If you receive an inheritance, what does the bankruptcy law say about it? More specifically, if you are given an inheritance after you file for bankruptcy what happens to it? The bankruptcy code has different ways of treating your inheritance depending on which chapter of bankruptcy you file under.
If you file for Chapter 7 bankruptcy, what happens to the inheritance depends on when the person who gave it to you passed away. If the death of the testator occurred within 180 days prior to your bankruptcy filing, the inheritance you received will form part of your bankruptcy estate and will have to be handed over to the bankruptcy trustee who will use it to pay your creditors. If the testator passed away more than 180 days before you filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy, then the inheritance is yours to keep.
Note that the 180 days is counted from the date of death of the person who gave you the inheritance, not the date you received the inheritance. For example, if your distant relative gave you $1 million in his will, and you received it only 1 year after he died, the money will become part of the assets in your bankruptcy if the death occurred within 180 days prior to your bankruptcy filing.
On the other hand, if you file for Chapter 13 bankruptcy, the 180 day limit does not apply. As long as your bankruptcy is still ongoing, the inheritance will form part of your bankruptcy estate and will be used to calculate how much you should repay your creditors. So in the example above, regardless of when you received the inheritance, as long as your debts in bankruptcy have not been discharged, your inheritance is taken into account to calculate your repayment amount.
If you wish to file for bankruptcy to overcome your debt problems, call us at (813) 200 4133 for a free consultation.
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Filed under Chapter 7 (Tampa) by on May 21st, 2012. Comment. 
Filing for bankruptcy is your right under the law. But it is nevertheless a step that should be taken only after careful consideration and consultation with a bankruptcy attorney. So while you consider bankruptcy, you should also look into these bankruptcy alternatives at the same time.
Your first commonsense thing to do is to discuss your debt problem with your creditors. Most creditors would rather help you meet your obligations to them rather than see you file for bankruptcy protection. Bankruptcy protection means an automatic stay in which they as creditors cannot make any collection efforts against you at all. In view of this, many creditors are more than willing to work out a plan to help you pay off the debt you owe them. This might be formulating a payment plan, extending your loan term, exempting you from repayment for a few months or reducing your interest rates. So the first alternative to bankruptcy is to discuss how to clear your debts with your creditors.
Another alternative to bankruptcy is to consolidate all your loans into one. Some financial institutions grant consolidation loans. This would save you from having to deal with multiple creditors and give you the convenience of dealing with only one. But you should only take up this alternative to bankruptcy if you can find a consolidation loan that helps you save money on your loans. So you should examine the terms and conditions of the consolidation loan before you decide to take it up. If the terms and conditions of this loan are worse than your other individual loans, then it is pointless to consolidate them.
A third alternative would be to raise money from personal or unofficial channels. For most people, this entails borrowing money from family or friends who would not charge you interest or be too demanding on you. So if you have some rich friends who owe you a favor or a wealthy relative you who cannot bear to see you struggle financially, then you should talk to them about your debt problems.
One thing you should not do is to take up a loan to pay off existing loans, unless the new loan has much more favorable terms or rates. You should cut your losses, not get into more debt with anyone.
If all these alternatives are not suitable for you, then the most viable option would be to exercise your right under the law to file a bankruptcy petition. In that case, you should hire a bankruptcy attorney who will advise you through the whole process.
Call us at (813) 200 4133 for a free consultation on how bankruptcy can give you a fresh start financially by ridding you of all your debt problems.
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Filed under Chapter 7 (Tampa) by on Mar 16th, 2012. Comment.
An all too common experience nowadays with the deteriorating state of the economy is foreclosure. Once you fall behind in your mortgage payments, you can just about predict that foreclosure would be around the corner if you do not do anything about it. Once foreclosure proceedings have begun, it is difficult to deal with so the best thing to do is avoid it. But the question is, how?
The first thing you should do is contact your bank and explain your financial quandary to them. Your banker will likely be able to help you work out a revised mortgage plan. There is also the option of mortgage forbearance where your mortgage payments are postponed up to 12 months. This gives you the breathing space to settle your debt problems in the meantime.
The other thing you could do is negotiate a loan modification with your banker. A loan modification is where the terms of the original mortgage is changed so that it is more affordable to you. If you are genuine and explain your current financial situation, most bankers would be willing to offer you a loan modification. In this way, you can prevent your home from being auctioned in a foreclosure.
If you have taken the above actions but you still find that it is not enough to improve your debt situation, or your banker is not willing to help you then you are left with one final option to avoid foreclosure. It is to file for bankruptcy.
If your banker has not initiated foreclosure proceedings yet, you can file for bankruptcy and the moment you do, your banker will be issued an automatic stay notification which means he cannot continue with any foreclosure action. Any banker that ignores the automatic stay and continues to pursue collection efforts on you can be sued in court. In addition, your home will be federally exempt from any debt restructuring, so your banker cannot force you to sell it in an effort to collect on their debts. Bankruptcy is your right under the law so you should exercise this option to save your home from foreclosure.
In tomorrow’s article, I will share on more specific ways bankruptcy can save your home from foreclosure.
If you want to find out more about how bankruptcy can help you avoid foreclosure, call us at (813) 200 4133 for a free consultation.
