1-888-529-9899Towards the end of 2014, the New York State Court System announced a series of rule changes affecting default judgments in order to prevent so-called “sewer service” in consumer credit debt collection cases. A “sewer service” case involves questionable and often fraudulent service of process to a defendant, who is unable to defend against a…
This session of the Supreme Court decide a bankruptcy dispute that was widely watched by bankruptcy attorneys: Caulkett v. Bank of America. In Caulkett v. Bank of America, Justice Clarence Thomas and his Supreme Court colleagues unanimously decided that underwater homeowners cannot use the chapter 7 bankruptcy process to remove second mortgages that are entirely…
In early January, Real Housewives of New Jersey star Teresa Guidice reported to federal prison in Danbury, CT. She is now serving a 15 month sentence for committing bankruptcy fraud and mail and wire fraud conspiracy. Her husband, Joe Giudice, was sentenced 41 months. He will have to report to prison after Ms. Guidice gets…
With only a few exceptions, the Bankruptcy code exempts Individual Retirement Arrangements, more commonly known as IRAs, allowing debtors to keep their retirement funds. In a recent unanimous decision in the case of Clark v. Rameker, the Supreme Court created another exception to this general rule. The Court held that an inherited IRA has no…
The U.S. Supreme Court is presently considering whether an inherited retirement account funds can be protected against bankruptcy claims. The justices will decide the appeal of a Wisconsin couple, Brandon C. Clark and Heidi Heffron-Clark, who filed Chapter 7 bankruptcy in 2010 after their pizza shop business failed in 2009. The bankruptcy court rejected the…
Over the past 12 month period, there were 3,800 consumer bankruptcy filings from residents living in Queens. The breakdown was: 3,436 Chapter 7, 363 Chapter 13 and only 1 Chapter 11. That’s one bankruptcy petition for every 591 people residing in Queens. During the recession, and almost one year after Hurricane Sandy, there are still…
Approximately 37 million people in the United States of America have outstanding student loan debt. The average balance per borrower for outstanding student loan is around $23,300. Comparatively, the college class of 2013 will graduate owing on average $35,000 in federal, state and private loans. The total amount of student loan debt in the United…
In today’s blog post we ask the question: Will It Soon Be Easier to Discharge Private Student Loan Debt in Bankruptcy? The answer is maybe. Bills have been introduced in the House and Senate that would amend the U.S. bankruptcy code to allow privately issued student loans to be discharged in bankruptcy proceedings. Let’s put…
What do all these people have in common? PT Barnum, circus promoter L. Frank Baum, author of “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz” Kim Bassinger, model and actress Lorraine Bracco, actress and model Gary Busey, actor and reality tv star Jose Canseco, athlete George Clinton, musician Gary Coleman, child actor John Connally, former Texas governor Francis…
