Category Archives: Bankruptcy Attorneys
What Happens to a Lawsuit Judgment When You File for Bankruptcy?
A judgment against you does not necessarily behave the way you would expect once a bankruptcy case is filed. Some judgments get wiped out entirely. Others survive in modified form. A few can even be partially undone if they attached to your property in a way that hurts an exemption you are entitled to… Read More »
Why Chapter 11 May Fit a Struggling Business Better Than Closing Its Doors
Closing a struggling business can feel like the responsible thing to do. Stop the bleeding, lock the doors, move on. But shutting down does not make debt disappear, and it does not necessarily protect an owner who signed a personal guarantee on a lease, a line of credit, or an equipment loan. Chapter 11… Read More »
How a Co-Signer Is Affected When You File for Bankruptcy
Co-signed debt has a way of outliving the original plan. Someone agrees to back a car loan, a private student loan, or a credit card for a family member or close friend, assuming it is a formality. Then the primary borrower runs into financial trouble and starts thinking about bankruptcy, and the co-signer suddenly… Read More »
What Happens to a 401(k) Loan When You File for Bankruptcy
Borrowing against a 401(k) is common enough that many people do not think of it as debt in the traditional sense, and that intuition turns out to matter quite a bit when bankruptcy enters the picture. A 401(k) loan behaves very differently from a credit card balance or a medical bill once a bankruptcy… Read More »
Understanding Florida’s Homestead Exemption in Bankruptcy Cases
Florida’s homestead exemption has a reputation that precedes it. Unlike the majority of states, which put a dollar ceiling on how much home equity a bankruptcy filer can protect, Florida’s constitution places no cap on the value of a properly qualified homestead. That single feature has made the exemption a subject of national debate,… Read More »
What Happens to a Personal Guarantee in a Business Bankruptcy?
Most business owners sign personal guarantees without much thought. The bank will not lend without one, the landlord insists on it, the equipment vendor requires it. Years later, when the company is considering a Chapter 11 reorganization, that signature can become the most important document in the file. The short answer to what happens… Read More »
What Is a Preference Payment and Can a Trustee Recover It?
Picture a business owner who, a few weeks before a Chapter 11 filing, finally pays the one supplier who has been calling every morning. Or an individual who repays a $10,000 loan from a sibling a few months before filing a Chapter 7 case. Both payments feel responsible. Both may be clawed back. That… Read More »
Is My 403(b) Protected If I File for Bankruptcy?
Are you currently considering a personal bankruptcy filing but concerned about how a bankruptcy case will affect your 403(b) retirement account funds? More specifically, are you concerned about whether or not your 403(b) money will be protected if you file for bankruptcy? Our Florida bankruptcy attorneys can assure you that employer-sponsored retirement accounts, including… Read More »
Is My 401(k) Protected If I File for Bankruptcy?
If you are considering the possibility of filing for personal bankruptcy and you currently have an employer-sponsored or solo 401(k) retirement account, you may have concerns about those assets and whether you may be required to turn them over to the bankruptcy trustee if you file for bankruptcy. Generally speaking, retirement assets are largely… Read More »
Can I Exclude Any of My Debt in a Chapter 13 Case?
If you are filing for Chapter 13 bankruptcy and planning to repay all of certain debts as part of your repayment plan, do those debts need to be included in your bankruptcy filing? Or, if you have concerns about the Chapter 13 debt ceiling, is it possible to include the debt from a single… Read More »
