Bankruptcy, Credit Counseling, and Paying Attorney Fees for a Motion to Lift Stay

July 16, 2010 - PRLog -- Under the new law before filing a bankruptcy a credit counseling course is required. Filing of a bankruptcy is a big decision and the right choice for many. The main objective of the credit counseling course is to make sure you have looked at other options. The course talks about company’s that try to lower your interest rate and maybe lower monthly payment. The biggest problem is that they can not guarantee that all creditor will agree and you might be making payments but the plan does not work out the way you might think.
The credit counseling also talks about taking a loan against your home’s equity. If the amount is small enough and you can afford the the new payment it may not be a bad idea but if not you might be taking a chance of losing the

The credit counseling course talks about the difference of a chapter 7 and a chapter 13. How the 7 is there mainly to discharge unsecured debit like credit cards, medical bills, and maybe to surrender a car or home you can’t afford.
How a chapter 13 is a form of repayment plan to help keep the car or house that maybe you got behind on and pay a portion of you credit card debts.
The course is there to help look at these difference options before the final decision can be made if the choice is the bankruptcy.

When a motion to lift the stay is filed by a secured creditor; their attorney charges attorney fees to the Debtor. Here lately, we have had a lot of people trying to dispute these fees. They feel that they are not fair and shouldn’t be charged for them. The problem is, they may not see if fair, but the Debtors were delinquent when the motion was filed and that is all the Judge is going to worry about. If you were current on the date that the attorney filed their motion, then the outcome would be different. If you find yourself in this position, you will have to remember that even if you are a day late, you will be required to pay the attorney fees. In bankruptcy, you no longer have the grace period that the mortgage company used to give you. You have to make sure that you make the payments on the first of each month.

If you think about disputing attorney fees, I suggest that you are absolutely sure that you were 100% on time every month that they show you were delinquent, otherwise be prepared to pay the fees. A recent opinion from the Judge last week, allowed the Debtor two choices. One was to pay the attorney fees, because they were delinquent when the mortgage company filed the motion or second, surrender the home, because the home was not their homestead and they should have never become delinquent on it in the first place, because they were receiving rental income on the property. Of course, they decided that they will pay the attorney fees and move forward.

Another thing to remember is, most opposing counsels will allow us to put the fees into the chapter 13 plan and allow you to pay them through the trustee, which may only increase your plan payments about $25-$30 per month. If you have additional questions or concerns, it is very important that you contact your attorney right away.

For more information visit http://www.bankrupcy-alternative.com/medical-bankruptcy-i... or call us directly. Here is another bankruptcy article http://www.prlog.org/10798108-bankruptcy-tax-returns-and-... and here is another http://www.prlog.org/10798098-bankruptcy-making-payments-... for your reading enjoyment.

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