Tags:A.G. SCHNEIDERMAN, Bankruptcy, Bankruptcy Attorney, Bankruptcy Law Center, Bankruptcy Schedules, banks, Bodow Law Firm, Chapter 13. Araujo, Chapter 7, Credit Cards, Estate Property, Exemptions, Foreclosure, foreclosure defense, foreclosure settlement, HAMP, Keeping property in a bankruptcy, List, Listing property in a bankruptcy, Mistakes, mortgage, mortgage modification, mortgage settlement, New York, NEW YORK HOMEOWNERS IN MORTGAGE SERVICING SETTLEMENT, Northern District of New York, note, Onondaga County Bankruptcy Attorney, Property; cross collateralization; debt; title; Deed; credit cards; payoff; foreclosure, securitization, short sale, Syracuse, Syracuse Bankruptcy Attorney, Tax Refunds, Theodore Araujo, Trustee, Westchester County, White Plains.
A.G. SCHNEIDERMAN SECURES $136 MILLION FOR STRUGGLING NEW YORK HOMEOWNERS IN MORTGAGE SERVICING SETTLEMENT After Schneiderman’s Persistence, Narrow Settlement Preserves Sweeping Legal Claims For Housing Crisis Misconduct That Has Not Yet Been Investigated
New York To Receive More Per Underwater Borrower Than Any Other State, Plus Loan Modifications, Principal Reductions
Schneiderman: Civil & Criminal Investigations Will Continue As We Seek Accountability For Those Responsible For Crisis And Leverage Greater Relief For Homeowners
NEW YORK – Winning his long, persistent demand that a wide array of sweeping civil and criminal claims not be released without investigation, Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman announced today a $136 million settlement for New York with the nation’s five largest mortgage servicers over foreclosure abuses, the most per “underwater” borrower of any state in the nation, and the fourth highest dollar amount nationwide as part of the federal-state settlement. In addition to penalties for past abuses, the settlement includes direct relief to victims of wrongful foreclosure conduct, loan modifications including principal reductions for struggling homeowners, and funds that can be used to support foreclosure legal assistance and housing counseling programs. Today’s settlement, which also imposes strong national standards for mortgage servicing, fulfills Attorney General Schneiderman’s demand that he retain the right to bring legal action over misconduct that has not yet been investigated, a right that was absent from earlier settlement proposals.
“Thanks to the advocacy and support of Americans across the country, we have preserved the right to continue investigating the misconduct that led to the bubble and crash of the housing market. For a year, the proposed settlement was simply inadequate, and I applaud all those who fought with us to hold banks accountable for their role in the foreclosure crisis, provide meaningful relief to New York’s struggling homeowners, and allow a full airing of the facts to ensure that abuses of this scale never happen again,” said Attorney General Schneiderman.
“On multiple fronts, we will continue to investigate the mortgage crisis that has impacted communities in every corner of this state, and ensure that justice and accountability prevail.”
Over the past year, Attorney General Schneiderman fought for a fair national settlement, on behalf of New York’s homeowners, for mortgage servicing abuses, making it clear that he would not sign an agreement that would give financial institutions broad legal immunity for conduct that had not been investigated. Until recently, the language in settlement proposals had been too broad to justify reaching an agreement. Today’s settlement is a vast improvement, and it will allow the Office of the Attorney General and other agencies to investigate and bring appropriate civil and criminal actions.
New York’s estimated share of the guaranteed cash payments in the settlement is $136 million, the fourth highest in the nation. New York will be able to distribute these funds to legal aid, homeowner assistance and advocacy organizations to help distressed individuals facing foreclosure or servicer abuse.
Among the critical legal claims Attorney General Schneiderman fought for, and successfully preserved in today’s settlement are:
All criminal claims.
All claims based on mortgage securitization misconduct, under securities fraud statutes, including New York’s Martin Act, and other sources of law. This includes securitization claims based on servicing, foreclosure or origination-related facts.
All claims directly against the private national mortgage electronic registry system known as MERS, as well as claims against financial institutions for the use of MERS in the Attorney General’s recently filed lawsuit over a wide range of deceptive and fraudulent practices in New York.
All claims for violations of fair lending lawsthat relate to discriminatory practices in loan origination.
All tax claims, including any claim that the failure to transfer mortgage loans to the securitization trusts or other conduct violated tax rules.
