Redwood City
Redwood City Bankruptcy Lawyer
Schedule a free consultation with Ryan C. Wood, your experienced Redwood City bankruptcy lawyer and Redwood City
bankruptcy attorney today and find out if bankruptcy is right for you. There are an endless number of
circumstances to seek help and get rid of debt forever pursuant to the law, the Bankruptcy Code. You do not have
to keep struggling each month with burdensome debts. West Coast Bankruptcy Attorneys has filed hundreds and
hundreds of bankruptcy case for residents of the Bay Area. Our Chapter 7 bankruptcy lawyers in Redwood City and
Chapter 13 bankruptcy lawyers in Redwood City
are ready to help you get the debt relief you deserve and the law provides.
Filing for bankruptcy protection under chapter 7 or chapter 13 is a choice. I believe in the process whole
heartedly and here is why. The thing about bankruptcy is it is a legal discharge of your personal liability for
your debts and cures for your debt cancer forever. I know in a relatively short amount of time and for reasonable
costs you will get relief from your debts by law. The entire bankruptcy process is layered with protections so
that you do not get ripped off. There are all kinds of radio commercials and late night television commercials
about debt consolidation and other various types of debt relief. Generally these only treat the debt cancer and
never actually cure the cancer. No part of what these companies do is based upon the law or making sure you are
100% debt free for the fees you pay. Please go to the Federal Trade Commission website and read their warnings
about debt relief companies. In a perfect world no one would have to file for bankruptcy, but nothing is perfect
and we are all just doing the best we can. The law provides a fresh start and we all deserve to wipe the slate
clean of move on in life. Bankruptcy will do that one way or another and it is by law.
Ryan C. Wood has filed hundreds of consumer bankruptcy petitions with the Bankruptcy Court. In San Mateo County,
it is important to retain an experienced bankruptcy lawyer. Experience counts and it does matter. In 2005,
Congress chose to revise the Bankruptcy Code in an attempt to make it more difficult for consumers to file for
Chapter 7 bankruptcy and discharge all of their general unsecured debts like credit cards and medical debts.
Credit card companies made large campaign contributions and lobbied Congress in attempt to reduce the discharge of
consumer debts and force consumers to file a Chapter 13 bankruptcy to pay back a portion of their debts. The
result of the 2005 Bankruptcy Reform Act was to make the bankruptcy process more expensive and more complicated.
Congress created what is called the “Means Test†to determine whether an individual or couple has the means to pay
a portion of their debts to creditors back. The Means Tests is part of each bankruptcy petition filed with the
Bankruptcy Court. Only an experienced bankruptcy attorney can determine whether you qualify to file chapter 7,
pass the Means Test or whether a Chapter 13 bankruptcy is necessary. The 2005 Bankruptcy Reform Act also created
two courses that must be completed before a bankruptcy case can be discharged and closed. Before you can file your
bankruptcy petition you must complete a Credit Counseling course with an approved provider. The Credit Counseling
course can be completed over the internet in approximately an hour or two with a follow up phone call at the end.
A reasonable cost is $8.75. After your Chapter 13 bankruptcy or Chapter 7 bankruptcy petition is filed you must
complete a Financial Management course. The Financial Management course can be completed over the internet also
and a reasonable cost is $7.99. Do not pay $30-$50 for an individual and $60-$90 for a couple filing jointly for
these required courses.
While many cases do not involve complex issues it is still important that the process goes smoothly. That last
think anyone needs is to add to the stress they already have when filing for bankruptcy whether that is a chapter
7 or chapter 13 case. We have a client information form that must be filled out as accurately as possible for the
free consultation. It has questions about your income, expenses, assets and debts so that we can discuss how
bankruptcy can help and some of the potential limitations. Not all debts are dischargeable under the Bankruptcy
Code. An example is student loans. Unfortunately as part of the 2005 reforms student loans generally become not
dischargeable unless you can prove the student loans are an undue hardship. Proving this is extremely difficult
and can be expensive. You will have to sue the student loan company in an adversary proceeding and have a judgment
entered the student loans are an undue hardship based upon the three part Brunner test. Again this is an uphill
battle and it is litigation which equals expensive. There are some success stories out there and student loan debt
is more and more a topic that is being discussed and how the law should be changed to allow the discharge of
student loans when filing bankruptcy.
Ryan C. Wood has practiced bankruptcy law for over ten years at the same Redwood City office location; 611
Veterans Blvd. Ste. 218, Redwood City, CA 94063.
By
Ryan
C. Wood