Debt Relief

Yes, filing of a bankruptcy petition immediately stops all calls and collection efforts by your creditors.

Yes, you can discharge back utility bills. However, if you seek to continue service, the Bankruptcy Code requires you place a deposit with the utility for the new service.

Yes, Chapter 13 can protect non-filing co-signers from actions by the creditor.

Yes, under certain circumstances student loan debt can be discharged. Discharge of guaranteed loans is difficult and a complex area of the law.

Yes, bankruptcy can assist you in lifting a suspension caused by nonpayment of fines or judgments or failing to have valid liability insurance.

No, while a property tax can’t be discharged a Chapter 13 or Chapter 11 can be used to bring those taxes current to prevent the loss of the property.

Generally, most taxes can’t be discharged in a bankruptcy, however, certain old stale taxes can be discharged. Penalties and interest can be reduced in Chapter 13 cases.

No, Federal law exempts from discharge valid back child support and domestic support obligations. Chapter 13 can be used to restructure past due obligations along with your other creditors.

Most “bill consolidation” programs are a band-aid at best. They often can’t get all your creditors to agree and have no power to force them to participate. A consolidation under Chapter 13 of the Bankruptcy Code can force all your creditors to accept a restructuring plan which we would propose, and the court would approve.

If you fall behind in your Chapter 13 plan payments, you should contact your attorney to discuss your circumstances. We can potentially ask the court to modify the plan to adjust the plan to your change in circumstance. Also, most judges are willing to give you some time to catch the payments back up. Their goal is to assist you in completing your payments under the plan. The court, however, cannot let you case go beyond 5 years, as that is the maximum allow by law. You should discuss your issues with you attorney as one possible course of action is to let your current case get dismissed and file a new case. In this situation we will need to show the court that there is a change in circumstances which warrants the new case moving forward.