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Divorcing Spouses File a Chapter 7? A “joint case” is one filed “by an individual… and such individual’s spouse.” “Spouse” is not defined in the Bankruptcy Code, but presumably refers to someone who is legally married to the “individual.”
So, if you and your spouse are contemplating divorce, you CAN file a Chapter 7 “straight bankruptcy” jointly.
But Should You File Together?
As you think about whether you should file jointly, consider some timing considerations. Think about whether it makes sense to file the divorce case first, before filing the bankruptcy case. Or the other way around. If it makes sense to file divorce first, when that’s done you’ll presumably no longer be married. Since you would no longer be spouses, you would not be able to file bankruptcy jointly.
So what are the considerations about which to file first?
Debts as of the Date of Filing Bankruptcy
One very important consideration is that a bankruptcy case affects only debts that exist when you file that case. (Section 727(b) of  the Bankruptcy Code.)  Future debts aren’t included. This means that filing a bankruptcy case before going through divorce will not affect the obligations created in that divorce. Many debts arising out of divorce aren’t affected by bankruptcy, but some can be. So sometimes it makes sense to hold off on filing bankruptcy until after the divorce. At that point you could only file without your now-former spouse.
Assets as of the Date of Filing Bankruptcy
Same thing regarding things you own—your assets. Usually the only assets involved in your bankruptcy case are those you own “as of the commencement of the case.” (Section 541(a)(1) and (2).) So assets that you acquire after you file your Chapter 7 case are not part of the case.
Divorce usually involves a division of assets between the spouses. You may lose some assets to your spouse through divorce, you may gain some. This anticipated shifting of assets may affect when you file a Chapter 7 case. If are expecting to gain assets in your divorce that may not be protected (“exempt”) in bankruptcy, that may encourage you to file bankruptcy before the divorce. If divorce is going to take away unprotected assets, it may make sense to file divorce first.
So When SHOULD Spouses Considering Divorce File a Joint Bankruptcy?
Arguably, an about-to-divorce couple should never file a joint bankruptcy. Why not?
First, the two spouses can file individual bankruptcies at any time. They are not obligated to file jointly. It often makes a lot of sense to file separately, and since you’re allow to maybe you should.
Second, if you are seriously thinking about divorce, the odds are high that you and your spouse’s legal interests are diverging. There is a good chance that the legal solution best for you is not the best for your spouse. You can’t be on the same team if your goals are different.
Third, your interests are often in direct conflict. You certainly can’t be on the same team if your goal is to defeat your teammate.
Fourth, being on the same side in a Chapter 7 case assumes a level of honesty, trust, and cooperation that seldom exists between ready-to-divorce couple.
Should You EVER File Chapter 7 Case Together?
You might still file a joint Chapter 7 case if doing so is in each of your self-interest’s. That means it’s in the best interest of each of you to file:
a Chapter 7 case
that Chapter 7 case jointly
at the same point in time
before starting the divorce case
Schedule a Free Consultation with Your Portland Bankruptcy Attorney
When it comes time to file for bankruptcy, you need a compassionate and skilled attorney who will be able to guide you through the process as cleanly as possible. Northwest Debt Relief Law Firm, we can help you with filing for Chapter 7, Chapter 11, and Chapter 13 bankruptcy in Portland, Oregon.  We will be there every step of the way to help navigate you through the often-complex and difficult bankruptcy process.
Give us a call at (503) 912-8809 to schedule a free consultation with one of our bankruptcy attorneys. If you have any other questions about bankruptcy, one of our attorneys will be more than happy to offer advice on your particular situation.

The post Should Divorcing Spouses File a Chapter 7 Together? appeared first on Portland Bankruptcy Attorney | Northwest Debt Relief.

