Grafton Firm, LLC

Baltimore County Bankruptcy Attorneys Protecting Families; Protecting Assets

Things Your Towson Debt Lawyer Wants You to Know (pt 1)

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There are a lot more than ten things that your Towson Debt Lawyer wants you to know and do, but this is a top ten list, so I’ve tried to prioritize the list to some degree.

1 – Tell your Towson Debt Lawyer everything…

We are here to give legal advice.  That advice is only as good as the information we have.  When we don’t have all of the information we can’t give you good advice.  You’re paying us for this advice, so when you hold things back, you’re only cheating yourself.

We get it though, sometimes you forget things.  That happens.  I generally tell my clients to write things down as they come up, so if they can’t talk to my staff or myself right away, then at least they have a way of making sure it doesn’t get forgotten again.

2 – Not Every Case Needs a Towson Debt Lawyer…

We’re attorneys.  We’re very nice attorneys.  We often aren’t paid nearly what we’re worth for our services, and you know what, I’m ok with that.  I aim to be an affordable Towson Debt Lawyer.  Part of that is knowing when we don’t add any value to a situation.  Smaller debts usually don’t require my direct involvement and if they did require it, the cost of involving an attorney is usually more than the debt is worth.

Case Study

For Example:  I recently met with a very nice couple dealing with a dispute about replacing the carpeting in their prior apartment.  The amount in question was less than $1,200.  This is a lot of money to these nice people.  (It’s a lot of money to me too!!!)  Chances are, they really do owe the money.  They signed the lease, they acknowledge the damage, their only concern was that the cost seemed a bit high for one small area of carpet.  At best, I explained, I could maybe get the judgment reduced by a few hundred dollars, but how much would that cost them?  It would likely involve either an evidentiary hearing (hours of prep and at least 4 hours of “Court” time) or unknown amounts of time trying to convince the plaintiff to reduce the claim.  In other words, they’d wind up spending more on a Towson Debt Lawyer than they saved from the total bill.  It just didn’t make sense.

It’s not all about money

So, what could I do?  I showed them what to do to get the best resolution that they could on their own.  Then, I coached them about settlement negotiations.  Next, I coached them about making feasible offers.  Finally, I coached them about accepting payment plans they knew they could not afford.

In the end, they went home happy.  They had a plan.  They had confidence in their ability to execute it.  And they knew how to protect themselves from being pushed around by the creditor’s attorney.

This Towson Debt Lawyer may not always be needed, but we are always happy to help.

(To Be Continued)

How Do You Pay For Your Baltimore Bankruptcy?

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If I asked 10 people to tell me one word they thought of when they considered Bankruptcy, 9 of them would say “broke.”  Bankruptcy should involve lawyers and lawyers are not especially cheap.  So, how do you pay for your Baltimore Bankruptcy when you’re broke?  The answer may surprise you.

5 Tips to Pay for Your Baltimore Bankruptcy

  1.  Pay for your Baltimore Bankruptcy with your Tax Refund

    It’s tax refund season.  Many of my clients get at least a small amount of money back in taxes every year around this time.  Most had earmarked it to pay their rising credit card debt, their delinquent mortgage or save their car from imminent repossession.  Typically using the refund to pay for any one of these things leaves other bills unpaid.  Why not use that refund to pay your attorney to help you address all of your financial areas of concern.

  2. Pay for your Baltimore Bankruptcy with Your Minimum Payments

    Inevitably 20-30% of my prospective clients are still struggling and making minimum payments on some of their credit cards.  They do this even while other debts have been languishing or even moving on to litigation.  If you cannot afford to pay your bills while cutting back in order to keep some of the wolves at bay, direct those payments into savings or to your Baltimore Bankruptcy lawyers.  Get out of debt faster.

  3. Pay for your Baltimore Bankruptcy with the help of family

    A large number of my clients receive family assistance to help them afford their attorneys fees.  For the family members, it’s almost as much financial relief for them as it is for my clients.  Often my clients have been dependent upon family for help in fending off creditors, avoiding garnishment or foreclosure, so the final resolution of Bankruptcy will provide relief to the entire family, not just my clients.