All claims by counties for lost mortgage recording fees; and All claims and defenses held by private and third parties, including those held by individual mortgage loan borrowers.
Mark Ladov, Counsel for the Brennan Center’s Democracy Program said, “Homeowners in every corner of state have been hit hard by the mortgage crisis. We must do everything we can to prevent this kind of economic catastrophe from happening again, and to assist the families and communities hit hardest. We applaud the leadership of Attorney General Schneiderman in ensuring that today’s settlement provides much-needed funding for foreclosure prevention services, a great deal for the people of this state. This settlement is a landmark, but much work remains to be done. Fortunately, Attorney General Schneiderman has preserved our state’s right to investigate the mortgage meltdown, and we will work with him to deliver justice for the people of New York.”
Kirsten E. Keefe, Senior Attorney, Empire Justice Center, said, “We applaud Attorney General Schneiderman’s work towards a meaningful agreement that promises to provide desperately needed relief to New York’s homeowners, as well as hold the industry accountable. We truly appreciate the Attorney General’s recognition of the importance and need for direct services for struggling homeowners, and the critical role legal services and housing counselors play in keeping homeowners in their homes. We look forward to working with Attorney General Schneiderman to ensure that servicers do the right thing and provide meaningful loan modifications to stabilize New York’s housing market and economy.”
Sarah Ludwig, Co-Director of the Neighborhood Economic Development Advocacy Project said, “Thousands of New York families and communities are still suffering from the fallout of the foreclosure crisis, and the settlement charts out critical relief. We thank Attorney General Schneiderman for insisting on transparency and accountability in the process of forging a multi-state settlement. We look forward to working with the Attorney General to make sure that the settlement is effectively implemented and enforced in New York, and to ensuring that individual homeowners’ rights are vigorously protected.”
Christie Peale, Executive Director of the Center for NYC Neighborhoods, said, “New Yorkers have been fortunate to have strong leadership fighting for a fair resolution to the economic crisis. We applaud Attorney General Schneiderman for his continued commitment to justice and accountability. This settlement, along with the state’s ongoing investigation into the mortgage crisis will bring both immediate and long-term relief to homeowners at risk of losing their homes.”
Today’s settlement preserves the legal authority of the Schneiderman-led Residential Mortgage-Backed Securities Working Group announced by President Obama in the State of the Union address. This joint investigation brings together the Department of Justice (DOJ), several state law enforcement officials, and other federal agencies to investigate those responsible for misconduct contributing to the financial crisis through the pooling and sale of residential mortgage-backed securities. It builds upon ongoing state and federal investigations, while also launching new ones.
The new working group includes hundreds of staff, including an initial commitment of 55 Department of Justice attorneys, in addition to analysts, agents and investigators. As it begins its work, 15 federal prosecutors – civil and criminal – and 10 FBI agents and analysts will be initially assigned to the working group. An additional 30 attorneys, investigators and other staff from U.S. Attorneys’ Offices around the country will join the working group’s efforts, in addition to existing state and federal investigations into similar misconduct under those authorities.
Attorney General Schneiderman has made it a top priority of his administration to hold accountable those whose misconduct led to the collapse of the housing market– and to provide significant relief to homeowners. In the State of New York, an average of 1 in 10 mortgages is at risk of foreclosure. The approximate number of individuals living in homes that are either in foreclosure or at risk of foreclosure (based on typical household size for each distressed mortgage) exceeds the populations of Buffalo, Rochester, and Syracuse combined.
The below figures for New York homeowners are estimates of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. The specific amounts are dependent on eligibility requirements and are not guaranteed.
Payments to victims of wrongful foreclosure: $13 million estimated Benefits estimated from refinance program: $140 million estimated Homeowners’ benefits from loan modifications: $495 million estimated
Because of the complexity of the mortgage market and this agreement, which will be performed over a three-year period, borrowers will not immediately know if they are eligible for relief. It will take between 30-60 days to appoint a settlement administrator, and banks will be conducting a vigorous search to identify eligible borrowers and this may take several months.
For loan modifications and refinance options, borrowers may be contacted directly by one of the five participating mortgage servicers.
For payments to foreclosure victims, a settlement administrator designated by the attorneys general will send claim forms to eligible persons (You may be eligible if you were foreclosed on between January 1, 2008 and Dec. 31, 2012) Even if you are not contacted, if your loan is serviced by one of the five settling banks, you are encouraged to contact your servicer to see if you are eligible—keeping in mind that it will take anywhere from six to nine months to be contacted.
