Miami Bankruptcy Attorney Blog

When you file for bankruptcy you need to list all of your debts and all of your assets.  Your debts will include mortgages, car notes, credit cards, medical bills, etc.  A question that I routinely get is whether or not a debtor can include debt from a repossessed car in their bankruptcy petition.

The answer is YES – a debtor should include any debt he or she owes on a repossessed car in their bankruptcy.  Once a car has been repossessed the creditor will likely sell that car at auction and then come after the debtor for any difference they owe.  At times this could be a fairly large number and the car creditors tend to sue fairly fast in an attempt to collect their debts.

If you are thinking of filing for bankruptcy in Florida and would like to speak with a bankruptcy attorney regarding your bankruptcy options then please call Shmucher Law, PL at 305.741.5553 or 954.309.5559.  Shmucher Law, PL offers free consultations in any of our bankruptcy office locations including Boca Raton, Fort Lauderdale, Miami, Plantation, and Sunrise Florida.

One of the biggest fears, for anyone is thinking of filing for bankruptcy, is that they have go to court.  They are expecting someone to yell at them or give them a hard time for filing for bankruptcy, likely that is not the case.  Most of the time your court hearing will only take between three and five minutes and you will be asked a few simple questions.

Here is the best way to prepare for your meeting of the creditors.

1.  Provide all the documents the trustee asks for, to your attorney.

• Tax returns, bank statements, canceled, checks, vehicle information, etc.

2.  Review your documents

• Know what the large checks you wrote were for, what you withdrew money from the bank for, etc.

3.  Review your bankruptcy petition

• The trustee is going to ask you questions about your bankruptcy petition and its contents so BE familiar with them.   It is best to review your petition with your bankruptcy attorney a day or so before the meeting of the creditors.

4.  BE TRUTHFUL

• When asked a question at the 341 meeting, answer truthfully.  Don’t be vague and ask the question answered.

5.  I DON’T KNOW

• It is ok to answer I don’t know at a 341 meeting, however it is not recommended.  If you answer I don’t know then you should follow it with I will provide you that information within seven days.

If you are thinking of filing for bankruptcy in South Florida and would like to speak with a local bankruptcy attorney then please contact Ofer Shmucher at Shmucher Law, PL by calling 305.741.5553 or 954.309.5559.  Shmucher Law, PL offers free consultations in any of the following office locations: Boca Raton, Fort Lauderdale, Miami, Plantation and Sunrise Florida.

With the increase in the amount of people unemployed in America, and a number of those people receive unemployment checks,  I have been asked the following question:  Can I continue to receive unemployment checks if I file for bankruptcy.

YES, the filing of a bankruptcy in Florida will have no impact on your unemployment wages that you receive.

If you are thinking of filing for bankruptcy in South Florida and would like to schedule a free consultation then please contact Shmucher Law, PL at 305.741.5553 or 954.309.5559.  Shmucher Law, PL has office locations in Boca Raton, Fort Lauderdale, Miami, Plantation, and Sunrise Florida.

YES.  A common question I get is where a debtor needs to be a US citizen to file for bankruptcy in Florida.    A large number of residents in South Florida are non-citizens but rather on a visa, a green card, or in Florida by any other means.  Those residents get into financial problems just like any other person in Florida.  The good news is that there are no citizenship requirements for an individual to file for bankruptcy.  So it doesn’t matter if you are a citizen, a permanent resident, on a visa, or in Florida for any other reason, you will still be allowed to file for bankruptcy.

If you are thinking of filing for bankruptcy in South Florida and would like to speak with a local bankruptcy attorney then please contact Ofer Shmucher at Shmucher Law, PL at 305.741.5553 or 954.309.5559.  Shmucher Law, PL has office locations in Boca Raton, Fort Lauderdale, Miami, Plantation, and Sunrise Florida.

Have you ever had to go to the emergency room or urgent care for an extended period of time?  Most of the time when you get the bill it is extraordinarily high, hopefully you have insurance to cover your bills.  However with the growing number of people who are out of a job, comes a growing number of people who have no insurance.  One trip to the emergency room for an uninsured individual could put their life into financial ruin because of the amount of debt they will incur.

Over the last few weeks I have had numerous clients coming to see me because of that reason; they were unemployed and uninsured and they had a medical emergency requiring them to visit the ER of their local hospital.  While they were satisfied with their treatments they were horrified once they received their bills.  Clients  showed me bill where they owed $20,000, $15,000 and $50,000 respectively for the medical services rendered.  Once they come see me, their first question is can I wipe out or discharge all this medical debt if I file for bankruptcy, and thankfully the answer is YES.

A debtor who files for bankruptcy (whether it is Chapter 7, Chapter 11 or Chapter 13) in Florida will be able to discharge or wipeout all of their medical bills upon obtaining their discharge from their bankruptcy.  The medical bill collectors will no longer be able to call, harass, hassle, or attempt to collect any of the debts that were listed in the bankruptcy petition of the debtor.