  4. Pay for your Baltimore Bankruptcy by cutting unnecessary costs

    You would be amazed at the number of clients who come to see me who are continuing to pay for car insurance and car notes for vehicles that they have no intention of keeping.  If you are maintaining car notes or insurance for an automobile and you intend to surrender that car in Bankruptcy, you should seriously consider voluntarily returning that car ahead of your case.  How?  Call your lender, advise them that you are surrendering the car and request that they give you a drop off location, usually a car dealership.  Take the car to the dealership, leave the car with the keys with a manager at the direction of your lender, take the tags and go.  Remember, before you cancel insurance, turn your tags into the MVA.  Those fines are expensive, and not dischargeable in Bankruptcy!

  5. Pay for your Baltimore Bankruptcy in installments

    Absent family help or a tax refund, very few of my clients can afford to pay attorneys fees and court costs all at once.  So, how can you pay for your Baltimore Bankruptcy?  In installments.  We can set you up on a payment plan to pay off fees over periods ranging from a few weeks to a few months.

3 Things NOT to do to Pay for your Baltimore Bankruptcy

  1. Do not pay for your Baltimore Bankruptcy with your credit card

    It is fraud to use your credit cards when you know you are filing for Bankruptcy.  Even if you intend to “keep paying that card” it will cause more trouble than it is worth.  Besides, how much of a fresh start are you going to get when you come out of Bankruptcy still owing money on a high interest credit card debt.

  2. Do not pay for your Baltimore Bankruptcy with payday loans

    Payday loans are illegal in Maryland.  Unfortunately that doesn’t prevent online payday lenders from preying on desperate Marylanders.  These loans often have contract interest rates close to or above the usury limits, but it’s ultimately the short term nature of the loans that wind up costing so much money.  Before reforms took place in the early to mid 2000’s I would see clients coming in who had literally paid thousands of dollars on a short term $300 payday loan.  The problem is that you borrow $300 until payday, then when payday comes you pay back as much as $450.  But, you can’t afford to pay $450, so you have to borrow another $300.  And next payday you’re paying back $450 again.  In two pay periods you would have paid $300 in interest for a $300 loan.  Now, imagine that you still couldn’t afford that, so you wind up borrowing that $300 again.  So, now you’ve paid $600 and still owe the original $300.  Dangerous.

  3. Do not pay for your Baltimore Bankruptcy by closing out your retirement

    401k’s, IRAs, 403b’s.  Whatever kind of retirement savings you have, it’s often not worth the tax liability to withdraw from those accounts to pay for your bankruptcy attorney.  Sometimes there are no other options, I get that.  What I would implore is that you do not withdraw any more than is ABSOLUTELY necessary.  We are limited in the amount of cash we can exempt and protect in bankruptcy, but unlimited in the amount of qualified retirement accounts we can protect.

 

Dr. Levy Settlements and Bankruptcy

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If you were a victim of the professional abuse inflicted by Dr. Levy, the claims process is picking up steam. Individual claims have been assigned to damage tiers and settlements can now be accepted.  The question remains: how do these Dr. Levy Settlements and Bankruptcy interact?  This is determined by where you are in the Bankruptcy Process.  Is your case closed?  Is it still pending?  Are you preparing to file?  Or simply considering it?

Dr. Levy Settlements and Bankruptcy:  Your Bankruptcy Case is Closed

Your responsibilities here are highly dependent on when you saw Dr. Levy and when you filed bankruptcy.  If you filed for bankruptcy before you saw Dr. Levy then you’re in the clear.  Nothing needs to be done.  The same is true if you saw Dr. Levy while your case was pending.  The problems arise if your bankruptcy case was filed AFTER your claim against Dr. Levy and Johns Hopkins arose, even if you didn’t know it at the time.  In this case, you should re-open your bankruptcy, amend your schedules to include the claim and properly exempt the claim from the case.  If you’ve already listed your pending or possible claim against Johns Hopkins and Dr. Levy, you are set. If not, call your attorney for help in re-opening your case.

Dr. Levy Settlements and Bankruptcy:  Your Bankruptcy Case is Open and Pending

If your bankruptcy case is open and pending, this is a no-brainer.  If you did not previously list your potential settlement with the estate of Dr. Levy and Johns Hopkins, contact your attorney and get this added now.  It can be added and exempted likely with little to no difficulty, but this is a discussion you need to have with your lawyer.  If you decided not to hire a lawyer, I suggest you do so immediately.

