I am currently being sued in civil court, and have no money for an attorney, the case has gone on for a year now in federal court, and have basically lost my business because of all the time I’ve put into defending myself from something I did not do, and am being "lawyered" to death by 6 lawyers. Because of all this, even if I "would easily win" if I could afford an attorney, I will have to file bankruptcy (chapter 7 for me).

Therefore, relating to an ONGOING CIVIL case and a need to file BANKRUPTCY, here’s my QUESTIONS if you would please use the same numbering system to answer them so I can keep track (thanks thanks thanks):

I would LOVE it if filing the bankruptcy would END the case so I could go on with my life, find another job, build another company etc. I read a lot of yahoo answers and one said “If they haven’t gotten judgment against you … then your bankruptcy filing can and will stop the case.”, but I need to be sure.

1) is there any ADVANTAGE to me in filing bankruptcy BEFORE the judgment (now is preferred so that I can go on with my life which has been destroyed)?…. and what will opposition do if they know I’ve filed for bankruptcy? Will they attempt to continue the case when they know the bankruptcy will go thru? If so, why would they continue the case?

2) Since I’m going to be filing In advance" of the judgement, can I "claim" the "injuries" they haven’t yet enumerated " …on my petition for bankruptcy? …or do I just “list the case” and say “amount pending”? THANKS.

I know about the "automatic stay" (keeps creditors (I currently have NONE and a perfect credit score I’ve worked hard to build all my life) from coming after you etc).

3) After I file for bankruptcy (I know it takes so many months to go thru), these additional related questions, thanks:

3a) what happens to the current civil case?
3b) what do i tell the judge? Do i have to tell the judge or just inform the other side?
3c) will i still have to finish the case (expected one more year of my life)?
3d) if we’re currently in discovery, will it / can it stop discovery / subpoenas etc?
3e) ….or…does it just “suspend” the case until the b/k procedings are over? …or does the case just continue on in real-time?

Thanks so much for answering all of these "sub-parts" to my ‘compound" question. They’re really important to my life and my families lives.
Ryan K,

That was totally useless. I can’t believe you actually answered 195 other people. You’re a joke.

Technorati Tags: 3b, bankruptcy chapter 7, bankruptcy filing, civil case, civil court, credit score, creditors, filing bankruptcy, job, judgement, judgment against, lawyers, money, numbering system, opposition, petition, yahoo, yahoo answers

I am 21 years old when I was 19 I bought a car and took out a loan for it. Then six months later I lost my job and soon after I surrendered my car up to be repossessed. Then like six months after that I got a letter saying I owed the company over seven thousand dollars for the money they lost. also at the same time my sister who was 16 ran up my cell phone bill and i had to disconnect it. adding another 400 dollars to the already 900 dollar phone bill. Since I lost my job I was not able to pay these bills and when i finally did find a job I barely made enough to cover the bills i had. now I am just wondering if it would be easier to just file bankruptcy and start over or should I try to pay the thirteen thousand dollars. With all the stuff on my credit it comes up to a little over thirteen thousand dollars in debts. What do I do?

Technorati Tags: bankruptcy, cell phone bill, debts, dollar phone, job, money, six months, thousand dollars

Me and my wife after several months of financial hardships have contacted a attorney for possibly going into bankruptcy. We are current on all our bills and always have been. She had to leave her job in January and has not been able to find work since, to try and make up for this I went into a online venture which ended up me being scammed for about ,000 from a credit card I used. We lived off borrowed money and taxes but that is all gone. My question is this, I have no money…I mean no money at all. My refrigerator is broken so we have had to eat out at fast food for the past few weeks. Things are crappy and I need money to get by, however I don’t want to get into trouble for using my cards when I plan on filing for bankruptcy. Is it acceptable to use them for things such as food, clothing, gas etc… I would greatly appreciate any help you can provide. I feel bad enough for being pushed into this but don’t want to get into legal trouble if we do file. I have yet to speak to a attorney and don’t even know if I qualify. So is ok to use the cards for these things? Would be ok to use a credit card to buy a new refrigerator? or to pay to maybe get the old one fixed???? PLEASE HELP!

Thank you so much in advance!