Bank of America: 877-488-7814
Citi: 866-272-4749
Chase: 866-372-6901
GMAC: 800-766-4622
Wells Fargo: 1-800-288-3212
Posted on 9 February '12 by Theodore Araujo, under Uncategorized. No Comments.
Tags:Bankruptcy, Bankruptcy Attorney, Bankruptcy Law Center, Bankruptcy Schedules, banks, Bodow Law Firm, Chapter 13. Araujo, Chapter 7, Credit Cards, Estate Property, Exemptions, Foreclosure, foreclosure defense, foreclosure settlement, HAMP, Keeping property in a bankruptcy, List, Listing property in a bankruptcy, Mistakes, mortgage, mortgage modification, mortgage settlement, New York, Northern District of New York, note, Onondaga County Bankruptcy Attorney, Property; cross collateralization; debt; title; Deed; credit cards; payoff; foreclosure, securitization, short sale, Syracuse, Syracuse Bankruptcy Attorney, Tax Refunds, Theodore Araujo, Trustee, Westchester County, White Plains.
This agreement holds the banks accountable for their wrongdoing on robo-signing and mortgage servicing. This settlement does not seek to hold them responsible for all their wrongs over the years and the agreement and its release preserve legal options for others to pursue. Specifically, this settlement does not:
Release any criminal liability or grant any criminal immunity.
Release any private claims by individuals or any class action claims.
Release claims related to the securitization of mortgage backed securities that were at the heart of the financial crisis.
Release claims against Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems or MERSCORP.
Release any claims by a state that chooses not to sign the settlement.
End state attorneys general investigations of Wall Street related to financial fraud or the financial crisis. ”
Posted on 9 February '12 by Theodore Araujo, under Uncategorized. No Comments.
Tags:Bankruptcy, Bankruptcy Attorney, Bankruptcy Law Center, Bankruptcy Schedules, banks, Bodow Law Firm, Chapter 13. Araujo, Chapter 7, Credit Cards, Estate Property, Exemptions, Foreclosure, foreclosure defense, foreclosure settlement, HAMP, Keeping property in a bankruptcy, List, Listing property in a bankruptcy, Mistakes, mortgage, mortgage modification, mortgage settlement, New York, Northern District of New York, note, Onondaga County Bankruptcy Attorney, Property; cross collateralization; debt; title; Deed; credit cards; payoff; foreclosure, securitization, short sale, Syracuse, Syracuse Bankruptcy Attorney, Tax Refunds, Theodore Araujo, Trustee, Westchester County, White Plains.
The $25 billion foreclosure settlement unveiled Thursday is expected to help many borrowers who are struggling to make their loan payments, owe more than their homes are worth or have lost their homes to foreclosure.
But the rules of the deal are complicated and banks have three years to meet their obligations.
The questions and answers below should help borrowers figure out if they qualify for help and what to expect from the process.
Who does the settlement cover?
The settlement covers borrowers who have loans that are serviced by one of the five big banks: Ally Financial Inc./GMAC Mortgage, Bank of America Corp., Citigroup Inc., J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. and Wells Fargo & Co. These banks handle payments on 55% of U.S. mortgages, according to Inside Mortgage Finance.
My mortgage is with one of these banks. How do I know if I qualify for help?
It’s going to take some time to figure that out because the settlement has so many wrinkles. One group who will be excluded: borrowers from Oklahoma. They won’t be eligible for relief because the state’s attorney general opted not to join the deal.
What if my loan isn’t with one of the banks?
For now, the settlement covers only the five big banks. Government officials hope to strike a similar deal with nine additional banks.
How long is it going to take for me to get help?
Government officials advise borrowers to be patient. Over the next 30 to 60 days, settlement negotiators will pick an administrator to handle the logistics of the deal. Over the next six to nine months, the administrator, attorneys general and mortgage servicers will work to identify which borrowers get help. Servicers expect to begin reaching out to borrowers in the coming weeks, but they have three years to provide the required help.
How will I find out if I qualify?
Borrowers will get letters from their mortgage company. Each of the five servicers also has a website and a toll-free number for borrowers to get more information. Government officials are encouraging borrowers to contact their mortgage company to see if they qualify for aid.
