.

A cram down can occur when a person declares a Chapter 13 Bankruptcy. Unlike a Chapter 7 Bankruptcy, this type of bankruptcy requires that the debtor pays back his or her debts through a repayment program, which lasts 3 to 5 years. It is important to note that a person’s homestead property does not qualify for this benefit. Continue reading →

Published on: August 8, 2016

What to Expect when Filing Bankruptcy?

By Kendal Schoepfer

Against common belief, filing bankruptcy can be a very easy process; especially if you are filing a Chapter 7 Bankruptcy. Knowing what to expect when filing bankruptcy as well as hiring an experienced bankruptcy attorney are the keys to making it as easy of a process as possible. The goal of this article is to inform you of what to expect when filing bankruptcy.

Regardless of whether you are planning to file a Chapter 7 Bankruptcy or a Chapter 13 Bankruptcy, the beginning of the process is very similar. If you choose to hire an attorney, which I strongly encourage you to do, the process begins with an initial consultation in which you and your attorney discuss your reasons for filing bankruptcy, your income and household size, as well as your assets. Depending on your goals, income and assets, you and your attorney will discuss the pros and cons of filing a Chapter 7 Bankruptcy verses a Chapter 13 Bankruptcy and together come up with a plan that is unique to your specific set of circumstances.

Once you have decided which type of bankruptcy you will be filing, the next step is to gather the documentation your attorney will need in order to prepare your bankruptcy petition. Your attorney will let you know what he or she will need, which differs depending on your specific set of circumstances. Once your attorney has all the documentation he or she will need for your petition, an appointment is set for you to meet with your attorney again in order to review your bankruptcy petition for completeness and accuracy. Once the petition has been reviewed and signed by you, your attorney will file it with the court and you are then automatically assigned a bankruptcy case number. Continue reading →

Published on: June 20, 2016

Term v. Whole Life Insurance in Bankruptcy

By Kendal Schoepfer

Many people who are considering filing for bankruptcy have life insurance policies and do not want to loose them by filing bankruptcy. However, your life insurance policy may not actually be considered a part of your bankruptcy estate or, if it is considered a part of your bankruptcy estate, there might be an exemption that will allow you to protect it. Whether your life insurance policy will be considered a part of your bankruptcy estate first depends on what type of life insurance policy you have. The second big consideration is who the beneficiary is on your life insurance policy. There are two main types of life insurance polices, Term Life Insurance and Whole Life Insurance, which we will discuss in turn.

Term Life Insurance:

Term Life insurance is life insurance that does not have any cash value while you are alive. Instead, upon your death it will provide proceeds to your designated beneficiary. In other words, it does not mature until your death. Thus, Term Life Insurance is not considered a part of your bankruptcy estate, because there is no “cash value” for your bankruptcy trustee to administer and provide to your creditors.

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Published on: June 13, 2016

Bankruptcy and Your Inheritance

By Kendal Schoepfer

Inheritance and bankruptcy are two topics that are not commonly thought of at the same time, nor is inheritance even thought of as a consideration when deciding to file bankruptcy. The issue being that if you file for bankruptcy and receive an inheritance within 6 months of filing, you could loose your entire inheritance to your bankruptcy estate. In other words, your bankruptcy trustee will take your inheritance from you and use it to pay off your debts. The majority of most people who file for bankruptcy have not taken into account the possibility of receiving an inheritance, and as a result, are naturally devastated when they learn they do not get to keep their inheritance as they expected. To put it simply, if you believe you may receive an inheritance within the next 6 months, you may need to wait to file for bankruptcy.

But what if you cannot wait to file bankruptcy due to an imminent foreclosure sale date or garnishment? Can anything be done to save your inheritance? An even less thought about concept is the planning your parents, or any other person who may leave you an inheritance, can do. By simply establishing the right kind of estate plan, your parents, or anyone else for that matter, can protect your inheritance from being taken by a bankruptcy trustee. By having any person who may leave you an inheritance include something known as a “spendthrift provision” in their will or other estate planning documents, your inheritance should be able to be protected if you find yourself in the difficult position of having to file for bankruptcy.

What is a “spendthrift provision” you may ask yourself? It is a provision found in a will or trust document that allows a personal representative or the trustee of a trust to first look to see if a beneficiary is in the middle of a bankruptcy or if they are about to file for bankruptcy before giving the beneficiary their inheritance. Simply put, the personal representative or trustee can first look both ways before crossing the street to make sure it is safe to give the inheritance to the designated beneficiary. If it is not safe, then the personal representative or trustee can take the appropriate steps to ensure the inheritance will not be lost.

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Published on: June 7, 2016

How can tithing affect my bankruptcy?

By Kendal Schoepfer

For many, being able to make charitable donations and continue to tithe to their religious organization is something that is extremely important to them. When their debts become more than they can manage many people begin to think about filing bankruptcy, and whether or not they will be able to continue making their donations is a major concern. Another concern is whether or not the donations they have already made will be affected if they file bankruptcy. Congress understood and recognized this. In 2006, Congress added the Religious Liberty and Charitable Donation Clarification Act to The United States Bankruptcy Code, but what does this Act actually mean?

Chapter 7

When filing a Chapter 7 bankruptcy, the Religious Liberty and Charitable Donation Clarification Act allows charitable donations or tithing as long as there is an established history of the donations or tithing, and the amount is not extremely unreasonable in relation to your monthly gross income. Additionally, charitable donations and tithing may even help you qualify for a Chapter 7. In order to qualify for a Chapter 7 bankruptcy, you must first pass the means test. The means test makes sure you do not have enough income for a Chapter 13 Payment Plan instead. However, the means test does allow you to deduct certain monthly expenses from your gross income. Regular charitable donations and tithing is one deduction that is permitted and could even help you qualify to file a Chapter 7 bankruptcy.