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Filed under Chapter 7 (Tampa) by on Jan 10th, 2012. Comment.
Are you drowning in debt like so many people are these days? Does it feel like you always have “too much month at the end of the money” every month? You can either soldier on and try to change your fortunes in this tough economy or take the easier route – file for bankruptcy.
How does bankruptcy put you on the road to financial recovery? There are 2 forms of bankruptcy for individuals (as opposed to companies, municipalities, governments etc) and they are called Chapter 7 and Chapter 13 bankruptcy (following the sections in the bankruptcy code that govern them). Each of these bankruptcies work in different ways and both bring benefits.
The most obvious benefit is that bankruptcy wipes you financial slate clean of all your debts. Under Chapter 7 bankruptcy (called liquidation bankruptcy), your non-exempt assets are liquidated and the proceeds are used to pay off your debts. After all non-exempt assets are sold off, the rest of the debts are forgiven so that you can have a fresh start financially.
Under Chapter 13 bankruptcy you are given a schedule to repay your debts over a maximum of 5 years. This gives you some breathing space to finish paying off your debts over time. So whether you file for Chapter 7 or Chapter 13 bankruptcy, your debt problems will soon be a thing of the past.
Another benefit of bankruptcy is Automatic Stay. Automatic stay is a court-ordered prohibition imposed on all your creditors disallowing them to communicate with you in any form while you are under bankruptcy protection. This means an end to all harassment, badgering and hounding from hardline creditors. Automatic stay comes into effect immediately upon the confirmation of your bankruptcy.
In addition, choosing bankruptcy saves you time as it cuts the recovery curve in dealing with your debts. We all know the vicious cycle of debt and repayment that never seems to end because your debts keep increasing even though you try to pay as much as you can each month. All the money you pay is like throwing it into the Black Hole of Calcutta, it never seems to fill it. But bankruptcy can put an end to this vicious cycle and allow you to save not just money but time as well.
Finally, when you file for bankruptcy, you get advice on how to manage your financial affairs through the bankruptcy from your bankruptcy attorney and bankruptcy trustee. Your bankruptcy attorney is your most valuable ally in your fight against debts and your bankruptcy trustee is your arbiter between you and your creditors.
So if you are considering filing for bankruptcy, call us at (813) 200 4133 for a free consultation. Our team of experienced bankruptcy attorneys are at your service.
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Filed under Chapter 7 (Tampa) by on Dec 26th, 2011. Comment.
I know what it’s like having to grapple with crushing debt, not knowing what to do next, whether to file for bankruptcy or try to borrow some more money, wondering when the next phone call from a creditor will come, not even opening your mail because you already know what the envelope contains. I know of hundreds of people facing the same dilemma as you. My heart sincerely feels for you and that’s why I have made it a lifetime mission to help those in financial difficulties.
One barrier to filing for bankruptcy is the notion that filing for bankruptcy is like raising the white flag of surrender. It means you have lost the battle to keep yourself financially afloat or you are giving up on your responsibility over your finances and surrendering it to the bankruptcy court. Nothing could be further from the truth. Filing for bankruptcy actually means you are taking the bold step to take charge of your debt problems and doing something to stop it. It is you saying, “Enough!” and taking steps to arrest the slide.
So if you are in any of these situations, it’s time to seriously consider filing for bankruptcy:
1. You have hired debt management companies to look into your finances and help you solve your debt problems but with little or no success. This might be for you as an individual or your business. Debt management companies will advise you on debt reducing and debt consolidation methods to ease your debt burden. But sometimes, the strategies do not work as well as you need them to.
2. Your creditors are hot on your heels and getting more persistent by the day. You are getting more notices in the mail, more phone calls, more text messages, more emails etc. And the trend is getting increasingly more disturbing to you and your family. You are not sure when any of your creditors may get mean and send debt collectors knocking on your door.
3. You are suffering mentally, emotionally and even physically. You cannot sleep well at nights, your peace is disrupted, you get headaches, and your health is impaired. You are constantly anxious and worried and your debt problems are constantly on your mind virtually 24-7.
If any of these scenarios describe you, you should think about filing for bankruptcy. This is your right under the law. Bankruptcy protects you from constant harassment of creditors and debt collectors. The moment you file for bankruptcy, your creditors cannot contact you anymore. Imagine the relief! For once, when the phone rings, you will have no fear of picking it up. When you hear a knock on the door you don’t have to hide anymore.
Depending on your situation, there are a few types of bankruptcies you can file for. They are all named according to the relevant section of the bankruptcy code that govern them. These are:
• Chapter 7 bankruptcy – for individuals to clear off unsecured debts by liquidating disposable assets.
• Chapter 9 bankruptcy – for municipal governments that are in debt
• Chapter 11 bankruptcy – for business owners to reorganize business debt but this may also be applicable to individuals of high income and net worth
• Chapter 12 bankruptcy – for family farmers and fishermen to reorganize debts
• Chapter 13 bankruptcy – for individuals to reorganize their debts through a payment plan
• Chapter 15 bankruptcy – for foreign debtors to pay off their US debts
If you wish to file for bankruptcy, we can help. Call us at (813) 200 4133 for a free consultation.
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Filed under Chapter 7 (Tampa) by on Dec 9th, 2011. Comment.