What is Zombie Debt?
Zombie Debt, also referred to as Stat debt or Out of Statute debt, refers to debt that is very old or no longer owed. Effectively, these debts have “come back from the dead” to haunt you again. Debt scavengers are debt collectors who purchase zombie debt from a source – the original creditor, a successor creditor who bought the original creditor’s debt, or even from another debt collection agency – often for pennies on the dollar, and who attempt to collect the debt from the debtor.
Once a debt has been in default (unpaid) for six years, the statute of limitations to collect the debt has expired. The creditor cannot file a suit to collect the debt once the debt is too old, as having been in default for six years. However, to trick you into thinking that the creditor has additional time to collect upon the debt, the creditor will (out of thin air) make up a phony date called the “charged off date”, and put that phony “charged off date” on your credit report as the date of default.
Debt Can Be Too Old To Be Collected on By Creditors
Sometimes, aged debts may be too old to properly serve as the basis for a creditor lawsuit to collect the debt in question. However, some creditors will still file a lawsuit on a too-old debt, hoping that you won’t realize that the debt is too old to support the lawsuit. The courts don’t seem to care about lawsuits filed to collect aged debt. That means that if you don’t file a response to contest the creditor’s suit, then the court will enter what is actually an improper judgment. The court expects you to be responsible enough to understand—or be represented by a qualified attorney who is knowledgeable on debt collection and aged debt practices—and if you don’t care enough to contest the suite, the court shouldn’t care either.
In addition to typical consumer and business debt, there are also some other types of debts like criminal fines or restitution which many not be subject to a statute of limitations that is as short as the time period for bringing suit on consumer and business obligations.
As you can see, it literally pays to obtain qualified legal advice about a particular debt that you owe is too old to be collected in a lawsuit. You should also be aware that statutes of limitation on aged debt can vary from state to state. If you’ve incurred a debt in the past in another state, protecting yourself with qualified legal advice is as important in those cases as it is in the state of Washington.
Creditors will return if your Chapter 13 bankruptcy plan is dismissed in most cases. The deadline for creditors to file suit to collect a debt is six years after debtor breaches the terms of their debt contract by failing to make the payments that the debt contract obligated the debtor to make on time. Even if the debtor files bankruptcy during that six-year period, the deadline for the creditor to file suit to collect the debt is neither extended nor shortened due to the fact that the debtor was in bankruptcy during the six-year time period.
Zombie debts can stem from dealings with big creditors, not just smaller companies. In May of 2015, the New York Times reported
“Two of the nation’s biggest banks will finally put to rest the zombies of consumer debt — bills that are still alive on credit reports although legally eliminated in bankruptcy — potentially providing relief to more than a million Americans.
Bank of America and JPMorgan Chase have agreed to update borrowers’ credit reports within the next three months to reflect that the debts were extinguished.
The move is a victory for borrowers whose credit reports have been marred as a result of the reported debts, imperiling their job prospects and torpedoing their chances of getting new loans.
The change by the banks emerged this week in Federal Bankruptcy Court in White Plains, where the two banks, along with Citigroup and Synchrony Financial, formerly GE Capital Retail Finance, face lawsuits accusing them of deliberately ignoring bankruptcy discharges to fetch more money when they sell off pools of bad debt to financial firms.
The lawsuits accuse the banks of engineering what amounts to a subtle but ruthless debt collection tactic, effectively holding borrowers’ credit reports hostage, refusing to fix the mistakes unless people pay money for debts that they do not actually owe.”
While it’s been over a year since the agreement was reached, if you were a customer of any of the banks mentioned in the article, and if your bankruptcy filing included a debt owed to one of those creditors over the period covered in the settlement described in the article, it pays to check your credit report to ensure that the debts that they promised to remove have in fact been removed from your credit report.
Schedule a Free Consultation with Your Tacoma Bankruptcy Attorney
When it comes time to file for bankruptcy, you need a compassionate and skilled attorney who will be able to guide you through the process as cleanly as possible. Northwest Debt Relief Law Firm, we can help you with filing for Chapter 7, Chapter 11, and Chapter 13 bankruptcy in Washington State.  We will be there every step of the way to help navigate you through the often-complex and difficult bankruptcy process.
Give us a call at (253) 780-8008 to schedule a free consultation with one of our bankruptcy attorneys. If you have any other questions about bankruptcy, one of our attorneys will be more than happy to offer advice on your particular situation.
 
The post How to Avoid Being Haunted by Debt Scavengers or “Zombie Debt Collectors”. appeared first on Portland Bankruptcy Attorney | Northwest Debt Relief.

