Oregon Bankruptcy: Vancouver WA Bankruptcy
Vancouver WA Bankruptcy
This information is presented by the attorneys of Baxter & Baxter, LLP, a Pacific Northwest law firm with offices in Vancouver, Washington, and Portland, Oregon. To visit our firm’s main website, visit baxterlaw.com.
The Vancouver WA bankruptcy attorneys in the Bankruptcy Practice Group represent Vancouver and other SW Washington consumers in Chapter 7 and Chapter 13 bankruptcies. To speak with a Vancouver Washington Bankruptcy attorney, call 360.574.5239.
The information contained at this website is intended for general information and advertisement purposes only. It is not intended as legal advice. If you have not signed a Retainer Agreement with Baxter & Baxter, LLP, this firm does not represent you. You should not assume an attorney-client relationship exists.
If you believe you have a legal claim or cause of action, time limits may apply. You should contact an attorney promptly.
The attorneys of Baxter & Baxter, LLP, are licensed to practice law in the state of Oregon only. Justin Baxter is licensed to practice law in the state of Washington. Baxter & Baxter, LLP, associates with local counsel in a limited number of cases outside of Oregon and Washington.
Contents at a Glance
1. Why You Should Hire a Bankruptcy Attorney
2. Videos about Vancouver WA Bankruptcy
3. Filing for Bankruptcy in Vancouver WA
4. Common Myths about Bankruptcy in Vancouver WA
5. Eliminating Second Mortgages through Bankruptcy
Why You Should Hire a Bankruptcy Attorney
Lara M. Gardner
Filing bankruptcy can be one of the most difficult choices a person makes. Often you have been struggling to meet your financial obligations. Something happens and the house of cards comes tumbling down, leaving you faced with a proposition that seems like failure. It is difficult and frustrating. You go to see an attorney and realize that even though you have no money to pay your bills, the attorney wants over a thousand dollars or more to represent you.
You discover there may be an alternative. You could pay someone much less to prepare your petition for you. You think Why not? Your case isn’t complicated, at least you don’t think it is. You pay a few hundred dollars and file your case. You may be okay. More likely, after things go very wrong you will realize that you should have hired an attorney.
Bankruptcy is more complicated than it appears on the surface. People who have seen or attended a bankruptcy hearing testify that the meetings are often over quickly. What is not apparent from the meeting is that most of the complicated work is done before the meeting takes place. The hearing should go smoothly if everything was done right ahead of time.
Having sat through countless hearings while representing debtors in the bankruptcy cases, I can assure you that bankruptcy is often more complicated than it looks, especially since the changes that took place in the bankruptcy laws in 2005.
Bankruptcy is more than what bills you owe. People often do not realize that all of their belongings are assets that may or may not be exempt. You may fail to disclose an item that could have been protected, only to lose it because of the lack of disclosure. The actions taken in the years and months leading up to bankruptcy can have consequences, and can cause unintended ramifications for friends and family members.
Every consumer bankruptcy case is assigned to a trustee. That person is responsible for ensuring the interests of your creditors are protected. When you hire a bankruptcy attorney, this person is there to represent you. Your attorney can help you to determine which debts you can discharge or pay off. Your attorney will help you protect assets that are not exempt, and will help you to do so legally. Your attorney will make sure you list every asset and that every asset that can be is protected. Your attorney will help you ensure that bankruptcy is what it is intended to be: a fresh start.
When you pay an attorney, you are paying that person to ensure you file everything you are supposed to file, turn over all the paperwork you are required to turn over, help you maximize your assets and minimize your losses, and to represent you against your creditors. In short, you are paying for the best fresh start you can muster.
What can a petition preparer do? Legally, all a petition preparer can do is fill in the blanks on your bankruptcy documents. If you choose to pay someone hundreds of dollars for this service you are, in effect, paying hundreds of dollars for data entry service.
If a petition preparer does more than enter information into your petition, that person is breaking the law. Both federal bankruptcy laws and state rules governing the practice of law forbid anyone except a licensed attorney from giving you advice.
Why? To protect you, the consumer. If an attorney messes up your case, there are protections in place to help you. Attorneys in Oregon,Washington, and many other states are required to carry malpractice insurance. They can also be sanctioned by their bars for failure to adhere to a basic code of conduct.
There are no systems in place to help you if a document preparer messes up your petition or gives you erroneous advice. You may be able to file a complaint claiming they practiced law without a license, and while the person may face fines or sanctions, you will not get anything to cover your losses.
Hiring an attorney to represent you during your bankruptcy can be expensive. After suffering through financial difficulties and falling behind on your financial obligations, handing over a large sum of money to an attorney can seem like a real hardship. But bankruptcy is not an area to shortchange yourself. Filing bankruptcy is your opportunity to make a fresh start. Make it the best start it can be by hiring a good attorney to represent, protect, and advise you. Think of it as your first investment in a new financial future.
