With chapter 7 bankruptcy: being down doesn’t mean you’re out
A key challenge that many people must overcome in deciding to file for bankruptcy is simply admitting the need for it. When you’re struggling to pay your bills, it’s easy to get down psychologically. This is a problem for many people in the San Antonio area and across the country. But before you beat yourself […]
Are inherited retirement accounts protected in bankruptcy?
One of the key questions in a bankruptcy proceeding is exempt vs. non-exempt assets. And one of issues that can come up there is whether individual retirement accounts that someone has inherited should be considered exempt assets — and therefore beyond the reach of someone’s bankruptcy creditors. Federal courts have not agreed on how this […]
For many grads, overwhelming problems with student loan debt
For decades, the middle class has bought into a promise that is a basic premise of American life. Studying hard and staying in school is supposed to pay off. Even if individuals and families have to borrow tens of thousands to do it, there is supposed to be a good job on the other end […]
Bankruptcy filing: how to overcome your own mental resistance
The need for meaningful relief from credit card debt is an issue we continue to follow closely in this blog. As we discussed in our May 10 post, consumers have been cutting down recently on the amount of debt they are taking on. But problems with credit card still plague many people in San Antonio […]
For medical bills, payday loans are the opposite of debt relief
Medical bills can hit you like a ton of bricks. Even people with health insurance can suddenly find themselves owing more than they imagined – because taking on that debt it seemed like the only way to get the care they or a family member desperately needed. In the San Antonio area and throughout the […]
Bankruptcy audit program suspended indefinitely
When Congress revised the nation’s bankruptcy laws in 2005, there were concerns it could become more difficult to file for bankruptcy. Fortunately, that has not been the case for most people interested in fling. The 2005 law did add a few additional hoops to jump through. Overall, though, bankruptcy remains a very useful strategy in […]
Debt Consolidation 101: Brush up on what you know (or don’t know
In our Bexar County law office, we help people who have found themselves in financial quicksand. They know they need to get out, but they cannot seem to do it on their because their strongest efforts just seem to amount to fruitless thrashing. To take the analogy further, we aspire to be the guy standing […]
Seeking to discharge, not swallow, the bitter pill of medical debt
Three years after the passage of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), medical debt remains the biggest cause of bankruptcy. A year ago, U.S. Supreme Court upheld the law. Yet the insurance overhaul it requires has still not fully taken effect. And meanwhile, 49 million Americans remain without health insurance. Given the scandalously high cost of […]
Bankruptcy as a debt relief option for credit card debt
Credit card debt is a problem that plagues many Americans. Residents of the San Antonio area certainly experience their share of this, as do many other Texans. It continues to be a problem, here and elsewhere, even as some measures of the economy slowly improve. If your credit card debt has become unmanageable, filing for […]
Kids and medical costs: what if parents don’t pay?
It’s well known that medical debt is one of the leading causes of bankruptcy. Even when someone has insurance, he or she may be only one serious illness away from overwhelming medical bills – and the need to seek debt relief. What happens, however, when the overwhelming medical bills are for a child? If the […]