By Emma G. Fitzsimmons

Helen Ochisor drove the yellow taxi in the morning. Her husband Nicanor took it in the afternoon.
They rarely saw each other during the week. She was asleep when he got home after a long night of driving. They exchanged a quick hello while handing off the taxi.
Immigrants from Romania, the couple had bought their New York City taxi medallion nearly three decades ago. Lately, it had been difficult to find fares. Her husband worked 12-hour shifts, but brought home less money. He was worried about the plunging value of their once-lucrative medallion and frustrated about Uber’s takeover of the industry.
On a cold day in March, Mr. Ochisor hanged himself in his garage in Queens. His family blames the growing hopelessness he felt over his fortunes as a taxi driver.
“It depressed him, it irritated him, it probably angered him — maybe all three,” his son Gabriel Ochisor said in an interview at the family’s home. “It was definitely a factor. Otherwise, we can’t piece together any other factor.”
“We have a 7-month-old over there,” he said pointing to his infant son — his father’s first grandchild, who lived upstairs. “Why would you want to leave?"
Nicanor Ochisor, 64, was one of four professional drivers to take their lives in the last five months. Another driver, Doug Schifter, killed himself with a shotgun in front of City Hall in February after sharing a Facebook post about the financial turmoil he was facing.
Suicide is a deeply intimate decision, and there is no way to know for certain what confluence of factors might lead someone to make such a choice. But the recent series of deaths has drawn attention to the economic desperation that many taxi and livery drivers are grappling with, and has renewed calls to rein in Uber and other ride-hailing services.
After Mayor Bill de Blasio suffered a bruising political defeat when he tried — unsuccessfully — to cap Uber in 2015, there has been a growing sense that something has to be done. In a first step, the City Council held a hearing on Monday for several bills that could change the rules for car service apps.
Mr. de Blasio has said he may try again to limit the number of for-hire vehicles.
“I think the caps are the kind of thing we need to talk about again,” Mr. de Blasio said in a recent radio interview, “because the situation has gotten worse since then, both in terms of the pressure that’s been put on the medallion owners, everyday taxi drivers, but also because of congestion.”
Uber has transformed how Americans get around and has upended the transportation network in community after community. In New York City — Uber’s largest United States market — the app has siphoned commuters from the sputtering subway and bus system, but more significantly it has all but vanquished the iconic yellow cab, plunging it into an existential crisis.
Taxi medallions that once sold for more than $1 million now go for as low as $175,000. More than 60,000 black cars are tied to Uber, dwarfing yellow taxis, which are capped by city law at about 13,587. Last year, Uber trips eclipsed yellow taxi rides for the first time.
Uber is the biggest player, with about 410,000 trips per day in February, but Lyft and Via, two other ride-hailing apps, have made inroads. (Lyft provided about 112,000 trips per day in February, and Via about 33,000, according to the city’s taxi commission.) The influx of vehicles has contributed to gridlock on the streets of Manhattan, where traffic has slowed to a crawl and city buses travel at just 5.7 miles per hour on average.
In 2015, Uber launched an aggressive campaign against the city’s proposed cap, with television advertisements criticizing Mr. de Blasio, and an app feature, known as “de Blasio view,” that showed long wait times for a ride if the cap were approved. But this time Uber might be a less formidable foe. 
The company has struggled with a series of scandals over its workplace culture and aggressive tactics, leading to the resignation of its chief executive and founder last year.
Other cities have tried to corral Uber, including London — its largest European market — where Uber lost its license to operate last year. After Austin imposed strict regulations, Uber left the city, though the app returned last year when Texas passed new rules.
Austin Finan, a spokesman for Mr. de Blasio, said new regulations on for-hire vehicles were back in the conversation.
“The mayor has been clear about the need to re-evaluate our options in the face of explosive growth we’re seeing in the industry,” Mr. Finan said in a statement.
Councilman Stephen Levin, a Democrat who represents Brooklyn and has sponsored a bill to restrict the number of for-hire vehicles, believes a cap would have a better chance this time.
“New Yorkers see the congestion issue much more apparently — it’s clear now,” Mr. Levin said. “I also think empirically we’re seeing it’s much harder to make a living driving a cab.”
But Alix Anfang, a spokeswoman for Uber, defended Uber’s growth in New York, arguing that drivers keep up with a demand in the boroughs outside Manhattan for a reliable transportation option.
“Capping the number of Ubers would only hurt the millions of outer borough riders who have long been ignored by yellow taxis and who don’t have access to reliable public transit,” Ms. Anfang said.
Less than two weeks after his father’s death, Gabriel Ochisor stood outside City Hall at a protest calling on Mr. de Blasio to strengthen regulations. Four coffins were covered in white flowers, one for each driver.
His father had attended a taxi protest at City Hall shortly before his death. It was unusual for him. He was quiet. He usually didn’t go to protests.
“He was mad at the politicians,” said Gabriel, the couple’s only child. “He was mad at Silicon Valley and all these big shots that have billions of dollars. You’re trampling over the little guys that invested in something and wanted to have some exclusivity, as they were told when they bought the medallion.”
On a recent afternoon, the family prepared to host a special meal to mark 40 days since his death. They created a fund-raising website to help pay off the balance on the taxi medallion, which Mr. Ochisor had borrowed money against, so that his wife can retire.
Helen and Nicanor met at an electronics factory in Romania. They married and moved to New York, purchasing the medallion for $180,000 in 1989. As its value rose, hitting a record of $1.05 million in 2013, they hoped it would fund their retirement.
But the price of a medallion has dropped dramatically with the rise of ride-hailing apps. The city has not held an auction since 2014 because of fears that the medallions would not sell for a good price, and owners who sell medallions privately have not commanded large sums.
When Helen Ochisor drives the taxi in Manhattan during the morning, business is virtually nonexistent.
“After 10 o’clock, I cannot pick up nobody,” Ms. Ochisor said. “For one hour or two hours, I was going downtown, uptown, and nothing.”
Mr. Ochisor had also worried about having to buy a new wheelchair-accessible vehicle — part of a city mandate — that would be cumbersome for the older couple. He did still enjoy parts of the job: talking to customers and playing backgammon with other drivers in a parking lot at Kennedy International Airport, where he waited before picking up passengers.
The family has not found a suicide note.
“We checked up and down, left and right,” Gabriel said. “Computers, phones.”
“I didn’t find anything yet,” Ms. Ochisor said.
Gabriel Ochisor wants the problems that troubled his father to be addressed. He has sent letters to Mr. de Blasio and to a list of other elected officials, pleading for them to level the playing field between taxi and Uber drivers. He met recently with Meera Joshi, the city’s taxi commissioner, but has not heard from the mayor’s office.
In a statement, Ms. Joshi said she admired “his resolve to make his father’s situation, concerns and beliefs heard.”
Bhairavi Desai, the executive director of the New York Taxi Workers Alliance, a group that represents drivers, said Mr. Ochisor’s death had brought a sense of urgency to their campaign for new regulations. A fee on for-hire vehicle trips in Manhattan, which was recently passed by state lawmakers to raise money for public transit, is another devastating financial setback, she said.
The taxi group is now focused on pressuring the City Council to pass new rules and watching for signs of depression among drivers to prevent further deaths.
“Right now, there is a sense of, ‘We’re not going to let our friend’s death go in vain,’” Ms. Desai said.
Still, it is easy to see how Uber has found a foothold in New York City. The Ochisor family lives in the Maspeth neighborhood of Queens, far from the nearest subway line. A reporter visiting the home asked for advice about the quickest way back to Manhattan.
Gabriel Ochisor had to admit that the best option was Uber.
Copyright 2018 The New York Times Company.  All rights reserved.

