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On Aug. 23, 2019, the Honoring American Veterans in Extreme Need Act of 2019 (HAVEN Act) was signed into law. The HAVEN Act amends the Bankruptcy Code to exclude many benefits paid by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) to disabled veterans and their families from the…
Filing for Bankruptcy is a big decision but once a debtor files their bankruptcy case, it cannot be voluntarily withdrawn without Court permission. There are a number of factors that the Bankruptcy Court must evaluate before a debtor is permitted to voluntarily dismiss a Chapter 7 Bankruptcy case. Generally, a debtor can only withdraw their…
Many people wonder what their options are when they are struggling to pay their bills? Financial hardship can stem from various factors that ultimately result consumers finding that their debts have spiraled out of control. A few examples of such hardships may include: the loss of a job, a reduction in the availability of overtime,…
Many people incorrectly believe that they will lose their home if they file for bankruptcy. When filing for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in New York, there are two different sets of exemptions which a homeowner can claim in order to protect the equity in their primary residence, state law exemptions and the exemptions provided by the…
We previously wrote a blog post about whether one should consider withdrawing money from their retirement accounts to help pay off their credit card balances or other debts. In that blog post, we looked at the questions that Americans who are either retired or on a fixed income evaluate when deciding whether or not to…
The Automatic Stay Protects Debtors Pursuant to 11 U.S.C. § 362 of the Bankruptcy Code, when a debtor files a bankruptcy case, an injunction is automatically imposed to bar creditors from starting or continuing collection efforts against the debtor. This is referred to as “the automatic stay.” The injunction is one of the fundamental debtor…
While consumer protection has not been a priority for the current administration, the Federal Trade Commission’s Bureau of Consumer Protection recently brought an enforcement action against the online lending platform, LendingClub Corporation. The FTC has filed charges against LendingClub in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. The company was charged with…
Occasionally in a bankruptcy filing, a debtor is on a deed to a property but not on the mortgage attached to it. This sometimes occurs when either (1) a property is inherited or (2) when a spouse remarries. In these circumstances, a question arises in the Chapter 13 context, can the debtor who is on…
Effective May 1, 2018, there are now new means test figures for debtors filing for bankruptcy. These numbers are set by the US Trustee Program, which is a division of the Justice Department. The means test is essentially a budget test which applies if a debtor exceeds than the median income for their household size…
Since the passage of the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005, before a debtor files for bankruptcy relief in Chapter 7 or Chapter 13, they are required to take a credit counseling course. See 11 U.S.C. § 109(h). Without a certificate that shows that the debtor completed the course, their case will…
