Are your under pressure from creditors calling you, creditors harassing you, medical bills that you can’t pay? Are you suffering financially due to unemployment or an accident that has you laid off from work? Is your mortgage falling behind or are you facing foreclosure of your home? Is your business failing? Did you spouse divorce you leaving you with the debt and obligations of the marriage?

Perhaps you have an IRS tax debt that can’t be paid? Or a judgment creditor that is pursuing you? Are you worried about what assets your can keep as Exempt under the law?

Bankruptcy may be your answer.

There are several Chapters of Bankruptcy: Chapter 7, Chapter 13 and Chapter 11. There are many technical reasons to choose one Chapter over another. Whatever you have been told by a friend or family member, please understand that only a seasoned, experienced Bankruptcy Attorney can apply the law to the particular facts of your situation, and everyone has a different circumstance so each case is unique.

While paralegals may feel like they understand the Bankruptcy Schedules they fill in, the fact is only a Bankruptcy lawyer who practices in the District where you need to file can advise you on the law. They know how and why the forms are filled out and the forms are not routine.

In Central Florida, we are served by the Middle District Bankruptcy Court. There are five counties that are handled by this court: Orange County, Lake County, Seminole County, Osceola County and Brevard County. If you live in one of these counties and you are considering filing for yourself or together with your spouse, then your Bankruptcy Case will be filed in Orlando, in the Middle District of Florida Bankruptcy Court.

We have two Bankruptcy Judges: Hon. Arthur B. Briskman and Hon. Karen Jenneman, both highly experienced and outstanding judges. You cannot pick which judge is going to handle your case. The judge is assigned by blind rotation.

While you have probably heard that Congress wanted to make it harder to file Bankruptcy, the fact is, while there is much more technical analysis involved, there are so many people filing bankruptcy in Central Florida, that Orlando ranks number two or three in the nation for the most cases filed in a District, depending on the given month. 

Orlando is reaching crushing numbers of cases being filed: around 1,800 a month.

           This high volume means that all the persons serving in the case: the US Trustee, the Chapter 7 Trustee, or the Chapter 13 Trustee Laurie Weatherford , the Clerk’s Office and the Bankruptcy Judges themselves are all under a great deal of pressure with too many cases and not enough resources. You must be prepared to cooperate 110%, be totally honest and forthcoming. If you participate that way in the process you will hopefully get your discharge as the vast majority of debtors do. But the dishonest debtor must beware- it is a federal crime to lie, cheat and defraud the court and the creditors.

      Everyone in the Bankruptcy Court system wants you to succeed in getting your discharge, with the understanding that you will be totally honest and cooperative. To get rid of your unsecured debts (like credit cards, hospital bills, loans from family or loans from friends, to walk away from real estate that has mortgages and not owe a deficiency balance), that is a great deal which requires that are honest and cooperative.

There are exemptions provided under State and Federal Law that an experienced Bankruptcy attorney can help explain to you. Nothing is simple and each exemption like Homestead, Wages, Personal Property, Social Security, Cars or Automobiles, IRA s, Pensions, Retirement, Medical Savings accounts and others must be applied to the facts of your case only by a Bankruptcy Attorney, ideally one with years of experience. Exemptions and valid liens against your assets as well as your income less allowable expenses determine how much, if any, you will have to pay your creditors in a bankruptcy case.

Even if you do not hire our firm as your bankruptcy attorney, please do not file your bankruptcy case without the assistance of a bankruptcy attorney, preferably a lawyer who has practiced nothing else but bankruptcy law for at least five years.  The inexperienced or unlicensed practioneers do not see all the trap doors that exist for the uninformed and there are many.

Whether you need a Chapter 13 or will be required to file a Chapter 13 depends on several factors. The benefits of a Chapter 13 include that it allows you catch up on your delinquent mortgage payments over 36 or 60 months, allows you to pay IRS over  36 or 60 months,  allows you to pay the amount of your nonexempt property over 36 or 60 months based on the most you can afford to pay.  

Whether you qualify for Chapter 7 because your income falls below the current median income for your size family or whether you must pass the “means test”, only an attorney who appears regularly before the Middle District of Florida Bankruptcy Court, if you live in Central Florida, should be used to make this in depth analysis.

Chapter 11 is used most often by larger individually owned businesses, corporations or high end individuals who exceed the debt limitations of Chapter 13.

We offer a 10% courtesy discount to active - military personnel, law enforcement officers, firefighters, teachers and clergy. It is our way of saying thank you for your invaluable service and dedication to our country.