Two important sets of CFPB amendments to its RESPA and TILA mortgage servicing rules go into effect April 19, 2018. These amendments expand the rights of those inheriting homes, awarded a home in divorce, or otherwise succeeding in interest to a mortgage loan. The rules also offer an important new right for debtors in bankruptcy to determine if mortgage servicer fees and application of mortgage payments are proper.
Homeowners now the right to receive monthly mortgage statements during and after bankruptcy.
Do you need help saving your home?  The other set of amendments is just as important, giving homeowners during and after bankruptcy the right to receive monthly mortgage statements. Without these statements, it has been difficult to determine if mortgage servicers were assessing improper fees or misapplying the homeowner’s mortgage payments, particularly during chapter 13 cases.
Successors in Interest Entitled to the Same Rights As Borrowers
Saving your home
The new rules expand the definition of a “borrower” for purposes of RESPA, and “consumer” for purposes of TILA, to include a confirmed successor in interest. 12 C.F.R. § 1024.31 (eff. April 19, 2018). Successor in interest is defined as coextensive with transfers listed in the Garn-St. Germain Act after which a due-on-sale clause may not be exercised.
This list includes transfers related to the borrower’s death or a divorce or separation agreement, transfers to a spouse or children, or to a trust in which the borrower is a beneficiary. 12 U.S.C. § 1701j-3(d)

Additional note – the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau ‘CFPB’ has been instrumental in holding banks, car lenders, pay day lenders and many other responsible for their unscrupulous actions.  Trump and his big business friends are moving to gut the CFPB so as to reduce their power and expose those who do not have a voice (you and me) to the outrageous actions of big business.  Remember this next time you are asked to vote.
Related posts on this same topic:

1. Beware consumers no longer protected – Corday leaving CFPB
2. Payday and Deposit advance loans
3. Stop Payday Loan Debt Traps
4. Student Loans – the latest nightmare

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About the Author:
Diane L. Drain is a well known and respected Arizona bankruptcy attorney. She is an expert in both consumer bankruptcy and Arizona foreclosure. Since 1985 she has been a dedicated advocate for her clients and spokesperson for Arizona citizens. As a teacher and retired law professor, Diane believes in offering everyone, not just her clients, advice about the Arizona bankruptcy and foreclosure laws. She is also a mentor to hundreds of Arizona attorneys.
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*Important Note from Diane: Everything on this web site is available for educational purposes only, is not intended to provide legal advice nor create an attorney client relationship between you, me, or the author of any article.  Any information in this web site should not be used as a substitute for competent legal advice from an attorney familiar with your personal circumstances and licensed to practice law in your state.*

The post New Help to Homeowners, Heirs or Spouses appeared first on Diane L. Drain - Phoenix Bankruptcy & Foreclosure Attorney.