Technorati Tags: cards, credit card, fast food, filing for bankruptcy, financial hardships, food clothing, job, legal trouble, money, refrigerator

I would like to know if my husband should file a complaint to the Labor Department, because of his boss… abusive behaviour; until a year ago… his boss was paying him a salary that was of $ 800.00 at the beguining to $ 1,000 dollars weekly, actually, this fixed salary was on for ten years, and now the boss…simply decided to stop paying this ‘fixed’ salary (currently 1,000 per week) blaming the national financial crisis, and put my husban on ‘commision’ for the cars he is able to fix…. in a week, the problem is some times he gives a car only 100 dollars of labor.. or only 20 hours of labor, and do not show the insurance company stimates on the cars, … and my husband ends up working the whole week (more than 40 hours) plus the saturdays too!.. just to earn 350.00 dollars!!! we are getting in bankruptcy soon because of this, this is a loss of more than 600.00 dollars… per week, and we can’t go on like this; the truth is he is working the same an even more hours… but he earns only 350.00 or 400.00 every week! this is after the change in the payment method from a fixed salary to ‘comission’, and I think it was a way of stealing his money!!. My husband is getting old and the boss is trying to abuse him by stealing him the money of salary. Besides the boss (mananger of car repai shop) blames the financial crisis for this change.. but he employed more people! and work production seems the same.. no less. My husband have been working in there for almost 14 years. My question is: Could he ’sue’ his boss… for discrimination, I think this discrimination is because of course my husband is not as young as he was when he started in this job of car repair technnician. He is certified technician… has to paid to his certification classes every year, and pays by himself a lot for tools.. and earning 350.00 per week is absurd!~… he hasen’t leave because first we want to know his rights.. but don’t know where to go. Also the boss cancelled his vacation week and said to him won’t paid the one vacation week.. my husband for many many years …usually had. No medical insurance. Nothing. WHere can he complaint??? can he sue his boss for abusively….. changing the conditions of payment and vacations?.
Thank Judith, yes I know he should start looking for a new job, the point is does he still have any rights to claim something legally.. despite there is not contract at all… I mean because we have civil rights I guess.. he has been discriminated because his age, he is not as young as 14 years ago when he started in that job… so of course he is not as productive as when younger. He never agree to the change of method of payment, he is pist off they cancelled his salary…. how can a company do this?.. there are not civil rights for employees?

Technorati Tags: abusive behaviour, bankruptcy, boss, car repair, cars, certification classes, discrimination, financial crisis, husban, insurance, insurance company, job, labor department, mananger, money, salary, saturdays, stimates, truth

When my ex and I split up and child support was set up, I made a budget that fit the income. After a few years, my ex quit his job to get out of child support. After finding where he was working and turning it in, he would quit again to move to another job. I used my credit cards to fill in the missing money thinking i would pay it off when he started to pay again. Well that didn’t happen. Now I am filing bankruptcy after cutting everything we used to do out. I will be able to pay the bills with my own income when this is through. My daughter sees that I am stressed and hears the collections calls. Do I tell her the whole truth? I don’t want to seem like a complete failure in her eyes like i can’t handle money and she lost everything she used to do because of my incompetence. We wouldn’t be this bad off if he didn’t run from his responsibilities. But I don’t want to make her hate her dad.
She is 13 years old. Her Dad rarely sees her because it is now his turn to enjoy life since he started to have kids at 20(he is 42 now- and that is a quote from him) He has a 21 year old son from a first marriage living with him who he makes pay all the bills in their house. That son is going to move in with me next month because he has been wanting to go to college but hasnt been able to since all his money goes toward the household expenses(he works 60 hours a week at a little more than minimum wage and he is not my biological child)
This is for the people who asked how much he was in her life and how old she was.

Technorati Tags: 13 years, biological child, budget, child support, collections, credit cards, dad, failure, filing bankruptcy, household expenses, incompetence, job, marriage, minimum wage, missing money, whole truth

I lost my job a few months ago and my husband and I have been not been able to pay the mortgage. I was going to try to modify the loan before filing but it will be void if I file bankruptcy. My attorney says I can try to modify the loan after bankruptcy has been filed. Is this true?

Technorati Tags: bankruptcy, job, mortgage

I have heard it can be done and want to know how it can be done and under what circumstances as I know it’s difficult. I ask because I have over 100k in loans and have been unable to get a job that pays over 30k, and my payments are to be over 1,000 per month and I only make 1,600 per month.