Dr. Levy Settlements and Bankruptcy:  You Have Not Filed Bankruptcy…Yet

If you are considering bankruptcy or working towards filing for Bankruptcy, make sure you discuss this situation with your attorney.  If you’re considering using a Bankruptcy Petition Preparer or doing this on your own without a lawyer…Reconsider.  A petition preparer cannot legally give you the advice necessary to properly list and exempt a claim such as this. This is a complicated issue and there may be a lot of money at stake. Get some help from an experienced bankruptcy attorney.

What Can a Baltimore Student Loan Lawyer Do?

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Most people are aware by now that Student Loans are generally not dischargeable in Bankruptcy.  I could discuss for hours what a disaster this has been to the overall cost of education, but this is not the forum for that. As a Baltimore Student Loan Lawyer and Bankruptcy Attorney, one of my jobs is to help people get out of debt, and quite frequently a major part of that debt problem are student loans.

What can a Baltimore Student Loan Lawyer do?

Well, for one, we do more than Bankruptcy.  We call ourselves Baltimore Bankruptcy Attorneys, but really, we’re counselors first.  When Bankruptcy is the right method that is what we suggest.  Sometimes, though, Bankruptcy doesn’t help at all.  Sometimes it’s only part of the solution.  Sometimes it’s the whole solution.

When to File for Bankruptcy?

The test for when Bankruptcy can discharge a student loan is a tough test to pass and of course the opposition from student loan creditors can often make the cost untenable for many people crushed under the weight of student loans.  The first leg of the test is simple to understand, hard to prove:

Can you maintain a minimal standard of living if forced to repay student loans?  If the answer is no, you can move to leg 2.  Will these financial conditions continue for the greater part of your repayment period?  Asked another way, is there a chance you will be able to afford a minimal standard of living and your student loans in the future?  If the answer is again no, let’s move to the third segment.  Have you tried?  Have you really made an effort to repay your loans?  Have you explored all repayment options available and still found the same result?  If the answer is yes, then you’ve got a shot.

If we file for Bankruptcy, can my Baltimore Student Loan Lawyer negotiate a settlement?

Actually, yes.  Oftentimes this is the most cost effective relief you can receive when filing for Bankruptcy on your student loans.  With very rare exceptions, student loan servicers will always fight to defend their collection rights against a bankruptcy discharge, but they have a bottom line as well and if you have a reasonable chance of success they will often negotiate partial loan forgiveness to avoid further litigation of the matter.

 

 

 

How Much Does a Maryland Bankruptcy Cost?

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Our office gets calls every day from Marylanders seeking help with their bills, relief from lawsuits and garnishments, or simply peace of mind.  One frequent question we get is How much does it cost to file a Maryland Bankruptcy?  There are a lot of factors that contribute to the cost of a Bankruptcy.  Here are some of the things to remember when shopping for a Maryland Bankruptcy Lawyer.

You can get a low cost Maryland Bankruptcy Lawyer, but…

Have you ever heard the saying you get what you pay for?  This can be very true when it comes to personal services.  Yes, there are diamonds in the rough, but for the most part this saying holds true.  I’m not suggesting you hire the most expensive Maryland Bankruptcy Lawyer, in fact there are some really expensive attorneys who I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy.  You also don’t want to cheapest bankruptcy lawyer.  Here is what the too cheap price nets you:

  • Never seeing the attorney except for a few minutes hear and there
  • Having a secretary or para-professional handle all of your paperwork and draft all the necessary forms
  • An attorney who has to take on too large a volume to handle all the cheap bankruptcies effectively
  • A random attorney, coverage attorney, or stranger showing up to Court with you
  • Mistakes, mistakes, mistakes.

Go with the best you can afford, but please, don’t file a bankruptcy on your own. Some mistakes, you can’t undo.

All Maryland Bankruptcy shouldn’t cost the same

At The Grafton Firm, we see a wide variety of cases.  We see failing businesses, bankruptcies caused by tax burdens, medical bankruptcies, foreclosures, garnishments.  Additionally, debtors (that’s you, the client) come in all shapes and sizes.  One other major factor is who and how many people you owe.