Here are the links for each servicer:
Ally/GMAC
GMAC’s Homeowner Assistance site
800-766-4622
Bank of America
BofA’s Home Loan Assistance site
877-488-7814 (Available Monday to Friday from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. Central time, and Saturdays from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Central time)
Citigroup
Citi’s Homeowner Assitance site
866-272-4749
J.P. Morgan Chase
Chase’s Homeownership Center
866-372-6901
Wells Fargo
Wells Fargo’s Help for Homeowners
800-288-3212 (Available Monday to Friday 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Central time)
What are the rules for the principal reduction program?
To qualify for a principal reduction, borrowers have to clear several hurdles. For one thing, borrowers have to be behind on their payments or at “imminent risk” of default. The owner of your loan also makes a difference. Most of the principal reductions are expected to go to borrowers whose loans are owned by the banks, though some borrowers whose loans were packaged into securities may also qualify. The settlement calls for principal reductions on both first and second mortgages.
The deal doesn’t cover loans owned or backed by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac, the government-controlled mortgage companies.
You can go to these websites to find out if you have a Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac loan:
http://www.fanniemae.com/loanlookup
http://www.freddiemac.com/mymortgage
What about the refinance program?
The refinance program applies only to loans owned by the banks. Also, borrowers have to be current on their loan payments and owe more than their home is worth.
I’ve already lost my home to foreclosure. Can I get any help?
Borrowers who were foreclosed on between 2008 and 2011 are eligible for cash payments. The amount of the payment will depend on how many people file claims, but is expected to be around $1,500 to $2,000.
How do I file a claim?
The settlement administrator will mail notices to eligible borrowers once the process is up and running. Borrowers will have to fill out a simple form, but won’t have to prove they were foreclosed on and shouldn’t have been. Borrowers who are concerned they will be hard to locate can also contact their state attorney general.
That doesn’t sound like a lot of money. Shouldn’t I get more money if I was foreclosed on and shouldn’t have been?
Government officials say they wanted to create a streamlined process that would quickly get aid to borrowers. Borrowers who think they have been wronged can still file a claim with bank regulators or pursue other options.
Posted on 9 February '12 by Theodore Araujo, under Uncategorized. No Comments.
Tags:Bankruptcy, Bankruptcy Attorney, Bankruptcy Law Center, Bankruptcy Schedules, banks, Bodow Law Firm, Chapter 13. Araujo, Chapter 7, Credit Cards, Estate Property, Exemptions, Foreclosure, foreclosure defense, HAMP, Keeping property in a bankruptcy, List, Listing property in a bankruptcy, Mistakes, mortgage, mortgage modification, New York, Northern District of New York, note, Onondaga County Bankruptcy Attorney, Property; cross collateralization; debt; title; Deed; credit cards; payoff; foreclosure, securitization, short sale, Syracuse, Syracuse Bankruptcy Attorney, Tax Refunds, Theodore Araujo, Trustee, Westchester County, White Plains.
In 2007, the average foreclosure process in America, from beginning to end, took 253 days, or about eight months. Today, according to LPS Applied Analytics as reported by CNN, the average foreclosure takes 674 days—almost triple what it was four years ago. The foreclosure epidemic is one of the main factors inflicting damage on the housing market, which has still not made up for the losses it suffered a few years ago when the real estate bubble burst. The ubiquity of foreclosures, and their depressing effect on housing prices, has been cited as both a symptom and a cause of the country’s persistent unemployment problem. Many homeowners enter default after losing their jobs—and on the flip side, as the Wall Street Journal recently noted, plummeting home values tend to trap people where they are, making it harder for them to move to other towns where employment opportunities might be more plentiful. The conundrum is expected to get worse in 2012. New foreclosures climbed by about 21 percent in the third quarter of 2011, with a total of almost 1.33 million foreclosures underway by the end of September. Thanks to a government effort to screen out and correct instances of robo-signing, more than four million homeowners will eventually get the chance to submit their foreclosure cases for review—an ambitious damage-control program that is nevertheless likely to prolong the real estate market’s lifeless condition.
Posted on 30 December '11 by Theodore Araujo, under Uncategorized. No Comments.