Technorati Tags: 100k, 30k, circumstances, job, loans

Is it just as legally accepted as paperwork filed directly from a lawyer? I don’t have anything I need to reaffirm, no investments/retirement, or other income other than my job, so it’s not going to be difficult.

Given the changes to the bankruptcy laws from back in 2005, do I have to get a lawyer now for this, or can I fill out the forms guided by the software and then file?
I’ve got nothing to dispute. Someone stole my card numbers and rather than working with me and the cops, they sent it to collections. I heard nothing for 2 years. I didn’t get a bill, not calls, nothing. Now they’re trying to sue me and a lawyer told me bankruptcy would be my best option.

I just don’t have the 00 to hire an attorney to fill out paperwork. Other than that they don’t do much.

I don’t have a problem doing the paperwork, I just want to know if using the software will give me the proper paperwork for filing….

Technorati Tags: bankruptcy laws, card numbers, collections, cops, investments, job, lawyer, proper paperwork, retirement

I have a loan that needs to be paid off. The problem is is that I don’t have a job or any source of income to pay it off. The problem is also you can’t file bankruptcy on a student loan. Is there any website that I can go into that will help me pay off my tuition. What about the stimulus plan?

Technorati Tags: bankruptcy, job, stimulus plan, student loan

Hi, my good credit was ruined by a divorce and a loss of a job in feb2009. I was making ,000 a year so the judge thought he would give me ALL the marital debt, then i lost my job about a month later. I was at that job for 5 years. I bought my own house and expedition with nothing down, if that tells you a little about how my credit was. Then i lost my job, and had to file bankruptcy just so i would not loose my house, and then of course my ex fought me on the bankrupty and it got dismissed, but of course my credit has already been ruined. I make good money again, but im just trying to play catch up, and i am married again to a wonderful man, and the only thing we fight about is money that is it! For my entire life i was the one to ALWAYS help others and now, at my time of need there is no one. So does anyone know of any place online or whatever that will finance Christmas gifts even when you have pathetic credit if you can indeed prove your income? I could care less if i get anything, but my girls are still young, and i want to do something for my husband so bad, for what all he went through just because he loved me so much. Thanks for reading!

Technorati Tags: bankruptcy, bankrupty, christmas, christmas gifts, divorce, girls, job, marital debt, money, time of need, wonderful man

I was young, (22yrs old) had 2 jobs and made good money. I decided to trade in my old junk of a car and buy a brand new car. I had no credit history so my then bf helped co-sign for my new car. My interest was sky high but I didn’t care at the beginning because I had no idea what I was doing. I paid a very large amount per month and then after about a year, I lost my main job. A few months after that, I lost my other job. I now was collecting unemployment and went through HELL to make sure that car was paid off every month. I started making late payments and my life was just a mess because not only did I have to pay for that car, I had the insurance, rent, etc. I was no longer able to pay my car and that day came when Mr. repo came knocking on the door. They took my car after 2 years of me working my butt off and they auctioned it off for SO cheap (almost had a heart attack at how much they sold it for!)

This was in 2008 and 2 years later, I’m still struggling financially in more ways than a hundred lol…I have really bad credit, I can’t even open a bank account and I feel like my once so organized and amazing life is now totally off track. I don’t know what to do. These are my questions:

1. If I open a bank account, can my lender seize all my money? Not a savings, a checking account.

2. Being that I did not pay the upside down on the car (,000) should I file for bankruptcy and is it too late to do that after 2 years? And for those who want to suggest that I pay off the 16 grand, I’m not because I’m not going to pay for a car I don’t have anymore and you might say well you’re stuck with it you should have never bought a car you can’t afford I don’t want to hear it because you don’t know my story. I want serious answers, not answers that are going to sound mean and not help.

