Chicago Bankruptcy Lawyer
Ah, a bit of self promoting here!. My name is Terry Leeders, a consumer bankruptcy attorney who practices law in Chicago and the surrounding suburbs.
I've been in practice since 1998, and have focused on bankruptcy law from the start. I grew up in and around Chicago, and live here with my wife and newborn son. I went to Thomas M. Cooley Law School and the University of Illinois Champaign-Urbana for undergraduate...
You can keep a lot of personal belongings when you file bankruptcy, provided that you have an exemption available to protect them. In Chicago, Illinois, an individual debtor can keep up to $4000 of cash and personal belongings. Good news! Your stuff probably isn't worth that much. It's old, it's used, the kids have tore them up...etc. Think garage sale value.K is also for Keeping Debt. A debtor can reaffirm a secured debt if they can demonstrate the ability...
Hey all. If you didn't know, I participate on the Q&A website called Just Answer.com. They also have a sister site called Pearl.com where I answer questions. too.If you have a specific legal question about bankruptcy, or consumer protection, you can ask me here:They have many different question areas too, doctors, lawyers, with all types of backgrounds. Tech support, auto maintenance etc. If you have a question, I'm sure they can find you an answer!...
Income. So many topics to cover. Schedule I is where income is listed in a bankruptcy petition. The Means Test Form 22a and Form 22C (chapter 7 or chapter 13 respectively) computes disposable monthly income too. This is a 6 month average of all household income leading up to the case, along with allowable deductions for taxes, insurances, and set amounts based on where the debtor lives.All income must be disclosed in a bankruptcy case. This includes child support,...
When a debtor files for chapter 7 or chapter 13 bankruptcy, they are allowed certain protections under the bankruptcy code. Among the protections, are exemptions to exempt certain assets from becoming property of the bankruptcy estate. Illinois has opted out of the federal exemptions, providing a list of asset protections granted by state law. The Illinois homestead exemption law provides the bankrupt debtor protection of up to $15,000 of the equity in their residence in Illinois. ...
Many people file bankruptcy because a creditor has a garnishment.A garnishment is a court order to deduct a portion of a debtor's wages to pay a creditor who sued the debtor and obtained a judgment. Garnishments are stopped though the instant a bankruptcy case is filed, regardless if it is Chapter 7 or Chapter 13. In my Chicago bankruptcy law office, we send a fax notice to the creditor's attorney as to the payroll department or HR supervisor.Contrast this with a wage assignment....
As a followup to B is for Baseball Bankruptcy and F is for Fraud, Lenny Dykstra, a former baseball star has entered a plea agreement with the feds who accused him of defrauding creditors by declaring bankruptcy and then looting his $18 million mansion. He allegedly liquidated assets of his bankruptcy estate. This is bankruptcy fraud, as opposed to fraudulent debts. Basically, the...
Ok, a nice simple one here folks. Fraudulent debts are non-dischargeable under bankruptcy. Creditors would have the right to file an adversary objection to discharge. The bankruptcy code section they would file their adversary under is 11 USC 523 The common objections seen are for actual fraud, but also conversion, embezzlement, theft, or intentional torts such as intentional...
Debts related to education: tuition, student loans, room and board, etc, are generally not dischargeable in Chapter 7 bankruptcy. There is an exception, if the debtor can show that they are an undue hardship to repay. There are two lines of cases, but a debtor would have to show that they would never be able to repay them now, or ever in the future. A catastrophic injury, or other similar tragic occurrence is usually needed to meet this requirement. The one case I've seen is a 20 yr old...
D. Choosing which topic for D was daunting. LOL, get it, D(aunting)? I Digress. I could have went with Debtor, Disposable Income, Domestic Support Obligations, Debtor Education Certificates among others. But, what do people who file for bankruptcy really want? Yes, a DISCHARGE.