Spring Hill, FL Bankruptcy Law Firms & Lawyers

If the debt was in existence when you filed for bankruptcy in 2004, you should reopen your old case and amend the petition and schedules to include that debt and it too will be discharged.

Your wife's mother does not own the car - you do. The title is in your name. It does not sound like you perfected title or properly executed paperwork to make the debt owed to your mother-in-law a secured debt. If you have not started making payments to your mother-in-law on the car, DO NOT START NOW. DO NOT TRANSFER TITLE INTO HER NAME! There is a very good chance the car can be exempted - depending on how much in non-exempt assets you have. After you get the discharge, you can choose to repay your mother-in-law. But you CANNOT pay her during the course of your bankruptcy. It's only 3-4 months and the consequences of not showing this patience can include the car being taken - so be patient. Sit down with a lawyer and discuss in detail your assets and the exemptions available to you.

You really need to secure an attorney. Yes, you must file a response within 20 days of being served with the lawsuit, but it's not a matter of just writing down the facts of your case. So often we see pro se parties that "don't know what they don't know" and waive many valuable rights and defenses. Stating that the debt is true is almost as bad as not asserting any defense at all. That will allow the creditor to quickly obtain a judgment against you. Do you have any viable defenses, such as standing, waiver or estoppel? Is the party suing you the one that you initially signed the credit card agreement with? Have you seen an original signed copy of the credit card agreement? And in discussing what is not a defense, advising the court of medical issues, job loss or family issues which have led to your non-payment, not of those are legal defenses to the allegation of non-payment.