If you are thinking of filing for bankruptcy and would like to speak with a local bankruptcy attorney then please contact Ofer Shmucher at Shmucher Law, PL by calling 305.741.5553 or 954.309.5559.  Shmucher Law, PL offers free consultations in any of our South Florida offices including Boca Raton, Fort Lauderdale, Miami, Plantation, and Sunrise Florida.

I tend to meet clients who have visited other bankruptcy attorneys so I typically ask them what they thought of the previous attorney.  I was shocked to learn what some of my clients told me.  So here is a compiled list of things to be on the lookout out for when meeting a bankruptcy attorney:

Your consultation is with the paralegal or law clerk and not the attorney

This has to be one of the worst things I hear from clients who met other attorneys.  I’ll ask them what they thought of the previous attorney and they tell me that they never met the attorney, instead they had a consultation with the paralegal.  If that doesn’t scare you, it SHOULD.  Paralegals cannot give you legal advice and more likely than not what they tell you is incorrect.  If the attorney isn’t even willing to meet with you then how do you know they will even review your case before it is filed?

When you call the schedule a consultation they tell you there is a fee

A consultation fee, while allowed, is probably a good reason to walk away from the potential bankruptcy attorney .  Bankruptcy attorneys in particular must consider their clients circumstances, limited funds, and thus should always offer individual debtors

The attorney only does Chapter 7 bankruptcy

If you meet an attorney and they tell you that they only handle Chapter 7 cases it may not be in your best interest to stay there.  They may try to push you into filing a Chapter 7 and you may have to give up certain assets to do so.  However sometimes Chapter 7 isn’t the best fit for a client, sometimes a Chapter 13 bankruptcy is useful because the client can wipe out the 2^nd mortgage on a home or decrease the loan amount on a vehicle.

The attorney only looks at your paystubs and tells you that you can’t file for Chapter 7 bankruptcy

The easiest way to determine if someone can qualify for Chapter 7 bankruptcy is to look at their paystubs and see if they fit under the median income.  HOWEVER, even if a debtor doesn’t fit under the median income does not prevent them from filing a Chapter 7 bankruptcy, it just requires the attorney to do more work and to compare the debtor’s income to his or her expenses.

If you are looking for a bankruptcy attorney in South Florida then please consider calling Shmucher Law, PL at 305-741-5553 or 954-309-5559.  We offer free consultations in any of our office locations including Boca Raton, Fort Lauderdale, Miami, Plantation, and Sunrise Florida.

If you have a judgment against you then one of the remedies your creditors can seek is to wage garnish you up to 25 (twenty five) percent every paycheck until the amount of the judgment plus interest and fees is paid back.  If a wage garnishment order is granted against you then there really aren’t too many ways to have it cease.  However the filing of a bankruptcy in Florida will automatically cease a wage garnishment.

When a person files for bankruptcy in Florida, whether it is Chapter 7 bankruptcy or Chapter 13 bankruptcy the automatic stay comes into play.  The automatic stay is basically a freeze of all other proceedings or actions against the debtor, and in order to continue any of those proceedings or to start a new one a creditor is required to get permission from the bankruptcy court.

So in the case of a wage garnishment, the filing of the bankruptcy would automatically stop the wage garnishment and prevent the creditor from getting any monies from the debtor’s paycheck.

If you are currently going through a wage garnishment or recently have had a judgment granted against you and you would like to speak with a local bankruptcy attorney then please contact Ofer Shmucher at Shmucher Law, PL by calling 305-741-5553 or 954-309-5559.   We offer free consultations in Boca Raton, Fort Lauderdale, Miami, Plantation, and Sunrise Florida.

I’ve recently met some clients, in my Miami Florida Bankruptcy office, who have asked me when they can file for bankruptcy again.  All of these clients had previously filed for chapter 7 bankruptcy and due to the economy would like to file for bankruptcy again.  While there is no rule on how many times a person can file for bankruptcy, there is a rule stating that a person is not eligible to obtain a discharge (wipeout all of the debts) if they have previously filed for bankruptcy within the last eight years.

Section 737(a)(8) of the bankruptcy code states that “The court shall grant the debtor a discharge unless the debtor has been granted a discharge under this section, under section 1141 of this title or under section 14, 371 or 476 of the Bankruptcy Act, in a case commenced within 8 years before the date of the filing of the petition.

So what does that mean in English -  If you filed for chapter 7 bankruptcy on June 15, 2003 then you could not file for chapter 7 bankruptcy again until June 16, 2011, you must wait eight (8) years.

If you are thinking of filing for bankruptcy in South Florida and would like to speak with a local bankruptcy attorney then please contact Ofer Shmucher at Shmucher Law. PL by calling 305.741.5553 or 954.309.5559.  We offer free consultations in any of our office locations including Boca Raton, Fort Lauderdale, Miami, Plantation and Sunrise, Florida.