When To File Bankruptcy » judgment against

Can past due HOA judgment/bank garnishment be discharged in Ch. 7 bankruptcy if I am trying to keep home?

admin — Wed, 06 Apr 2011 12:00:46 +0000

My HOA’s Attorney raked up excessive unjustified fees on me for their own personal gain. I was late paying my HOA fees initially and willing paid the stated late fees along with my HOA dues. However, the Attorney collecting these fees does not accept credit card payments over the phone or online, etc. Therefore, I mailed the amount owed. To my surprise, I later received another letter indicating I owed another 0 for late fees. I ignored this notice b/c I thought that they probably didn’t input my payment in their system prior to the letter going out. So I received another letter stating I owed the 0 plus additional fees, and so on. Basically, each time I paid the stated late fees via mail, the Attorney claimed my payment didn’t arrive on time to their Office, and therefore I owed additional late fees.

In addition, all of my payments were applied towards Attorney late fees rather than my HOA dues. My dues were only 0 per year, but within that year I paid over 0 in additional fees that were never applied towards the full amount owed to my HOA. The Attorney continued to take their money off the top and say that I still owed a balance towards my HOA dues. As a result, I stopped paying b/c I felt I was being ripped off and the fees continued to increase. They ended up suing me for the amount they claimed I owed along with more Attorney fees and court cost.

Since I mistakenly missed the initial court date, when I showed up for the second court date where they filed a judgment against me, they won simply b/c I missed the initial court date. Now they are garnishing my bank account for the amount owed from the judgment.

Currently, I’m unemployed and my home is in foreclosure. I recently filed chapter 7 bankruptcy to stop the sale of my home so I can have time to secure a job and work out a modification on my home loan and get it out of foreclosure. I have not had the meeting of creditor’s as of yet. Can I discharge the past due HOA fees from the judgment/garnishment? I am willing to pay the past due HOA fees I accumulated after the garnishment since I intend on keeping my property. Also, I live in Georgia. Thanks for your answers.

Technorati Tags: attorney fees, chapter 7 bankruptcy, credit card payments, creditor, foreclosure, hoa dues, home loan, job, judgment against, late fees, mail, money, personal gain, surprise

I'm in the process of filing bankruptcy, but am being sued in a week. What do I do?

admin — Tue, 14 Dec 2010 21:37:54 +0000

I’m in the process of filing a chapter 7 and my attorney’s office is still working out the details. It’s a real fresh start; my son and I moved in with my family, we’re letting the house go as part of the CH7, etc.
Unfortunately, the attorney has yet to actually file the CH7 on my behalf. I work 8-5, Monday-Friday, and I just started this (well-paying) job so I have no business asking for time off.
The mess comes from Citifinancial, who has involved their attorneys in collection of an old debt. You know, the kind where when you tell them you’re having trouble paying, they "help" you by telling you that you have to refinance the debt, borrowing more, and won’t work with you otherwise. The debt is 6 months from clearing statute of limitations on collections, so they filed suit.

On the 8th, I have a court date right in the middle of my work schedule. The attorney’s office said they couldn’t file my CH7 until a week after, but said "we always advise our clients that it’s better to stay at work and make money, than to lose more by going to court when you’re going to have a judgment against you either way. " They then said it would take 45-60 days for me to see any ill effects from the garnishment, and by then, I’d be within the automatic stay period anyway. I was advised to simply wait for them to contact me next Monday to obtain anything missing from what I gave them as far as information is concerned.

This makes sense to me, but I feel a disturbance in the force. Can they instigate a garnishment at the very same time they obtain the judgment? I’m in TN and can’t find anything to satisfactorily answer this, though it seems "implied" that they must first attempt to collect from me under the judgment before they can attempt to garnish, whether I show up or not. I know I should empty any bank accounts (indeed, perhaps close them) before the judgment goes into place, but do I need to go to the civil court date anyway, if the next week my automatic stay would begin?