Tags:Bankruptcy, Bankruptcy Attorney, Bankruptcy Law Center, Bankruptcy Schedules, banks, Bodow Law Firm, Chapter 13. Araujo, Chapter 7, Credit Cards, Estate Property, Exemptions, Foreclosure, foreclosure defense, HAMP, Keeping property in a bankruptcy, List, Listing property in a bankruptcy, Mistakes, mortgage, mortgage modification, New York, Northern District of New York, note, Onondaga County Bankruptcy Attorney, Property; cross collateralization; debt; title; Deed; credit cards; payoff; foreclosure, securitization, short sale, Syracuse, Syracuse Bankruptcy Attorney, Tax Refunds, Theodore Araujo, Trustee, Westchester County, White Plains.
A federal judge in Miami is considering whether to finalize a $410 million settlement in a lawsuit claiming that Bank of America charged excessive overdraft fees, The Associated Press reported today. The hearing Monday is to consider any objections or other issues related to the deal originally reached in May. The class-action lawsuit contends that Charlotte, N.C.-based Bank of America processed its debit card and check payments in a way that triggered more overdrafts and therefore more fees. Even though it agreed to the settlement, the bank insists the overdraft system was proper. An estimated 1 million customers could receive unspecified payments from the settlement. The lawsuit covers people with Bank of America debit cards between January 2001 and May 2011. New bank regulations prohibit this type of debit card fee unless customers approve it.
Posted on 7 November '11 by Theodore Araujo, under Uncategorized. No Comments.
Tags:Bankruptcy, Bankruptcy Attorney, Bankruptcy Law Center, Bankruptcy Schedules, Bodow Law Firm, Chapter 13. Araujo, Chapter 7, Credit Cards, Estate Property, Exemptions, Foreclosure, foreclosure defense, HAMP, Keeping property in a bankruptcy, List, Listing property in a bankruptcy, Mistakes, mortgage modification, New York, Northern District of New York, Onondaga County Bankruptcy Attorney, Property; cross collateralization; debt; title; Deed; credit cards; payoff; foreclosure, Syracuse, Syracuse Bankruptcy Attorney, Tax Refunds, Trustee.
Nearly 4.5 million current and former U.S. homeowners will soon get a chance to have their foreclosure cases reviewed for mistakes and potential restitution, USA Today reported today. Next month, the U.S. government expects the first wave of homeowners to receive its letters in the mail, informing them of their right to ask for a foreclosure review, according to the Office of the Comptroller. Last month, independent consultants hired by lenders also began combing industry data to look for mistakes in foreclosure cases handled by 14 of the nation’s largest mortgage servicers: Bank of America, Citibank, JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo, Ally Financial, Aurora Bank, EverBank Financial, HSBC, MetLife, OneWest, PNC, Sovereign Bank, SunTrust Banks and U.S. Bancorp. Reviews will take months to complete. The first consumers could see cases resolved this spring, according to deadlines imposed on the servicers. From ABI World
Posted on 25 October '11 by Theodore Araujo, under Uncategorized. No Comments.
Tags:Bankruptcy, Bankruptcy Attorney, Bankruptcy Law Center, Bankruptcy Schedules, Bodow Law Firm, Chapter 13. Araujo, Chapter 7, Credit Cards, Estate Property, Exemptions, Foreclosure, Keeping property in a bankruptcy, List, Listing property in a bankruptcy, Mistakes, New York, Northern District of New York, Onondaga County Bankruptcy Attorney, payoff, Property; cross collateralization; debt; title; Deed credit cards, Syracuse, Syracuse Bankruptcy Attorney, Tax Refunds, Trustee.
When you borrow money by taking out a loan from a bank to buy something most people think they are borrowing a given amount of money to buy a particular thing. E.g., $10,000.00 to buy a car. $100,000.00 to buy a house, and a credit card with a loan amount of $5,000.00.
If all three of these loans are with a credit union, you may get in trouble if you file bankruptcy. These loans may be “cross collateralized” which means that the all of the property that you bought (House and Car) is pledged for all three loans (House, Car and Credit Card). This means that if you file bankruptcy and want to get rid of the car and credit card debt, you will not be able to get free and clear title to your home until the debts for the car and credit cards are paid off as well!
In the case of Renshaw v. Clearview Federal Credit Union, (Bankr. W.D. Pa March 14th, 2011) the Court in Pennsylvania ruled that §502 of the Bankruptcy Code made a credit card debt secured by the collateral that was purchased by the debtor at the same bank.
When borrowing money from a bank, if you are using a credit union, make sure the loans are secured only by the property you are pledging. Better yet, if you have accounts with a bank, make sure you take out only one loan for a particular piece of property or get a credit card from the bank, but do not consolidate your property and debts in one institution in case you ever have financial problems.