If there is anything that I’m missing? Please, any advise would be GREATLY appreciated. Thanks in advance

Technorati Tags: bad credit, brand new car, butt, checking account, collecting unemployment, credit history, heart attack, hell, insurance, job, jobs, late payments, lol, money, repo, should i file for bankruptcy, sky, thanks in advance

When I was 18 I got my self into quite a bit of consumer debt. Most of it has not been paid off and it doesn’t look like I am going to be able to deal with it anytime in the near future. I just got a call informing me that a bank has filed a civil claim for close to 00 for a credit card with a balance of 00. They haven’t found me to serve me papers yet but I’m wondering if filing for bankruptcy will help get rid of all this baggage. I have two kids now and my husband just lost his job so I legitimately do not have the means to pay of my debt. Anyways I’m not sure what my best option is.

Technorati Tags: civil claim, consumer debt, credit card, filing for bankruptcy, job

I was young, (22yrs old) had 2 jobs and made good money. I decided to trade in my old junk of a car and buy a brand new car. I had no credit history so my then bf helped co-sign for my new car. My interest was sky high but I didn’t care at the beginning because I had no idea what I was doing. I paid a very large amount per month and then after about a year, I lost my main job. A few months after that, I lost my other job. I now was collecting unemployment and went through HELL to make sure that car was paid off every month. I started making late payments and my life was just a mess because not only did I have to pay for that car, I had the insurance, rent, etc. I was no longer able to pay my car and that day came when Mr. repo came knocking on the door. They took my car after 2 years of me working my butt off and they auctioned it off for SO cheap (almost had a heart attack at how much they sold it for!)

This was in 2008 and 2 years later, I’m still struggling financially in more ways than a hundred lol…I have really bad credit, I can’t even open a bank account and I feel like my once so organized and amazing life is now totally off track. I don’t know what to do. These are my questions:

1. If I open a bank account, can my lender seize all my money? Not a savings, a checking account.

2. Being that I did not pay the upside down on the car (,000) should I file for bankruptcy and is it too late to do that after 2 years? And for those who want to suggest that I pay off the 16 grand, I’m not because I’m not going to pay for a car I don’t have anymore and you might say well you’re stuck with it you should have never bought a car you can’t afford I don’t want to hear it because you don’t know my story. I want serious answers, not answers that are going to sound mean and not help.

If there is anything that I’m missing? Please, any advise would be GREATLY appreciated. Thanks in advance

Technorati Tags: bad credit, brand new car, butt, checking account, collecting unemployment, credit history, heart attack, hell, insurance, job, jobs, late payments, lol, money, repo, should i file for bankruptcy, sky, thanks in advance

Before we answer this question, we must first determine what type of information is needed to complete a free bankruptcy case evaluation online.

There are four essential parts of an online free bankruptcy evaluation. The first part quite simply asks for your reason for thinking about filing bankruptcy. Here a number of reasons are given for you to check. The most common of which may be a job loss or illness.

For more information please visit here http://www.bankruptcyintro.com

Technorati Tags: bankruptcy case, case evaluation, filing bankruptcy, free bankruptcy, job

I have about 23,000 in unsecured credit card debt. I recently lost my job and had to take one making a lot less per month. I went a debt consolidation program that got my payment down to about 700.00 per month. The problem is i am only bringing home net about 1200.00. I then have a mortage utilities and insurance etc so i am running in the hole. Is debt settlememt a good alternative. I do not want bankruptcy . I know settlement will hurt my credit score but at this point I need a way out. I have heard that settlement companies make you hold off on payments and the credit card companies will keep hounding you? Is this true? Does anybody have a suggestion to my dilema

Technorati Tags: bankruptcy, bringing home, credit card companies, credit card debt, credit score, debt consolidation program, dilema, insurance, job, settlement companies, suggestion, unsecured credit card

I’m current on all my bills so far but if I can’t find a job I’ll be behind next month. I know bankruptcy is a last resort but I want to know all my options.

Technorati Tags: bankruptcy, job, last resort

I would like to get my husband’s business name secured and him have insurance, etc so when he does side work, he is insured, etc. I am just wondering if it’s okay to go ahead and set up an LLC if I am filing for bankruptcy soon? I don’t even know if he’ll do any work under this name before we file but I just wanted to secure the name, etc. Will they frown upon this even if the business doesn’t make any money? We want to do everything we can to pick up our income since obviously (provided by the fact of filing BK) are struggling tremendously? I just don’t want creditors attacking our business? I wish I didn’t have to file BK but we are left with no other options. We can barely afford our home anymore so I can’t pay these poor people back. My husband’s pay got cut in half several months ago and there was no warning at all. We are lucky at this point that he has a job at all compared to many others out there. I am hoping this side work will help us in the end and potentially even not be able to file BK and make settlements. Sorry…that is O/T. Do you think I should go for an LLC…it costs to file it as such and has many benefits. Thank you.

