Oak Park Real Estate & Estate Planning Blog

If you receive a call from someone who claims to work for the government and asks for sensitive personal information or money to pay off a debt , what should you do? It is extremely important to be aware of government imposters in the debt collection industry. According to a recent article from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the agency has received numerous reports about fake government agents trying to scam consumers. Learning More About Government Imposters in the Debt Collection Industry According to the FTC article, this is not the first time that “those pesky government imposters” have attempted to deceive consumers. These fake callers take many different approaches in their efforts to con consumers out of money. In some cases, the government imposters will tell you that you have won a contest and will indicate that they need more information about you (from your home address to your Social Security number) in order to deliver your winnings. In other cases, f...

Should you be thinking differently about filing for Chapter 7 bankruptcy if you recently inherited an individual retirement account (IRA)? According to a recent article in The Detroit News , inheriting an IRA can actually make a big difference in terms of your personal finances and what you can gain by filing for consumer bankruptcy . Based on the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in Clark v. Rameker , inherited IRAs are not associated with the same protections as IRAs that were not inherited. Although the case was decided in 2014, the article emphasizes the need for debtors to revisit the decision and its remaining implications for personal bankruptcy cases. How Inherited IRAs Can Affect Your Bankruptcy Filing Why should an IRA impact your personal bankruptcy filing? After all, debtors are entitled to a number of exemptions that allow them to keep certain property even after filing for liquidation bankruptcy. IRAs and 401(k) accounts are exempt up to a certain cap. The fe...

Student loan debt in America is in the trillions. And student loan debt it is very difficult, if not impossible, to discharge through bankruptcy . So, if you are not likely to be able to discharge your student loans by filing for Chapter 7 bankruptcy, is there another way to wipe out that debt? According to a recent article in Fortune Magazine , you may be able to rely on the “borrower defense” to get rid of your monthly student loan payments. Students Seeking Loan Forgiveness for Fraudulent College Marketing Tactics According to the article, debtors throughout the country are looking to an obscure federal law that may allow them to wipe out their student loan debts. As the article notes, “for many of them, it’s working.” What is this obscure federal law? In short, it says that students can be eligible to “ditch their loans if they can show their school made false or fraudulent claims to recruit them.” What do false or fraudulent claims during recruiting look like? Su...

When you file for Chapter 7 bankruptcy —a form of bankruptcy also known as liquidation bankruptcy—you are largely prohibited from keeping any property that is not exempt. However, sometimes the decisions of a bankruptcy court can be surprising, especially to concerned debtors. According to a recent article in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch , an appeals court ruled that a debtor’s rare 1830 edition of a Book of Mormon was an item that she was allowed to keep. How can a debtor be permitted to keep an extremely valuable rare book? In short, Illinois bankruptcy exemptions include “a Bible.” To better understand the bankruptcy court’s decision, we should take a closer look at the article and specific Illinois exemptions for personal bankruptcy. Debtor Permitted to Keep Her Scarce Bible Under Bankruptcy Exemptions The debtor in this case, Anna F. Robinson, filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in 2013. She had about $23,000 in debt, and she knew that much of her property, aside...

One of the common misconceptions about consumer bankruptcy is that it is a tool used primarily by debtors who simply failed to properly manage their finances. Yet as a recent article in Reuters Health makes clear, many Americans—including Chicago residents—who are currently dealing with substantial debt are cancer survivors. Much of that debt is a result of the costly treatments they needed to beat the disease. What else do you need to know about medical bills and personal bankruptcy ? Rapidly Increasing Cancer Care Costs The Reuters Health article cites a recent study, which notes, “one-third of working-age cancer survivors go into debt, and 3% file for bankruptcy.” Why are so many cancer survivors dealing with nearly insurmountable debt? In short, the costs of cancer care in our country have increased rapidly in the last several years—“two to three times faster than other healthcare expenses,” according to the authors of the recent study. How much do cancer ther...