Florida Bankruptcy Legal Questions

It depends on what your retainer agreement says if you signed one, and how much work the attorney did for you. You always have a choice of counsel, but if the attorney did a lot of work on your case, you may have to pay her for the work she did. Otherwise, she can assert a lien on any documents you want to get back. If your dissatisfaction stems from serious neglect of your case or what you believe is malpractice, you might have a claim against the lawyer. In that case, you should express your concerns to her as another reason for a refund.... Read More

You have a common misunderstanding of what a discharge is and does.  It does NOT remove liens against your property.  Unless you obtained a separate order avoiding the mortgage liens (which you cannot do in a Chapter 7 case), then all the discharge did was remove your obligation to pay on the underlying debt, but the lien against the property remains.  Thus, if you fail to make the required payments on your mortgage, they can exercise whatever rights they have under your state's laws against the property (usually foreclosure). My article on what happens to mortgage debts after discharge may be of interest to you.  ... Read More

The creditor certainly isn't going to return the car on their own.  You need to at least inform them of the bankruptcy case and demand its return.  If they still don't comply, you will need to seek a court order against them for violating the automatic stay (or, if this is after your discharge was granted, for contempt of court).... Read More

There is no way to answer your question without getting all the relevant information from you. Whether you can keep your house in a Chapter 7 depends on the following: The fair market value of the house The amount of liens secured against the house What exemptions are available to you under applicable law in your case to protect the equity in your home. Whether you can stay current with the payments on the mortgage (of course) You need to have a consultation with an experienced bankruptcy attorney in your area to analyze all the particulars of your situation and answer your question.  ... Read More

Bankruptcy will discharge the underlying debt you owe, but the lien against your property would remain unless you are able to avoid it (remove) in a Chapter 13 or Chapter 11 case.  You can avoid voluntary liens if the value of the property is less than the amount of any senior liens against the property.  ... Read More

The facts you have presented are a little skewed so I can't tell what happened. I assume you filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy. There is no such thing as "not included in bankruptcy", EVERYTHING must be included and I am sure was included in the bankruptcy. There is also no such thing as "reaffirmation of a home mortgage" in the central district of California, the judges will absolutely not do it. What I would like to know (and whatever lawyer you go with should know) is 1. were you current on your mortgage with US Bank/Select? What does the notice of default say? And, was the foreclosure reported on your credit report? Those are key pieces of information in any lawsuit.... Read More

Your questions don't make complete sense. You say you paid the mortgage payments for three years but you do not say what you did once you decided to move. Did you continue to pay and list the property for sale? Dis you quit paying and walk away from the first property? The lender took your payments and applied them. The property remains in your name until it is sold or foreclosed upon. The bankruptcy discharged the legal liability to repay the mortgage loan. The lien remained in place and enforceable against the property as collateral after the discharge. If you make payments you keep the home. If you don't make payments the lender has the right to foreclose. And yes, a foreclosure on the record CAN affect the availability of new mortgage financing.... Read More

Bankruptcy law requires all debts to be included. So there is no way to legally "leave out" a mortgage from a bankruptcy. Bankruptcy doesn't entitle you to free house. If you chose to continue to pay for the property after the bankruptcy, you can keep the property. Otherwise, it is perfectly normal to expect that the mortgage company will foreclose. While I can appreciate the fact that you would like to sweep all of this negative information about your use of credit under the rug, foreclosures are public records and no mortgage lenders will approve you for a new loan when you are in an active foreclosure, or indeed, for many years afterwards.... Read More

All debts are included in bk. You cannot pick and choose. As such, your mortgage was included in the bk. You had the option to reaffirm the debt and have your ongoing payment obligation excluded from the discharge but you did not reaffirm. As such, your lender did not report timely pays to the credit bureau. When you ceased paying on the mortgage the lender has the right to foreclose on the property to take the property back and satisfy a portion if not all of the debt. This will be reported on your credit.... Read More

You need to contact a bankruptcy attorney in the Orlando area. I have not addressed this precise issue in over 25 years of doing bankruptcies, but believe that you should be able to file in Orlando, if it is your home and permanent residence, and you intend to return and have family or community ties there. The problem as I see it is that you will be required to attend a meeting of creditors, in person. It might be easier to find out if there is a better place to file bankruptcy where you are.... Read More

You are allowed $1,000 as an equity exemption for a vehicle. You can keep both vehicles in a Chapter 7 bankruptcy, but you would have to pay the trustee the fair market value for the vehicles less the $1,000 exemption. In most cases the trustee would allow you up to 12 months to pay for the amount above the $1,000 exemption. Also, if you are not keeping a home, you are allowed an additional $4,000 as a wildcard exemtion that could be applied against the value of the vehicles. You should have the vehicles appraised by an appraiser approved by the court, since in many cases the NADA value may be higher that the true value of the vehicle.... Read More