Technorati Tags: bk, business name, creditors, filing for bankruptcy, insurance, job, money

Husband lost his job – we’re now on one salary and barely scraping by as it is. We are now so far behind on our debt bills and none of our creditors are willing to work with us, so we’ve decided to file for bankruptcy. We located a bankruptcy attorney and he gave us a list of things to get together and to complete an online credit counseling course. While getting our things together he was quick to respond to our questions. We sent all our documents to him last week (tax info, payment stubs, bank statements) and now he won’t call or email us back. Should we assume that he’s not going to assist us? Could this be a scam and he’s planning on wiping us out using the info we gave him? We looked him up in our state’s Bar Association and he was on there. What should we do?

Technorati Tags: bank statements, bankruptcy attorney, credit counseling course, creditors, job, payment stubs, salary

I’m meeting with a bankruptcy attorney tomorrow morning. This is only because in 6 months, I have been unable to find a job and my unemployment is going to run out. I want to start a criminal justice program and I originally had planned to wait till I had a job to make monthly payments, but would it hurt to add the 0 to my already 00 credit card today? I have about ,000 in debt before adding the criminal justice program. This is a mix of credit cards, medical bills and student loans. Does anyone know? Thanks!!

Technorati Tags: bankruptcy attorney, credit card, credit cards, criminal justice program, job, medical bills, student loans, tomorrow morning, unemployment

First and foremost, if you are here to insult me you might as well save it. You could not possibly think any less of me than I do of myself at the moment.

In case you would like a little background history, I am 26 years old and living back at home. I am not currently working and was terminated from my previous two jobs. One was on a retaliatory basis and one was pretty much what I would call theft by omission. Let me explain, you see I had gone into the diner where I was working, at the time, on my night off. Of course, I had quite a bit to drink that night but not enough to excuse my actions (seeing on the ticket that my meal wasn’t on there and leaving without doing anything to rectify the situation.) A "friend" slash co-worker went with me, along with a few other friends. The co-worker had asked the cook to make some food without a ticket and slipped him some money to do so, evidently. When he told me of his plan I told him it was stupid and I would prefer to just pay for my food. Well, he kept insisting on "taking care of it," so I went to our waitress and asked her to make sure my food was on the ticket; all she did was smirk and chuckle. Long story short, my food wasn’t one of the meals on the ticket and I was fired for that purpose. Now, I have never been a thief and don’t want my reputation completely down the shooter. I really want to go in to speak with the GM, but I have anxiety and have yet to bring myself to go in and pay for my food, though they had no qualms whatsoever about making me work OFF the clock for them on several occasions. I’m not trying to justify anything, but merely trying to figure out what the best approach would be? Do I get the courage to go in and speak with the GM? Do I write it off since I’m already regarded as a thief? What should I do? (By the way, there is a LOT more to this story, but I am not here to vent.)

Before that I job-hopped a lot. Nothing was ever challenging enough. I was always ambitious but seemed to have lost all motivation (due to depression mostly,) and direction in life.

I’ve been in and out of college. Dropping out several times due to a debilitating anxiety disorder and relationship problems.

I’ve accumulated some debt in the process and feel so overwhelmed. Once in a while I will tell myself, " I should just file bankruptcy!" Then I begin to rationalize and know that it’s not an option for me. I WANT to get back on track and pay my debt off, respectively.

Right now my sole focus is trying to find a new job, but I AM being sort of picky because I want to find something that will last while I get my life back together with paying my debt off; moving back into a place of my own; and returning to and finishing college.

Lately though, all I can think about is suicide. It’s just a lingering thought mostly. Is there something I can do to keep these thoughts from entering my mind? I keep telling myself if I keep my faith in God things will be all right.

If you need further details let me know. Your advice is greatly appreciated. Thank you.

Technorati Tags: anxiety, background history, clock, co worker, courage, gm, job, jobs, money, occasions, omission, qualms, reputation, shooter, thief, waitress