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Published on: February 26, 2016

Using Chapter 13 Bankruptcy to get your Repossessed Vehicle Back

By Kendal Schoepfer

If your vehicle has recently been repossessed, a Chapter 13 Bankruptcy might help you get your vehicle back! Chapter 13 Bankruptcy is a reorganization of your debts, which requires a monthly payment plan for up to 5 years. If you file bankruptcy soon enough after the repossession of your vehicle and the vehicle has not yet been resold or auctioned off, the automatic stay that goes into place as soon as a bankruptcy is filed will prevent the creditor who repossessed your vehicle from taking any further actions to collect the debt, which includes preventing them from being able to sell your vehicle.

If you are able to file a Chapter 13 before your vehicle is sold, your next step is to file a Chapter 13 Plan that shows that you are not only able to begin making your monthly car payments again, but that you will bring your car payments current through the Plan. If this is the case, your vehicle should be released back to you. You must also be able to show the bankruptcy court that the vehicle is a necessity and that you can afford your monthly payments by providing documentation of your income.

In a lot of instances once your vehicle’s lender receives notice of the bankruptcy as well as the Chapter 13 Plan (which shows that they will be adequately protected), the lender should willingly release your vehicle back to you. However, this is not always the case. If your lender refuses to return your vehicle to you, you will then need to ask the court for help. If you have proven that your vehicle is a necessity, that your Chapter 13 Plan gives the lender adequate protection, and that the vehicle is insured, the court should order your lender to return your vehicle to you.

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Published on: February 22, 2016

Your Credit Report during Bankruptcy

By Kendal Schoepfer

What your creditors are able to report to the credit bureaus is controlled by the Fair Credit Report Act, also referred to as the FCRA, and requires your creditors to only report information that is accurate and correct. Once you receive your bankruptcy discharge your creditors are only allowed to report your discharged debts as having a balance of zero, along with the fact that is was included in a bankruptcy. In order to ensure that your creditors are reporting the most accurate information after having received your bankruptcy discharge, it is best to wait 30 to 60 days after receiving your discharge and then pull your credit report from all three credit bureaus. Once you have your credit reports from each of the three credit bureaus you should review each of them in great detail; making sure that each of your debts included in your bankruptcy is being reported as having been included in the bankruptcy and with a zero balance. If one of your creditors is incorrectly reporting the status of one of your debts you should then dispute it through the FCRA. Keep in mind that a creditor should never report a discharged debt as having a balance, being active, late, charged off, or as being a new debt.

If you are planning on filing a Chapter 13 Bankruptcy, your debts will not appear as having been included in the bankruptcy and with a zero balance until you finish your Chapter 13 Plan and receive your discharge; approximately 5 years after you file. However, as soon as you file your bankruptcy, your creditors are supposed to stop reporting to the credit bureaus under the original credit agreement. If they choose to continue reporting, they should report according to your confirmed Chapter 13 Plan. This will allow your credit report to slowly begin to improve shortly after you file bankruptcy, instead of having to wait the entire 5 years before your credit begins to improve. If a creditor is reporting information that is not correct, you dispute it through the FCRA just like you would if a creditor was reporting incorrect information after you received your discharge.

How creditors should report debts during a Chapter 13 Bankruptcy Case was decided in a 2008 case. Before then, there were no rules telling creditors how they should report a debt that is being included in a Chapter 13.

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Published on: December 23, 2015

What happens to assets I acquire after my Chapter 13 Plan is Confirmed?

By Kendal Schoepfer

One of the major concerns that most people have when they begin to consider whether or not they should file a Chapter 13 Bankruptcy is what will happen to their property. Will it be taken from them or will they be able to keep it? But what most do not consider is the property that they may acquire after they have already filed their bankruptcy. It can easily be assumed that all property you own at the time you file your Chapter 13 Bankruptcy will be part of your bankruptcy estate. But what if you inherit property or are the victim in a car accident in which you have the right to file a lawsuit after filing?

First and foremost, there is a duty in a Chapter 13 to update your schedules when you acquire new assets until your Chapter 13 Plan is completed. This rule applies to property you acquire pre-confirmation as well as property acquired post-confirmation. Luckily, not every little piece of property you acquire post-confirmation requires you to update your schedules. It is suggested that only major ones require disclosure.

As a general rule, the following post-petition acquired types of property will always be considered to be a part of your bankruptcy estate and require disclosure to your Chapter 13 Trustee:

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Published on: November 18, 2015

Can I file a Personal Bankruptcy with a Multi-Member Limited Liability Company (LLC)?

By Kendal Schoepfer

Yes an owner of a LLC can file bankruptcy in Florida. There is nothing that prevents a member of a multi-member limited liability company (MMLLC) from filing a personal bankruptcy in Florida or anywhere else in the United States. Additionally, if a member files a personal bankruptcy, the assets of the MMLLC can be protected from being taken by your bankruptcy trustee to settle your personal debts. This is because assets of a Florida multi-member LLC are not considered part of your bankruptcy estate. Charging orders are the exclusive remedy against a multi-member LLC in Florida. Once a charging order is obtained any distribution you might be entitled to receive from the multi-member LLC could be taken by the party holding the charging order. Most creditors find a charging order unattractive because along with the right to obtain distributions comes the responsibility for income taxes on the income generated by the ownership interest in the Florida LLC.

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