Tucson Bankruptcy Blog Tucson Bankruptcy Attorney

Bankruptcy, a legal process, provides individuals, couples, and businesses with a fresh financial start by temporarily or permanently preventing creditors from collecting on certain types of debts. It helps people who can no longer pay bills. When the legal procedure for bankruptcy is complete, it provides a discharge, a court order, that confirms to creditors that individuals, couples, or businesses, who are granted the discharge, do not have to repay certain types of debts. When the discharge is permanent for the full amount of debt owed a creditor, it disallows that creditor from trying to collect on that debt.

An Overview of Wage Garnishment in Arizona Wage garnishment is the most common type of garnishment. In Arizona, the wage garnishment process usually starts when a creditor files a writ of garnishment of earnings, therefore, initiating a civil lawsuit against a debtor, who has defaulted on payments. If the judge rules for the creditor, the […]

Planning Your Bankruptcy Strategy

If you have decided that bankruptcy is the right choice for you, there are a number of decisions that need to be made before you file. As your Arizona bankruptcy attorneys, we will discuss with you the strategies that will be of the most benefit to you and your family.

Filing for bankruptcy is complicated and stressful. You may be confused about what you are asked, or the state of your finances. This may lead you to be inaccurate or not thorough. And rumors and misconceptions about bankruptcy lead people to hide assets and not be upfront with their attorneys. All of this can lead to huge problems down the road. Below are the five biggest mistakes bankruptcy filers make when they file for Chapter 7 or Chapter 13 bankruptcy.

The answer to this is no…and yes. In Arizona, wedding rings are exempt up to $2,000. This means that for both you and your spouse, you can exempt a total of $2,000 of the value of your wedding rings. For most people, this is more than enough to keep their rings safe. But what if, during better economic times, you purchased more expensive jewelry? Technically, the Trustee can have you turn over your jewelry. Does this happen often? No. Could it? It could.

In this next post we will be discussing the issue surrounding dismissal or conversion of bankruptcy and the role and mechanism of the means test and presumption of abuse

Before the court confirms your chapter 13 plan, you will have to pass what is commonly referred to in bankruptcy law as the “feasibility” test. This isn’t really a test, but the court will look at whether or not the information we provide in the bankruptcy forms and schedules show enough income so that you can make the proposed payments. Whether it is the monthly payments you are proposing or a lump sum payment to be paid at the end of the plan, we should be able to show that the plan can be reasonably completed with the resources we report in the schedules.

In previous blogs, I have written introductory information about the basic process in chapter 13 bankruptcy. In this next series of articles, I will discuss some of the issues surrounding chapter 13. In order to file chapter 13, you must be an individual with regular income. There are limits to the amount of debt you can have and still be eligible to file chapter 13. As of April 1, 2013 the limits are now $1,149,525.00 for secured debt and $383,175.00 for unsecured debt. These numbers are adjusted every three years. If you are close to these numbers, be sure and contact our office to get the current applicable limitations.

In the last article I touched briefly on whether or not you could continue to make payments on property used as collateral without having to reaffirm the debt with the lender. To understand your options with regard to personal property used as collateral, I will be using the example of a car loan.

The overhaul of the U.S. Bankruptcy laws in 2005 significantly impacted the way secured debt is handled in a bankruptcy proceeding. Those changes were to the great benefit of debtors, our clients. Secured debt is a loan where you have pledged an asset (most commonly a car or a house) as collateral. In the event you do not repay the loan, the creditor has the right to take possession of the property, sell it, and recover what money it can from the sale.