Articles Tagged with Mississippi Bankruptcy Lawyer

Cheap Lawyers are everywhere, but you may not be able to afford them.

You can see a lot of lawyers bragging about being the cheapest. Search on the web and you will see ads for “Cheap Bankruptcy Attorney,” “Low Fee Bankruptcy.”

We all know that quality and cheap don’t go together. If we buy cheap we know it will cost us more in the long run. You get what you pay for. This is no surprise. We expect it and make buying decisions knowing what will happen. When it comes to hiring a lawyer, hiring the cheapest is not the way to go. The risks are just too great.

credit score rangeCan you get credit after filing bankruptcy? Absolutely.  Will you have to wait for ten years to get a house or a car?  Absolutely not.

Credit card companies will pack your mailbox with offers of credit.  They want you back in the system using credit cards and carrying a large balance. It’s a temptation that few can resist. These cards and offers will be from lenders that will charge high interest rates.  The same goes for cars and trucks.  There are numerous companies that will be glad to give you credit.  For a while, the question will be about how much interest they will charge you for that credit, which will be high until you’ve regained your footing.

Now, you shouldn’t run out and start charging up credit bills again, but if you need a vehicle or furniture and appliances you will be able to get credit. National creditors see people who file bankruptcy as a good credit risk since all their debts were wiped out, they can’t file Chapter 7 again for eight years and they have money to spend.  Many Mississippi bankruptcy filers are able to reestablish their credit within one year of their bankruptcy discharge.

I have been a member of NACBA (National Association of Consumer Bankruptcy Attorneys) for quite some time and was able to attend the 20th annual convention this year which was held in beautiful San Antonio, TX. I would strongly suggest that you bookmark the NACBA site as a resource for consumer bankruptcy matters.  Congress, their staff, the media, and the Judicial Branch all recognize NACBA as the lead voice in America regarding consumer bankruptcy law. The Association & it’s member attorneys put their expertise to work by frequently testifying before judicial and legislative bodies against any anti-debtor legislation introduced by an aggressive consumer credit industry. NACBA continues to play a significant role in forming the outcome of policy-related discussion and debates regarding consumer bankruptcy practices.  It truly lives up to it’s goal

To ensure that the voices of consumer debtors and their attorneys are heard in the halls of Congress, the Judiciary and other arenas affecting consumer debtors; and to help consumer bankruptcy attorneys represent their clients more effectively.

Bottom line, attending NACBA conventions provide a wealth of education and keep attorneys up to date on the latest in bankruptcy law – which is a must if you are going to provide the best protection for your clients. Multiple vendors also attend the conference, educating us on the latest available debt counseling programs and a host of other items designed to help consumers before, during, and after bankruptcy.  I’ll be blogging about some of the gems pulled from this conference a little later, so stay tuned! In the meantime, here are some pictures from the convention this past weekend…and yes – I’m the one in the toe shoes speaking with a good friend of mine, Mississippi NACBA State Chair, attorney Pat Sheehan.

Frank Coxwell explains bankruptcy chapters & how to recover from bankruptcy.

To listen to the program, click here

Money_TalksI joined the Mississippi Public Broadcasting (MPB) show – Money Talks – on June 18, 2013 to discuss the topic of bankruptcy, what the different chapters have to offer consumers, and how to recover from filing bankruptcy.  We covered a lot of really good information and were able to take a lot of calls from listeners with great questions.  If you are contemplating bankruptcy or even just interested in what it has to offer, I highly recommend you click above and listen to our discussion.

QuestionNo. Although a bankruptcy case is a public record, it is not that easy to find. Bankruptcy information is not published in any Mississippi newspaper that I am aware of. Yes, one of your nosey neighbors could go to the bankruptcy court and ask but that is a lot of effort and most people will not go that far. The bankruptcy court does not contact your employer and neither will your lawyer.

Now there are several situations where you may need your job, friends, or family to be contacted.

  • If you owe money to your employer, your friends, or family members, then they may be one of your creditors and they will be notified of the bankruptcy.

MPB Radio BoothI had the pleasure of being a guest again on the Mississippi Public Broadcasting (MPB) show – Money Talks – on April 02, 2013.  It was “Foreclosure Prevention Week” so we spent the hour discussing the process of foreclosure in Mississippi and the options available to consumers to save their home. If you didn’t get a chance to hear the conversation, you can go to their main site and take a look at all episodes – they have a lot of great information on all sorts of financial topics and a lot of great guest speakers.

Be sure to catch their show Tuesday’s at 9:00am on MPB Think Radio. And be sure to save this link to their home page as a favorite.   Thank you Kevin, Chris, and Nancy!  Hope to see you again soon!

rental propertyThinking about walking away from your rental property? You are not alone. Over 11 million people are upside down on the house they live in. The same conditions affect your investment property. To make things worse, when tenants can’t pay their rent, you must still come up with the monthly note. Being a landlord is hard work when times are good. Tenants who can’t pay or empty rental homes will jeopardize your own home and financial security.  Filing bankruptcy allows you to give the property back to the mortgage company without having to pay for the property.

Of course you can. Just like you can set your own broken leg, deliver your own baby and rebuild the engine in your own car. You can do these things, but do you really want to? Do you have time? Do you have the proper tools, information and knowledge to get it done right?

Bankruptcy laws are complicated and full of traps. Mistakes and errors can cost you your property and your discharge.  Misrepresentation and dishonesty can land you in jail. Let me tell you about preparing and filing a bankruptcy case.

Attorney’s all use software to prepare and print the 50 plus pages that make up a bankruptcy filing just like your tax guy uses a tax program and just like your doctor uses a program to keep up with your visits and medical records. Bankruptcy lawyers put your information into a program that prints the forms and files the papers with the court. This seems simple enough. But once the papers are filed the U.S. Trustee, the case trustee and the court clerks all start going over your papers to see how they can kick you out, deny your discharge or disqualify you from the benefits of bankruptcy.  Do you know how to defend your position? Provide responses to any filed objections?

At least twice a month I receive calls from homeowners who are in the middle of the modification process with their mortgage company and they get notice of a foreclosure.  Over and over they had been told the modification was still being reviewed.  In some cases they were told they’d been approved.  But all of a sudden they find their home is being advertised in the newspaper and a sale date is set at the courthouse. Mortgage companies review loans for modification and try to foreclosure at the same time.  This is known as “dual tracking”.  They don’t stop the foreclosure process when a mortgage is considered for a modification.  If you are in the modification process with your mortgage company you can never assume that it will be approved or they won’t foreclose.  The foreclosure process in Mississippi is quick, so you can’t trust anything they tell you over the phone.  If you become aware your home is in foreclosure, contact our office immediately.  We can stop the foreclosure sale through filing a Chapter 13 bankruptcy and you can still follow-up with a modification, if needed.  You never want to be in a position of trying to get your home back after the foreclosure.  Better to be safe than sorry and stop the foreclosure before it happens.

Bankruptcy Courts use “replacement value” when determining the value of your assets. Replacement value is defined in the Bankruptcy Code as the price that a retail merchant would charge for property of the same kind, considering the age and condition of the property at the time its value is determined.

This is not the cost to replace the item with a new one or what you could sell the item for; it is the cost that a retailer would sell the used item for in the condition it’s in now.

In cases such as used clothing, furniture, computers, TV, etc. it would be the value of the items if you had a yard sale or placed them on eBay.

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