I’m very confused as to what I should be doing.
To clarify: I contacted the attorney and reached the paralegals, but have been unable to reach the attorney. The paralegals are the ones who guided me on these most recent steps.
I just noticed on my summons, there was no notation as to the proper window in which I must "Answer". This is supposed to be there, and I was served exactly 30 days before the court date. Can I submit an "Answer" citing that due to the lack of definition by the Plaintiff on the summons (which was authored by the plaintiff and signed off on by the court), that in addition to being unable to attend on that date and needing to reschedule, that the Plaintiff intentionally evaded my rights to respond in order to attempt forcing a default judgment?

Technorati Tags: attorneys, autom, ch7, chapter 7, citifinancial, civil court, collections, fresh start, garnishment, going to court, ill effects, job, judgment against, money, statute of limitations, time off

How can I file bankruptcy on medical bills, that is my ex-wife's.?

admin — Thu, 21 Oct 2010 22:55:03 +0000

The creditor filed judgment against me on my credit for medical bill, that was from my ex -wife. I was being nice and stupid, she was still under my insurance coverage even we were separated, I had no idea where was she, all of sudden there was medical bill on my credit. I filed divorce on the news paper because I couldn’t find her. I am still not able to pay this money, I am thinking about filing bankruptcy… How can I do it?

Technorati Tags: creditor, divorce, filing bankruptcy, insurance, insurance coverage, judgment against, medical bill, money, news paper

Current civil case for injuries/money owed. What happens to the case if you file Bankruptcy during case?

admin — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 15:43:23 +0000

I’m currently in a labor dispute civil lawsuit and there will probably be a judgment against our side since we don’t have the money to continue to defend ourselves for another year against their attornies on our own, despite having done nothing wrong, and we can’t afford an attorney.

5 related QUESTIONS if you would please take the time to number your answers the same (thanks):

1. Current civil case for injuries/money owed. What happens to the case if I file Bankruptcy during the case? For example, does it "end" the case, does the case get "suspended" while/until the b/k is processed? Or does the case just continue simultaneously with the b/k processing?

2. Do I "have" to wait til the END of the civil case until after the official judgment (the actual amount has not yet been stated)…or can I file the b/k and STILL INCLUDE the case on our list of creditors even though there’s no official number yet (something like "amount pending")?

3. Ideally, I’d like the b/k filing to STOP the case itself so that I don’t have to continue wasting our time fighting it when I don’t have the resources. We’ve heard:

"If they haven’t gotten judgment against you, then your bankruptcy filing can and will stop the case.” Is this true or is this possible? For example what happens to discovery and subpoenas? Do they just continue?

3. Also, if I file b/k, will the opposing counsel still continue the case?

4. Is there any ADVANTAGE to filing b/k before the amount is entered in the judgment?

5. Is there some law that allows us to tell the judge "we do not have the money to continue to defend ourselves"…without the opposing party just being awarded whatever amount they state by default?

Please number your answers. No smart allics or "just get an attorney dumbey" answers. We can’t afford an attorney.

Technorati Tags: attornies, bankruptcy filing, civil case, civil lawsuit, creditors, discovery, judgment against, labor dispute, money, subpoenas, wasting our time

Should I file Bankruptcy?

admin — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 14:26:06 +0000

In 2001 I started a job. On the day my insurance kicked in I had to have emergency gall bladder surgery. I gave the hospital all the information I had, when I got the bill (upward of ten thousand dollars) I contacted them yet again and gave them the information. This went on for years. I have disputed these charges over and over and yet I can’t get any relief. That is the largest debt I have. I also have a judgment against me for 00 – the woman who has this judgment against me is not really open to working with me to say the least. Should I send her payments regardless and try to dispute this hospital bill -still- or should I file a Chapter 7? Any advice is appreciated.

Technorati Tags: chapter 7, gall bladder, gall bladder surgery, insurance, job, judgment against, ten thousand, thousand dollars