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My clients often look at me confused when I mention the presumption of abuse to them when we are reviewing their Means Test.  The presumption of abuse guidelines was established in 2005 when Congress enacted the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005 (BAPCPA).  One of the primary reasons for this Act was to make it more difficult for consumers who made too much money to be able to file a

Recently, NerdWallet Health published an article that estimates that 56 million Americans under the age of 65 will struggle with medical debts in the year 2013. Astonishingly, NerdWallet stated that one in five American adults will struggle to pay medical debts this year. The article further stated that medical bills are the leading cause of personal bankruptcy.

If you have a high rate of interest on loans, a Chapter 13 Bankruptcy can reduce the interest rate resulting in a much lower monthly payment.  This is called a “cramdown.”  The interest rate unsecured creditors such as credit cards, finance company loans,

Despite what most people think, considering the current economy, bankruptcy filings are actually down nationwide. One would think that with the high rate of foreclosures, job losses, sequestration and cut backs that more people would have a need to file bankruptcy.

An auto shut off device is a device installed on a vehicle by a car dealer that is usually a buy here, pay here type auto dealer.  If you do not make your payments to the dealership timely, the device will be activated and it disables the vehicle until a payment is made and the buyer obtains a new code.  If a payment is not made, this shut off device allows t

The Fair Credit Billing Act (FCBA) is a subsection of the federal Truth in Lending Act (TILA). It is an important federal law for all consumers since it contains the billing error procedures at sections 1666 and 1666(a). These billing error procedures most commonly assist consumers when they are disputing credit card transactions on their credit card statements for which they do not believe that they should be held liable.

Yes, you can be denied a bankruptcy discharge but this is a rare occurrence. The most common occurrence is when a Debtor has committed a fairly serious fraud against his creditors. A more common occurrence, but still rare, is being denied a discharge of a single debt for various legal reasons.

A common question that we often get asked is whether someone can give away or transfer over property in order to avoid their creditors if they are going to file for bankruptcy. The very short and quick answer is no.

This question really depends on where you have filed your chapter 13 petition since the local rules of each court governs how income changes will affect a chapter 13 plan.  In some district, the change will not matter but it others it might.