Grand Blanc, MI Bankruptcy Law Firms & Lawyers

You can file a bankruptcy to prevent a car from being repoed, but that probably isn't a very good idea. The protection you get will only last a few months & it is not like bankruptcy will get you a free car. You will still have to pay the entire loan to keep the car, absent some rare exceptions that might let you pay just the value of the vehicle in full.

When you file for Bankruptcy protection, you and your house are now protected under the Bankruptcy Laws. In order for the bank to get the house out from under the protection of the bankruptcy laws, it will need to ask the court to remove it from the protection. This is usually done when the bank files a "Motion for Relief". Once the creditor files a motion for relief, the court will hold a hearing in about 21 days. At that hearing, if the court grants the banks motion, it means the bank can then proceed with foreclosure proceedings. In GA, that means they have to advertise in your county's legal newspaper for 4 weeks before the first Tuesday of the following month. The timing can depend on what day the bank files their motion. For example, if the bank filed their motion on Oct 15th, it would be 21 days before the hearing, which would put the hearing on or about November 5th. If the motion was granted, the bank could advertise the foreclosure sale the month of November and have the foreclosure sale on Tuesday, December 4th. Keep in mind that I deal with GA laws, so if you live in another state, the state foreclosure process will be different.

The bankruptcy should stop the wage garnishment. The way it works is that after the bankruptcy case is filed, notice goes out to the creditors that you list in the petition. The attorney for the creditor after receiving the bankruptcy notice will send request to the sheriff to stop the garnishment. Then the sheriff processes the requests by notifying the employer. If when this happens there is money held by the sheriff they typically issue a check to the employer and the employer will either give you the sum in a separate check or include it in the next payroll check. If there is money held at the creditor's they will typically send the check directly to you or to your attorney. Typically this takes about a week or two, you can expedite by faxing the bankruptcy notice to the attorney for the creditor rather than waiting for snail mail notice to reach them. As far as refund, I assume you are talking about a tax refund. Whether you get to keep it all or some, will depend on if the amount of refund can fit inside an exemption and be exempted from the creditors reach. To know this I would need to understand the amount of the refund and also the types and values of your other assets. Assets is basically anything of value, including potential lawsuits/claims against another (for example: personal injury, workmen's comp) and debt owed to you as well as other things like cars, boats, household goods, timeshares, etc. Hopefully the refund would fit under the California wildcard exemption, assuming you are entitled to use California exemptions and the specific type known as the 703s. In California we have two sets of exemptions. If the tax refund fits into an exemption, you list it on your schedule B as an asset and then exempt it on Schedule C. If you hire an attorney to handle your case you will want to disclose to them your assets, including the tax refund amount. They will do the exemption analysis and let you know if filing right now makes sense or if it's better to wait.