Los Angeles Bankruptcy Lawyers Blog

Filing Bankruptcy in the San Gabriel Valley and other areas in Los Angeles is a process that is doable, but it is often difficult for most people to find out how much it actually costs. You have to remember that there is a difference between fees and costs. Costs are what an attorney pays out, and get nothing out of it personally. For example, if you want to file a Chapter 7 Bankruptcy, the cost of filing as of April, 2010 is $299. If you want to file a Chapter 13 Bankruptcy, the cost is $274.

So, what are some additional costs you can expect? Credit Counseling is a requirement of all inidividuals filing Bankruptcy. There are two parts to this requirement. First, you must do a Pre-Petition Counseling Session, which costs on-line anywhere from $15-$45. Secondly, after you file, and after you have a Creditor Meeting, you have to have another Counseling Session, which typically costs less, usually between $10-$25.

How about running a Credit Report? At the Law Offices of Frazee/ Laron, for about $40 we can actually order a Credit Report electronically and have it imported directly into your Bankruptcy Petition, which is a bonus for ensuring accuracy and completeness. Otherwise, a debtor can get their own as well.

Delivery to the Court can cost up to $100 or more with some services, not to mention costs involved in mailing various information to Creditors every time your case is changed. In our firm, we file electronically which reduces these costs and save the Bankuptcy filer more money.

Legal Fees vary even more. It really isn't fair to quote a "one price fits all" amount because cases very greatly in complexity and in the likelihood of a creditor getting involved to make things more difficult. However, as an experienced Bankruptcy Attorney in Pasadena, I can give you a fair price quote depending on your particular circumstances. With a free consultation, is obviously worth your time to come in and talk about how you can rid yourself of credit card debt, depressing home loans, medical bills, or divorce related costs.

Let us educate you and take you in the right direction.

Kirk Laron
Pasadena Bankruptcy Attorney

Clients in Los Angeles usually start their free Bankruptcy consultation with me with a story of their exhaustive attempts to modify a home loan only to find out just prior to approval that the "investors" do not approve of the modification after all. Many homeowners are offered a three month trial to attempt a new loan modification, and after two and a half months, are told their modification has not been approved. This is usually followed by a failed short sale, and then a foreclosure.

Bankruptcy is the only real solution if you want to keep your home and the lender is not "playing ball". Provided you have some income and your arrearages are not too great, a Chapter 13 Bankruptcy is the only real weapon a person has if they want to keep their home and want to stop enduring the pain of a failed short sale or a failed loan modification.

A Bankruptcy also gives a person more bargaining power with the lender. As long as a person is dutifully making a Plan Payment in Chapter 13 and making the mortgage payment from that point forward, a lender cannot take that person's home. There is another advantage of filing a Chapter 13 Bankruptcy. If a person sticks to the Plan, they can remove any personal liability on the home if the lender later takes the house through foreclosure due to lack of payment. If you have a second loan or a refinanced loan, a homeowner is typically personally liable for any deficiency balance between what the home is sold for at a foreclosure auction and what the person owes on the loan. A Bankruptcy removes that personal liability so a lender has less leverage over that homeowner and may be more inclined to actually modify a new home loan.

By removing personal liability through Bankruptcy, a homeowner puts themself in a better bargaining position with a lender, since a home that is "under water" is not a good foreclosure candidate when there is no personal liability to help cover the lender's loss. If you are looking for a Los Angeles Bankruptcy Attorney who may also be able to strip away your Second Home Loan in addition to the securing the aforementioned advantages, give us a call.

Your ability to effectively negotiate with the Banks is only a phone call away.

Kirk Laron
Pasadena Bankruptcy Attorney

A Chapter 13 Bankruptcy can allow Los Angeles residents as well as other Americans to pay a fixed payment over time so they can save their home from foreclosure in many circumstances. At times, however, when the delinquent amount owed on a home, known as Arrearages are too great, the plan become unaffordable when only the future income of the person is considered.

Fortunately, payments to the plan can come from several sources. In other words, not all payments to creditors must be made from the debtor's future income. The debtor may choose to fund payments from exempt property, from property of the estate, or from a Contribution from another person.

