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If You Are Self-Employed or Have a Small Business, You Need To Read This:

Due to the current economic and social landscape caused by COVID-19, schools are closed, people are under quarantine, there’s a shortage of medical supplies across the country, and businesses (whether considered essential or not) have been forced to shut down their operations and lay people off. As I write this, a record 6.65 million peopled filed jobless claims in the week that ended on March 28 according to the Labor Department – doubling the prior week’s jobless claims of 3.31 million.

The April 15^th tax deadline is right around the corner, and if you already owe income taxes for previous tax years, you could be facing an even larger tax debt when the dust settles. The IRS is a notorious creditor and if you take the “bury your head in the sand” approach like most people do (unfortunately), the IRS will start garnishing wages, seizing bank accounts, and start levying your home and other personal property. Nevertheless, you still have other options. Bankruptcy is a great tool to help you minimize your existing tax debt and this blog will explore how bankruptcy can help you get rid of some of that unwanted tax debt.

Unlike other financial issues such as credit card debt, medical debt is not caused by unwise monetary choices, but rather it is often caused by unforeseen circumstances. The issue is cyclical: You are in debt because of unforeseen medical circumstances and the financial stress that comes with these additional medical expenses causes you to get sicker and deeper into medical debt. 

Most homeowners don’t pay enough attention to educating themselves about the foreclosure process. Look at it this way, if you’re buying a home and don’t know the foreclosure process and your options, you’re like a soldier without a rifle - you are flying blind my home-owning friend. Educating yourself about the foreclosure process and your options should be one of the first things a homeowner should do before or after buying a home. This blog will explore the foreclosure process and how you could save your home or investment property through a bankruptcy.

In a recent experience with a client (“Jane Doe”), she began by telling me that after six months of infusing her franchise with cash directly from her retirement accounts, the franchise was doing poorly and she had no idea how to get out of the hole. To add salt to the wound, she had personally guaranteed i) the lease to the commercial space; ii) the franchise agreement; and the small business loan that the business needed to get started. This is obviously a worse case scenario for a business owners, especially if the business isn’t making any profit because its only a matter of time before the business shuts down and the creditors start coming after the business owner. After an hour of getting a sense of her personal and business finances, I began to explain to Mrs. Doe, the different options she had and how these “Executory Contracts” would be treated within her bankruptcy.

According to a recent study conducted by the Federal Bank Reserve of New York, 7 million Americans with auto loans were 90 or more days delinquent in 2018.  More importantly, the study demonstrates that majority of those who were delinquent on their auto loans were low- to middle-income borrowers, under 30 years of age, and with subprime credit scores (credit scores of 620 and lower).

Filing for divorce is never an easy process. This can become more complicated when one of the spouses seeks to file for bankruptcy in the middle of a pending divorce proceeding. This blog will explore the factors that individuals need to consider if they’re looking to file for bankruptcy while their divorce proceeding is pending.

Individuals who are considering filing for bankruptcy may be concerned about the effect that the bankruptcy filing will have on their current job or future job offers. They may be asking: will my employer will find out about my bankruptcy? Can I be terminated because I filed for bankruptcy? Can I be denied potential employment because of the bankruptcy filing?

Section 525 of the United States Bankruptcy Code places limits on whether an employer can discriminate against someone because of a bankruptcy. Unfortunately, a lot of people looking to file for bankruptcy are misinformed or just don’t know the effects of a bankruptcy filing on current or future employment. Here is what you need to know:

Understanding the Different Types of Bankruptcy Retainers

Attorneys’ fees for a bankruptcy will always vary from attorney to attorney. For the most part, when you’re hiring an attorney to handle your bankruptcy case, you will be quoted a retainer amount plus the court costs associated with the filing. If the retainer is on an hourly basis, the client will be responsible to pay for services in excess of the retainer amount. If the retainer is for a flat-fee (or a one-time payment), there should be no additional charges by the attorney (with the exception of a few situations mentioned below). Regardless of whether the retainer is on an hourly basis or a flat-fee, the retainer amount should cover most, if not all, of the administrative aspects of the bankruptcy.

Considering filing for bankruptcy is never easy, in fact, it will probably be one of the most difficult financial decisions that one will make. Nevertheless, once the decision is made and people begin to experience the relief that bankruptcy provides, they see what it’s like to have a financial fresh start and a stress free life. But, when should one begin to consider filing for bankruptcy? If you’re unsure, here are some signs that will help you decide on whether maybe it is time to consider filing for bankruptcy.