Oak Park Real Estate & Estate Planning Blog

After you have retired, you are most likely living on a fixed income and are relying on Social Security for income, as well as income from a retirement account or pension that you built up during your working life. For many older adults in retirement, the possibility of having to consider bankruptcy due to debt can be devastating, and most seniors want to do everything they can to end up in a situation where they cannot afford to live while paying off substantial and crushing debt. For many elderly Americans, overwhelming debt after retirement results from unexpected medical bills or long-term care, or in some cases, the decision to file for a “gray divorce.” No matter what the underlying reason for your debt, should you be considering consumer bankruptcy if you have already retired? And is bankruptcy even an option for you? The following are some key pieces of information to keep in mind. You Might Not Have Any Non-Exempt Assets First, and most importantly, you should seek advice ...

If you are considering the possibility of filing for personal bankruptcy under Chapter 7 or Chapter 13, you might have encountered information about a recently proposed law that would change the consumer bankruptcy process. In December, Elizabeth Warren and Jerrold Nadler introduced the Consumer Bankruptcy Reform Act of 2020 (CBRA), which aims to streamline the consumer bankruptcy process and to make it easier for certain types of debts to be discharged. You may be wondering if this proposed legislation can affect your existing bankruptcy case. In other words, if you file for consumer bankruptcy at some point in the coming weeks or months, and if this law passes, can it change your case or affect your discharge? Or, if you have filed for Chapter 13 bankruptcy and are making payments on a repayment plan that will last from three to five years, can the Consumer Bankruptcy Reform Act change the nature of your repayment plan or your ultimate discharge? In short, if the law does pass, it ...

Are there situations in which you can be required to repay debts you owe even after you receive a bankruptcy discharge ? Can a creditor continue trying to collect on debts you owe after your bankruptcy case has been completed or, worse, force you to reaffirm your debts? There are relatively few types of debts that a debtor will still owe following a bankruptcy discharge, and some of those debts may be reaffirmed debts based on the particular situation of the party filing for bankruptcy. However, U.S. bankruptcy law does not permit debtors to continue taking legal actions in attempts to collect on debts that have been discharged in a bankruptcy case. Our Oak Park bankruptcy lawyers can tell you more about reaffirmed debt and how debt responsibilities can persist after a bankruptcy discharge. Reaffirming Debt is a Process That Will Occur Prior to a Bankruptcy Discharge One of the first things to know is that, if any debt is going to be reaffirmed such that a debtor still owes it fol...

While many consumers who file for Chapter 7 bankruptcy or Chapter 13 bankruptcy in Oak Park are first-time bankruptcy filers, some consumers who are filing for bankruptcy are doing so after a previous bankruptcy case. If you have filed for bankruptcy in the past, how soon can you file for bankruptcy again? Does the waiting period change if you do not receive a bankruptcy discharge the first time around? Our experienced Oak Park bankruptcy attorneys are here to provide you with information about filing for bankruptcy more than once. Waiting Periods Apply to Previous Bankruptcy Discharges The first thing to know is that waiting periods between bankruptcy cases under the U.S. Bankruptcy Code apply to bankruptcy discharges as opposed to bankruptcy filings. In other words, if you previously filed for bankruptcy but did not receive a discharge, you are not bound by a waiting period under bankruptcy law. However, if you did receive a previous bankruptcy discharge, then you need to learn...

For nearly 18 months, consumers across the country (and across the globe) have been struggling with the physical and economic ramifications of the COVID-19 pandemic. Early on in the pandemic, many commentators expected to see personal bankruptcy rates rising, with increased Chapter 7 bankruptcy and Chapter 13 bankruptcy filings. Yet those predictions largely have not come to fruition, at least not yet. A recent article from the American Bar Association discusses what bankruptcy shifts have occurred in the age of COVID-19, and what could change in the near future. Our Oak Park bankruptcy attorneys want to go over some of those issues with you to give you a sense of where we are when it comes to consumer bankruptcy filings, and where we could be going. Chapter 7 and Chapter 13 Bankruptcy Cases Have Not Surged One key thing to know about bankruptcy in the era of COVID-19 is expectations that we would see a sharp rise in consumer bankruptcy filings has not occurred. Indeed, as the articl...

Did you know that if you have any debt that has been forgiven or canceled, you may owe income taxes on that amount of money? In other words, you may need to pay taxes on that amount of money as if it were part of your income. However, not all forgiven or canceled debt is taxable. As such, it is critical to understand when you may owe taxes on canceled debt and when you do not need to worry about it. Our Oak Park bankruptcy attorneys will provide you with some more information and examples to help clarify situations in which eliminated debt can be taxed. When a Creditor Forgives Your Debt Outside Bankruptcy Generally speaking, if a creditor forgives or cancels any of your debt outside of bankruptcy, the amount of money that is forgiven is treated as taxable income. To be clear, if you owe money and your debt is forgiven or a portion of it is discharged outside bankruptcy, whatever amount that you do not have to pay is considered canceled debt and is typically taxable as income. As the ...