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What Is a Bank ‘Setoff’ and How Do They Affect Bankruptcy?

Among the many steps I recommend taking before filing bankruptcy, two of them were looking at your bank’s policies in case they freeze accounts, and considering changing banks. Another reason debtors should consider these courses of action, especially before bankruptcy, is “setoffs.” What are these, and how do they intersect with New York bankruptcy? When

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Bankruptcy Before or After a Short Sale

Short-selling an underwater home is frequently touted as an alternative to New York bankruptcy, but sometimes the two go together. Debtors might find it dispiriting to hear that solving their mortgage problems might require two bureaucratic processes, but knowing how short sales and bankruptcy intersect can help debtors decide whether it’s necessary to take both

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6 Steps to Take Before Filing Bankruptcy

Leaving your case to an experienced New York bankruptcy lawyer is not the only step on the to-do list before filing bankruptcy. There are many things debtors should do (and not do) before they file, and the more organized and mindful debtors are, the easier the process will be and the more effective the result.

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Should You Sign That Reaffirmation Agreement With That Creditor?

Short answer: Usually not. Longer answer: Let’s start with what a reaffirmation agreement is. A creditor may ask a debtor in a New York bankruptcy to sign a reaffirmation agreement to renew the debt related to a secured asset. The creditor’s goal is simple: making money off the debtor in exchange for probably nothing. To

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What Are Chapter 13 Property Valuation Orders?

In late December I wrote a pair of posts on the 2016 Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act Report (BAPCPA Report) that tried to illustrate who chapter 13 bankruptcy debtors are. Although the BAPCPA Report contains several tables for chapter 13, I skipped Table 5, which concerns property valuation orders. In 2016, these orders

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What Does the Automatic Stay Not Protect?

The automatic stay is like a forcefield against creditors. It blocks everything from phone calls from debt collectors to foreclosure proceedings. But that doesn’t mean it works against everything. Here’s a non-exhaustive list of actions by public and private entities that section 362 of the Bankruptcy Code explicitly allows past the automatic stay. It’s a

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Why Discharge a Time-Barred Debt?

The New York Times‘ coverage last November of Transworld’s “assembly line” of lawsuits against student-loan debtors discussed debt collectors trying to recover debts that had passed their statutes of limitations. This is not a new phenomenon in the world of debt collection, but it raised the question of why a debtor might be interested in

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What Happens to My Bank Account When My Spouse Files Bankruptcy?

I’ve discussed married couples in New York bankruptcy and what happens to a joint account in bankruptcy, but there is one more common situation that debtors’ spouses need to be aware of: bank accounts belonging to non-filing spouses. It’s easy to imagine that this should be a non-issue. Your assets are in your name, so

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Non-Lawyers’ Explanations of Bankruptcy May Be Wrong

Do you have financial problems? Do you tend to ask your friends for advice? Is one of your friends an experienced New York bankruptcy lawyer who will explain the process for you? Are your friends otherwise knowledgeable people? The answer to these questions may be, “Yes but you don’t know it.” Although many bankruptcy lawyers

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What to Tell Creditors Before Filing Bankruptcy

I’ve written frequently on how to deal with pesky debt collectors and other creditors, but some debtors might want to know how to handle these entities once they’ve decided to file bankruptcy but before they’ve done so. This middle period, usually beginning once debtors have settled on a lawyer, can last for a few weeks,

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