Many assets that a person has would be exempt from creditors if they declared a Chapter 7 liquidation Bankruptcy. Any of those assets could in theory be used to pay for the plan payments. Also, another person can sign a Declaration pledging them to pay a portion of the debtor's payment. This can often make the difference of a successful Chapter 13 Plan and one that a debtor cannot afford. This becomes an analysis that an experienced Bankruptcy Attorney in Los Angeles can provide as these alternatives can pave the way to getting out of debt and keeping your home, even if it days away from foreclosure.

Through a free consultation, the possibility of saving your home and getting relief is just a phone call away

Kirk Laron
Pasadena Bankruptcy Attorney

On January 1, 2010 homestead exemptions rose to $75,000 and $100,000 of home equity for single and married debtors declaring Bankruptcy. In places like Los Angeles and Pasadena, this can be critical because protecting whatever equity may be left in your home could be important in determining whether Bankrtupcy Protection is worthwhile. Protecting as much equity as possible becomes a key variable for any person considering Bankruptcy in Southern California, and as of the beginning of the year, Angelinos just gained a little more protection.

However, recording a judgment lien against real property "freezes" the amount of the homestead exemption the person can claim under California's nonbrankruptcy exemptions. Moreover, any subsequent statutory increase in the exemption amount does not apply to the judgment lien creditor. This means that despite this generous increase, if you already have a judgment against your home, the added protection does not apply that particular debtor.

This is just one example of why a Pasadena Bankruptcy Attorney is important to have when considering filing Bankruptcy when you own a home. I will help you protect what assets you have and to maximize your protections under the law.

Kirk Laron
Pasadena Bankruptcy Lawyer

Minimal research of Chapter 13 Bankruptcies in Pasadena will reveal that the main advantage of this option is to save your home from pending foreclosure. However, with an appraisal of your home, you may be able to strip away your second lien ("lienstripping) as long as the following is true:

Your home value must be below the value of your first lien. In other words, if the home is sold, only the first lien holder would get paid because there is nothing left for the second lien holder.

In this case, one can totally strip away the second and convert it into unsecured status, which gets treated like a credit card. If you can successfully maintain your payment plan in a chapter 13 throughout the payment period (3 to 5 years), then any remaining unsecured debt is wiped away. You can emerge with a fresh start, and a home that no longer has a second mortgage on it.

If you have a job, want to keep your home, but are having trouble making ends meet, give us a call or e-mail and we will guide you through this process and see if a Chapter 13 Bankruptcy can be the right solution for you.

Kirk Laron
Pasadena Bankruptcy Attorney

Recently, I was asked as a practicing Pasadena Bankruptcy Attorney why someone can't just do it themselves. I love questions like this because it really allows me to highlight the headaches that people are in store for, and the value that Bankruptcy Lawyers can bring, even in a simple Chapter 7 Bankruptcy filing.

First of all, filing a petition electronically is the way to go, which can only be done by an Attorney. With numerous filing deadlines, I can file from my office at 11:59 PM and still have it accepted as if it was filed during the day. There are several papers that are required, they must be filed in a certain order and in a certain manner, depending on the area of Los Angeles you are filing. The average person would have no clue about these issues and you aren't going to read about them in Court Publications or a website. Furthermore, every US Trustee is different and knowing their preferences is key to avoiding scrutiny to your case. An individual or bankruptcy preparer simply doesn't meet with the Trustees in order to know this information like a Bankruptcy Attorney would.

In addition, an improperly filed petition is routinely dismissed as the Court simply does not have the manpower and patience to correct mistakes, nor is it really their job in the first place. A dismissal requires another filing fee, and starting all over again. If things are not corrected the second time around another dismissal could result in a Bar from filing for 180 days. Given the fact, that most debtors are being relieved of anywhere from $20,000 to $250,000 on average, the price of a Bankruptcy Attorney is a wise investment when you consider the benefits and the opportunity for a fresh start.

At the Law Offices of Frazee/ Laron our legal fees start at $999. We have saved people's homes from foreclosure hours before a scheduled sale, we have wiped out mountains of debts on hard working people who have lost their jobs or are among the underemployed, and we have allowed people to find solutions after failed loan modifications and failed short sales. Give us a call if you are ready for actual solutions rather than empty promises that waste your time.

Kirk Laron
Pasadena Bankruptcy Attorney