If you are thinking of filing for bankruptcy then you are also thinking of what type of impact bankruptcy plays with other aspects of your life. One question I recently received is whether or not filing for bankruptcy in Florida will have any impact on a child visitation agreement or parenting rights. The answer to that question is NO; the filing of bankruptcy will have no impact on a debtor’s child visitation agreement at all. The bankruptcy court doesn’t talk to or have any communication with the family courts in Florida.
If you are thinking of filing for bankruptcy and would like to schedule a free consultation with a local Florida bankruptcy lawyer then please contact Ofer Shmucher at Shmucher Law, PL by calling 305.741.5553 or 954.309.5559. We offer free consultations in our Miami office or in any of our satellite offices (by appointment) including Boca Raton, Fort Lauderdale, Plantation, and Sunrise Florida.
With the increase in the number of houses that are foreclosed on in Florida, more clients are being sued for a deficiency. A deficiency is basically the difference between what you owed on the house and what the bank sells it for when it is sold at a foreclosure sale. Generally the deficiency amount is a fairly large number and the bank will sell these deficiencies to collection companies. The collection company will begin to call debtors, asking them to pay up or be sued. Typically debtors don’t have that kind of money and they ignore the collector, which leads to a process server knocking on their door and handing them a lawsuit.
If you have been served by a deficiency lawsuit or lost a house to a foreclosure (expect to be hit with a foreclosure suit), and are wondering if this debt can be discharged/wiped out in a bankruptcy, then you should know that any deficiency or potential deficiency judgment can be wiped out in a bankruptcy filing. It doesn’t matter if the creditor has already filed a lawsuit against you or they can potentially file one, if you file for bankruptcy then you can eliminate the debt and potential lawsuit that comes with it.
If you are thinking of filing for bankruptcy and would like to schedule a free consultation with a local bankruptcy attorney, then please contact Ofer Shmucher, at Shmucher Law, PL by calling 954.309.5559 or 305.741.5553. We offer free consultations in our main Miami office as well as our satellite offices (by appointment) including Boca Raton, Fort Lauderdale, Plantation and Sunrise Florida.
Clients always ask me the following question “Can I go max out my credit cards and then come back and file for bankruptcy?” The answer to that question is NO and it could lead to severe consequences including having the credit card companies sue you while you are in bankruptcy, and if they win the debt incurred will survive bankruptcy.
What do the credit card companies look for?
When you file your bankruptcy each credit card company, that you owed money to, will look back 90 days to determine whether or not you made charges on their card during that period. Credit cards will look at the charges and determine if any of the charges are considered luxury goods. A good rule of thumb is that anything other than food and gas is probably going to be considered a luxury good. The credit card companies can sue you on anything they deem a luxury good.
What do the courts look at to see if the debtor intended to defraud the creditor?
This is a non-exclusive list of factors that the court may use to determine whether or not the debtor, while using their credit card within the 90 day period before bankruptcy, intended to defraud the credit card.
- 1. The length of time between the charges made and the filing of bankruptcy
- 2. Whether or not an attorney has been consulted concerning the filing of bankruptcy before the charges were made
- 3. The number of charges made
- 4. The amount of the charges
- 5. The financial condition of the debtor at the time of the charges
- 6. Whether the charges were above the credit limit of the account
- 7. Whether the debtor made multiple charges on the same day
- 8. Whether or not the debtor was employed
- 9. The debtor’s prospects for employment
- 10. Financial sophistication of the debtor
- 11. Whether there was a sudden change in the debtor’s buying habits; and
- 12. Whether the purchases were made for luxuries or necessities
If you are thinking of filing for bankruptcy in the greater Fort Lauderdale-Miami area 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 our main Miami office as well as our satellite offices (by appointment) including Boca Raton, Fort Lauderdale, Plantation, and Sunrise Florida.
Clients that come see me tend to have one or two credit cards that they are current on. These credit cards are typically low balance cards just for an emergency. The client will usually ask me if they can keep these low balance credit cards after filing for bankruptcy in Florida, and unfortunately the answer to that question is NO. Debtors will not be allowed to keep any credit cards they have, whether they are current, in default, or have been written off.
If you are worried about not having a credit card after filing for bankruptcy for an emergency use then it may be beneficial for you to get a secured credit card. Otherwise you will be able to obtain credit card offers approximately three months after your bankruptcy case is over.
If you are thinking of filing for bankruptcy in the greater Miami-Fort Lauderdale area 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 our Miami office or any of our satellite offices (by appointment) including Boca Raton, Fort Lauderdale, Plantation, and Sunrise Florida.