The Means Test and it’s role in determining how much a Maryland Bankruptcy Costs

It’s not quite right to say that the more money you make the more expensive your bankruptcy becomes, but there is some element of truth to that.  There is a part of a Bankruptcy Petition called the Means Test that only has to be completed by people who’s household income is greater than the median income for households of the same size in the State of Maryland.  This means that someone making $100,000 with a household of three (3) will likely pay more for a bankruptcy that someone who makes $70,000 for the same sized household.  On the other hand, a single person with no kids who makes the same $70,000 would also have to fill out the Means Test, thus making their bankruptcy more complex and more expensive.

So, what is the means test.  Well, it’s a form that further breaks down your income and expenses using usually outdated averages supplied by the Internal Revenue Service.  I usually describe it as equivalent to a slightly more complex tax return in regards to complexity.  And, like a tax return which the average American spends about $350 a year to file, the Means Test can add anywhere from $200 to $500 to the cost of your Bankruptcy.

Things like Taxes, Operating a Small Business, Lawsuits, Liens and Garnishments factor into the cost of a Maryland Bankruptcy

Taxes

Most people believe that the money they owe the IRS isn’t dischargeable in Bankruptcy.  And for the most part they’re right.  We’ve discussed before that sometimes you can get rid of your tax debt.  When taxes are involved it adds a little bit of complexity, for one thing, you can’t just tell from looking at a return if it will be dischargeable.  To be sure, you need to have an attorney who knows what they are doing thoroughly review the return and the Account Transcript for each tax year that may be eligible for discharge or which may soon become eligible for discharge.  If your attorney isn’t looking at the Account Transcripts for your tax debts, then they aren’t doing their job.  There are tools out there that attorneys can use to assist them in this, but these tools charge by the tax year, sometimes as much as $99/transcript.  As you can imagine, these types of costs can add a lot of complexity to what otherwise may be a simple Bankruptcy.

Small Businesses

If you’ve operated a small business you are probably very familiar with the level of paperwork involved in filing your business taxes (or adding business income and expenses to your personal return), filing personal property returns, tracking profits and losses, inventories, etc.  Similarly there can be the same burden on your Bankruptcy attorney when you file a personal bankruptcy while operating a small business, or even while closing your small business.

Judgments, Garnishments and Liens

If you’ve been sued and received a judgment you should be aware that a garnishment of your wages can be fast approaching.  If you’re self employed or unemployed, then you need to worry about a lien being placed on your checking or savings accounts.  Even if you have no money in the bank, your bank will usually charge you a service fee for the privilege of being garnished.  I’ve seen banks charge as much as $150.  It gets worse if you own land or a home in the State.

A judgment from Circuit Court is automatically a lien against any land or house (includes condos, time shares, etc) that you own in the same County.  In Baltimore City this even extends to District Court.  Living outside of Baltimore City with a District Court judgment?  You aren’t safe.  Your judgment creditor can take that piece of paper from District Court down to the Circuit Court and record a lien against you there as well.

The number of people or companies to whom you owe money can affect how much your Maryland Bankruptcy costs

There is no magical number of creditors you need to have in order to file a Maryland Bankruptcy.  Nor is there a magical amount of debt.  I frequently tell my clients that it’s not about the number, it’s about the effect.  Some people come in with a handful of large debts (sometimes it’s only 1 or 2) and others come in with dozens of accounts of varying sizes.  One recent case a client had over 70 credit cards, collection agencies, lawyers, utilities, friends, family and banks listed in her bankruptcy petition.  As you can imagine, putting that part of her case together was a bit more involved than a bankruptcy with a mere dozen creditors.  It’s not a major factor by far, but it can definitely affect the bottom line number.

So, How Much is Your Maryland Bankruptcy Going to Cost?

The fact is that a blog post or a short phone interview isn’t the best way to tell you.  Your case could be much simpler than what we normally see or it could be much more complex.  This is one of the reasons we offer a free consultation.  This sit down meeting gives us the chance to learn more about your case.  It lets you learn more about us.  It also helps us ensure that the legal advice we give you actually makes your life better instead of causing more problems.

Give us a call today at 410-870-9315 or click on the “Contact” button hovering over there —–>

We would love to hear from you.  Remember, afternoon and weekend appointments are available in limited spots with advance notice.