Emergency Bankruptcy Cases
Emergency Bankruptcy Cases
If you have a pending foreclosure sale, repossession, levy or wage garnishment filing an emergency bankruptcy
case will stop all of it immediately upon filing of the bankruptcy case. Our consultations are free and we have
the experience of ten years of saving homes, cars, money in your bank account and wages. Please call
1-877-9NEW-LIFE or 1-877-963-9543 to get your emergency bankruptcy started.
Typically the best option is filing a chapter 13 bankruptcy case. Not only will the emergency bankruptcy case
stop the event from happening but will also allow you to catch up on missed mortgage payments or missed car loan
payments to save your house or car. Hopefully there will be enough time to file a complete and accurate chapter 13
bankruptcy petition and chapter 13 plan, if not, then we will file a skeleton petition. A skeleton petition is a
term used to describe the basic forms necessary to start the case. After that initially we will have 14 days to
complete the entire petition.
Unfortunately over and over again we run into clients that have been provided horrible advice when filing a
skeleton petition to stop a foreclosure or repossession of a vehicle. The skeleton petition is filed without first
having you complete the Credit Counseling course. This has been a requirement since 2005 and the last major reform
or change to the Bankruptcy Code. Many skeleton petition filers are provided the basic forms with a motion to
waive or suspend the requirement to also file a certificate of completion for the credit counseling course that
are not proper and dead on arrival. That means the chapter 13 case will be dismissed in as little as 14 days from
the date the case was filed. The most damaging part of this is the right to the automatic stay is used in this
first filed case without any real relief obtained. When someone comes to me after having their first chapter 13
case dismissed for a simple failure to also complete the credit counseling course I must unfortunately inform them
that we will now have to also file a motion to extend the automatic stay. When filing a second case is close
succession to the first case the second filed case only is allowed a 30 day automatic stay unless the stay is
extended. There is no guarantee the motion to extend the stay will be successful upon the filing of the second
case. It is also an added cost of filing the second case that is needless given the first case certainly could
have been completed properly with the correct advice. Some non-attorneys charge thousands of dollars to help with
the filing of a skeleton petition that will only provide a short amount of relief. It is sad and unfortunate but
for over ten years we have run into case after case under this circumstance. It makes the actual saving of your
home and getting you the relief the Bankruptcy Code, the law, provides that much more difficult and expensive.
Having to file a second case in close succession to the first one also creates more needless stress to an already
stressful situation. Your house, which may have significant equity, is at risk of foreclosure and you may lose
hundreds of thousands of dollars in equity as a result of the pending non-judicial foreclosure. The non-judicial
foreclosure is an auction and the auction bids will most likely start at the amount of the secured debt on the
property and not be as high as the fair market value of the property. This is horrible and should never happen
given we have the law, the Bankruptcy Code, to stop the foreclosure so at the very least you have the chance to
sell the house and keep whatever equity exists after sale the law provides you may keep. We have been practicing
bankruptcy law for about ten years and have filed countless emergency chapter 13 cases successfully to save homes
and put the equity in your hands where it belongs. Our consultations are free and we can quickly and accurately
file your chapter 13 petition to get you the relief the law provides.
Every now and then a chapter 7 petition and case may be the right option too. Normally this is not option and is
not recommended given chapter 7 is the liquidation chapter of the Bankruptcy Code. Any assets you have that cannot
be protected are sold by the chapter 7 trustee assigned to your case for the benefit of your creditors. If you
want to keep your home or car a chapter 13 plan allows the missed payments to be spread out over the life of the
chapter 13 plan making them affordable and allowing you to keep the house or car. Another benefit of chapter 13 is
that we can voluntarily dismiss a chapter 13 case in the event you no longer wish to proceed with the case or the
case cannot continue. Chapter 7 cases provide no right to voluntarily dismiss the case and generally any motion to
dismiss a chapter 7 case will be met with opposition from the chapter 7 trustee assigned to the case or creditors.
By
Ryan
C. Wood