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Posted By
Dave Johnsen
11 USC 541(a) dictates that upon the filing of a bankruptcy case, an estate is created. This estate includes all legal and equitable interests of the debtor at the time of filing, and in certain instances, interests in property that arise after the filing of a bankruptcy within a certain period of time. Essentially, once the bankruptcy is filed, the resulting estate is comprised of everything the ...
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Posted By
Dave Johnsen
A Chapter 13 bankruptcy affords a debtor the opportunity to cram down certain secured debts to their actual value, not merely the principal balance owed. This concept essentially takes the principal balance owed on a secured debt that is "underwater" and reduces the secured amount of the debt to what the value of the collateral actually is. This concept has its foundation in basic secured ...
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Posted By
Dave Johnsen
When you are preparing to file bankruptcy, it is best to discuss with your bankruptcy attorney whether you have any judicial liens against your property. These liens, even if the debt is included in your bankruptcy and discharged, can survive the bankruptcy and stay levied against your home. A judicial lien is secured through a legal process of securing a memorandum of judgment. It can be for ...
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Posted By
Dave Johnsen
According to a story published in the Chicago Tribune on November 13, 2013, Chicago-area foreclosure filings rose nearly 30% in October 2013. This number, while lower than this past summer and the past few years of extreme foreclosure rates, signals that the economic recovery is far from complete. A spike in foreclosure filings as winter comes indicates that for some, household income has gone ...
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Posted By
Dave Johnsen
In today's upside down real estate market, it is quite common for prospective debtors to seek bankruptcy help in an attempt to remove a second mortgage on their property. These mortgages were taken out of the equity when the home still had good value, but with the recession's plummeting home values now sit as fully unsecured liens. A good portion of these prospective debtors are those who normally ...
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Posted By
Dave Johnsen
Most of the time, there's a stage prior to filing bankrutpcy that can adequately described as "preparing for bankruptcy." This usually involves gathering the necessary documents, fees, and other information to hand over to your bankruptcy attorney to begin the process of filing. This is a process that can take some time and is usually up to the prospective debtor as to how fast they'd like to ...
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Posted By
Attorney Joseph P. Doyle
During the years leading up to the mortgage crisis and collapse of late 2008, second mortgages borrowed against the equity of a home were common. People felt comfortable taking them out because home values continued to soar, meaning that there was a low perceived risk at the time of using that extra equity to pay for college, home remodeling, or other various expenses. Only after the bottom ...
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Posted By
Chicago Bankruptcy Lawyer
Bankruptcy, by definition, is a legal process that deals in large part with numbers. Debt figures, income levels, number of people in a household, trustee payments - you name it - all deal with numbers. An extension of this is in deadlines. Most stages of the bankruptcy process deal with dates set in advance, with requirements that must met by those dates. This can include a meeting of creditors ...
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Posted By
Chicago Bankruptcy Lawyer
In any bankruptcy, whether it be a Chapter 7 or Chapter 13, the issue of real estate is nearly always at the forefront. In Chapter 7 liquidations, the amount owed on any liens on the property, together with what the value is of the home, go a long way to determining whether it will be shielded from liquidation. In a Chapter 13, numerous real estate assets can drive up the percentage to be paid to ...
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