Tags:Bankruptcy, Bankruptcy Attorney, Bankruptcy Law Center, Bankruptcy Schedules, Bodow Law Firm, Chapter 13. Araujo, Chapter 7, Credit Cards, Estate Property, Exemptions, Foreclosure, Keeping property in a bankruptcy, List, Listing property in a bankruptcy, Mistakes, New York, Northern District of New York, Onondaga County Bankruptcy Attorney, Property, Syracuse, Syracuse Bankruptcy Attorney, Tax Refunds, Trustee.
A bankruptcy court in Illinois (Southern District) recently required a debtors attorney to give back the money the firm charged the client for attorney fee’s. Why? Did the attorney commit a fraud? Did the attorney fail to do their job? Did the attorney fail to file the case or run away with the money? No.
The attorney failed to meet with the client until the client came in to sign the petition.
The Court objected to the practice of having a paralegal be the only contact with the client until the client filed the bankruptcy petition. The attorney stated that they review the documents that are collected in the case and make the legal decisions, but this is not enough!
The court stated that the attorney must meet with the client to have a face to face meeting so counsel can “discuss their financial situation, explain their options, discuss the pros and cons of filing chapter 7 or chapter 13, to observe the debtors demeanor and gauge their understanding of the process, and to answer the debtors questions.”
It is particularly important that you meet and communicate with your attorney rather then their staff because many of your seemingly simple questions are complicated by other issues in your case.
If you are filing bankruptcy make sure you fully disclose all financial and legal issues when you met with your attorney so you can get the most effective representation.
Tags:Bankruptcy, Bankruptcy Attorney, Bankruptcy Law Center, Bankruptcy Schedules, Bodow Law Firm, Chapter 13. Araujo, Chapter 7, Credit Cards, Estate Property, Exemptions, Foreclosure, Keeping property in a bankruptcy, List, Listing property in a bankruptcy, Mistakes, New York, Northern District of New York, Onondaga County Bankruptcy Attorney, Property, Syracuse, Syracuse Bankruptcy Attorney, Tax Refunds, Trustee.
One of the big mistakes attorneys or people who file their own bankruptcy make are failing to list tax refunds that they are going to receive in the future in their bankruptcy petition. When a bankruptcy is filed you must list all of the property and property rights you have at present and what you expect to get in the future. With respect to tax refunds, if you file bankruptcy on December 31st, of any year you have earned 100% percent of your tax refund for that year even though you have not filed the tax return or received your refund check.
Failing to list the anticipated tax refund almost cost several debtors their discharges, and they lost any tax refund that was in excess of the amount reported, and exempted, in their bankruptcy petitions.
In the case of In re Turner, ,2011 Bankr. LEXIS 456 (Bankr. D. Vt. February 3, 2011) the Chapter 7 Trustee tried to disallow any claim of exemption of the tax refunds because the debtors (in the Trustee’s words) “…negligently or intentionally failed to disclose the tax refunds on their original petitions.”
Remember, you must list all of the property you possess, you must indicate what kind of property you do not possess, and you must anticipate the property that you are going to come to posses in the near future, list all of this property and apply the proper exemptions so you can keep the property.
In this case the Chapter 7 Trustee was able to collect any and all of the tax refunds that were not exempt. If these debtors had waited and filed the bankruptcy after they cashed the tax refund checks and converted the cash to exempt property, this issue would never have arisen.
Tags:Bankruptcy, Bankruptcy Attorney, Chapter 13, Chapter 7, Exemptions, Federal Exemptions, Foreclosure, Keep Property, New York, Protect Property.
If you were worried about losing property, cars, equity in your home if you filed a bankruptcy, those fears should have been erased on January 20th, 2011 when New York Law changed.
First, the value of the exemptions, or the “things you get to keep” have gone up under New York Law. Second, a person filing bankruptcy may now choose the “Federal Exemptions”. These are a different set of protected property that may be more appropriate for you depending on your circumstances. For example under New York Law it was often difficult to protect the second car for a single person, or the Harley, and it was often difficult to protect parts of the tax refund, especially if you owned a home that was worth more then the mortgage.
You need to have someone review the total property and income picture to advise you as to which exemption scheme you should choose. We would be happy to do that for you at your free consultation.
Posted on 17 February '11 by Theodore Araujo, under Uncategorized. No Comments.