Lara Gardner is a consumer bankruptcy attorney for the consumer protection law firm of Baxter & Baxter, LLP. Click here to learn more about Lara.
Filing for Bankruptcy in Vancouver WA
The most common types of personal bankruptcy for individuals are Chapter 7 and Chapter 13. As much as 65% of all U.S. consumer bankruptcy filings are Chapter 7 cases. In Chapter 7, a debtor surrenders his or her non-exempt property to a bankruptcy trustee who then liquidates the property and distributes the proceeds to the debtor’s unsecured creditors. In exchange, the debtor is entitled to a discharge of most of their debt. Certain debts (e.g. spousal and child support, student loans, some taxes) will not be discharged even though the debtor is generally discharged from his or her debt. Many individuals in financial distress own only exempt property (e.g. clothes, household goods, an older car) and will not have to surrender any property to the trustee. The amount of property that a debtor may exempt varies from state to state. Chapter 7 relief is available only once in any eight year period. Generally, the rights of secured creditors to their collateral continues even though their debt is discharged.
In Chapter 13, the debtor retains ownership and possession of all of his or her assets, but must devote some portion of his or her future income to repaying creditors, generally over a period of three to five years. The amount of payment and the period of the repayment plan depend upon a variety of factors, including the value of the debtor’s property and the amount of a debtor’s income and expenses. Secured creditors may be entitled to greater payment than unsecured creditors.
Benefits of Filing for Bankruptcy
Filing for bankruptcy is a serious and important decision that has significant ramifications. The Vancouver WA bankruptcy attorneys of Baxter & Baxter, LLP, can help you decide whether filing for bankruptcy is right for you. We can advise you on whether you qualify for a Chapter 7 liquidation, or would be better served by entering into a Chapter 13 repayment plan.
Among the many benefits of filing for bankruptcy are:
* Stop garnishments on bank accounts and wages
* Stop home foreclosures
* Stop harassing phone calls from bill collectors and collection agencies
* Prevent utilities from being shut off
* Stop car and truck repossessions
* Eliminate some back taxes
* Pay off back child support
Common Myths about Bankruptcy in Vancouver WA
There is much misinformation about bankruptcy, including who can file, what the effects are, and what the process is. Below are a number of common myths about bankruptcy and explanations of the truth.
Bankruptcy Relief is No Longer Available.
This is absolutely not true. The new bankruptcy laws have made the process more burdensome in some cases, and altered eligibility for certain people, but for most people, if they were eligible before, then they are likely eligible now for bankruptcy relief.
If I file bankruptcy I will have to repay some or all of my debts.
This is false in most cases. For individuals, Chapter 7 is still available for most people, as set forth above. Sometimes if the analysis shows too much income on either the means test or current budget, you may have to do a repayment plan in a Chapter 13, but usually not.
I will lose all my property if I file bankruptcy.
False. Whether you get to keep your property depends on the value (or amount of equity) in any particular item of property and what exemptions you have available to protect the value in that asset. In the vast majority of cases in California, you will be able to keep your property. Of course, analysis by a bankruptcy professional is necessary to accurately make that determination.
Bankruptcy will Destroy My Credit.
False. It is true that bankruptcy can be reported on your credit report for up to 10 years after your case is filed, but the actual effect on your credit score varies depending on what your score was before you filed bankruptcy, and it is temporary because you can start rebuilding your credit immediately after filing your case. In many cases, especially for people who have very low credit scores before filing bankruptcy, their credit scores go up shortly after filing bankruptcy, as long as they maintain payments on obligations thereafter.
Eliminating Second Mortgages through Bankruptcy
The bursting of the housing bubble in the midst of a flagging economy has caused home values to drop precipitously. Zillow.com reports that home values in the Portland, Oregon metropolitan area have dropped by about 11% in the last year alone, and some neighborhoods, such as the Pearl District, have dropped over 20% this year. Many of the homes sold in during the housing boom were purchased with an “80/20″ mortgage, that is, a first mortgage for 80% of the purchase price, and a second mortgage for the remaining 20%.
Where the value of the home has fallen below the total outstanding balance of the first mortgage, it is possible to “strip” the second mortgage in Chapter 13 bankruptcy. (The debtor must qualify for a Chapter 13 repayment plan). A second mortgage can sometimes be converted into unsecured debt and could be discharged or classified as non-priority debt in the Chapter 13 plan.
Example: The homeowners paid $500,000 for their house in 2006, with a $400,000 first, and a $100,000 second. Since that time, their home has fallen in value to $395,000. These homeowners could strip off the second mortgage, eliminate $100,000 in debt (most likely at a much higher interest rate), and keep their home.
Stripping the second mortgage is not possible in every case. However, even if a homeowner does not qualify for a “strip down” of a second mortgage, they may be able to renegotiate the terms of the second mortgage, which may be at a high or variable interest rate.
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