Hi! I met with the bankruptcy attorney on Friday and actually left with a feeling of relief.
Long Story Short - I got "screwed" by a family member over a contract that was to be considered paid in full upon the death of my great aunt. She was disabled prior to her death and assured me the note was forgiven. I seeked legal advice and was told that her word with a witness was good enough. Her brother filed a judgement against us and got it even though our attorney's advised us not to pay it. The judge refused to even list to our case saying that forgivness had to be in writing.
I went to see another attorney 2 weeks ago after showing up for interrogatories and being threatened with a sheriff coming to search our home for assets. He told me due to the time that had elapsed and the amount of the note $25K we were in the wrong place and needed to seek bankruptcy. He did advise me to file malpractice against our attorney but as it turns out she has brain cancer and 4 small children and I just can't bring myself to do it in our small town.
We have approx another $25K in unsecured debt that has arose due to medical bills and my hate of collection calls. There is an additional $10K of medical bills from my dh being hurt on the job but the hospital treated him as a stroke pt and didn't do a 1st report of accident.
So here I am, I paid the retainer to the bankruptcy attorney and am getting my paperwork together. I have to get my home appraised but based on the economy it looks as though there will be $10K in non-exempt equity that we will have to pay over the period of the 5 yrs, along with the note payments which will run about $590 per month. He said he would include our 2005 Tahoe which has approx another 5 yrs of payments of $475. He felt he could negotiate with the bank on it and bring that amount down. He advised me to continue making my mortgage payments as usual.
I have never did anything like this and feel confident but scared. Worst case scenario was losing our home and we have a 12 yr old son.
Since I had no clue that bankruptcy was in the future, I did do 2 $250 cash advances on a cc last month and ordered a $250 dollar household item on another cc. I told the attorney about the cash advances and he only asked about purchases over $600.00. I am still concerned about this. I had agreed to an "easy pay" on the household item and it will be billed in 5 increments over the next 5 months. I am not sure what to do on it.
He advised me to send a letter to the collection attorney first thing tomorrow on the note and to complete the paperwork. He told me that if I went ahead and paid the retainer I could not make cc payments this month and just tell them I had retained him and give him his number when they called.
Should I go ahead and call them tomorrow? Do I go ahead and call my mortgage company? I have no intentions of using my credit card but how far back will they look for small purchases. IE: I have had the dish/internet bill automatically billed to my cc for over a year because my dh gets reimbursed for the internet bill and it doesn't always happen quickly. I plan to call and change it but there may be a charge on it for this week. Hope that makes sense!
In addition, what do I expect the creditors to say and/or do upon receiving this news. If there is only $10K to go around to the unsecured creditors, are they going to continue calling?
I am just a little nervous! Thanks!
Long Story Short - I got "screwed" by a family member over a contract that was to be considered paid in full upon the death of my great aunt. She was disabled prior to her death and assured me the note was forgiven. I seeked legal advice and was told that her word with a witness was good enough. Her brother filed a judgement against us and got it even though our attorney's advised us not to pay it. The judge refused to even list to our case saying that forgivness had to be in writing.
I went to see another attorney 2 weeks ago after showing up for interrogatories and being threatened with a sheriff coming to search our home for assets. He told me due to the time that had elapsed and the amount of the note $25K we were in the wrong place and needed to seek bankruptcy. He did advise me to file malpractice against our attorney but as it turns out she has brain cancer and 4 small children and I just can't bring myself to do it in our small town.
We have approx another $25K in unsecured debt that has arose due to medical bills and my hate of collection calls. There is an additional $10K of medical bills from my dh being hurt on the job but the hospital treated him as a stroke pt and didn't do a 1st report of accident.
So here I am, I paid the retainer to the bankruptcy attorney and am getting my paperwork together. I have to get my home appraised but based on the economy it looks as though there will be $10K in non-exempt equity that we will have to pay over the period of the 5 yrs, along with the note payments which will run about $590 per month. He said he would include our 2005 Tahoe which has approx another 5 yrs of payments of $475. He felt he could negotiate with the bank on it and bring that amount down. He advised me to continue making my mortgage payments as usual.
I have never did anything like this and feel confident but scared. Worst case scenario was losing our home and we have a 12 yr old son.
Since I had no clue that bankruptcy was in the future, I did do 2 $250 cash advances on a cc last month and ordered a $250 dollar household item on another cc. I told the attorney about the cash advances and he only asked about purchases over $600.00. I am still concerned about this. I had agreed to an "easy pay" on the household item and it will be billed in 5 increments over the next 5 months. I am not sure what to do on it.
He advised me to send a letter to the collection attorney first thing tomorrow on the note and to complete the paperwork. He told me that if I went ahead and paid the retainer I could not make cc payments this month and just tell them I had retained him and give him his number when they called.
Should I go ahead and call them tomorrow? Do I go ahead and call my mortgage company? I have no intentions of using my credit card but how far back will they look for small purchases. IE: I have had the dish/internet bill automatically billed to my cc for over a year because my dh gets reimbursed for the internet bill and it doesn't always happen quickly. I plan to call and change it but there may be a charge on it for this week. Hope that makes sense!
In addition, what do I expect the creditors to say and/or do upon receiving this news. If there is only $10K to go around to the unsecured creditors, are they going to continue calling?
I am just a little nervous! Thanks!
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