310.376.9865
Things that make your bankruptcy lawyer say, “YOU DID WHAT???”
1. You transferred title to your house with $50,000 of equity to your Mom 2 weeks ago, so the bankruptcy court wouldn’t be able to take it.
PROBLEM: You are wrong Carnac. There was a case decided in England in 1601 (Twyne’s Case), which found transfers such as this to be fraudulent as the “badges of fraud” were present (In other words you were not the first person to have this great idea). The Bankruptcy Code takes such fraudulent transfers into account.
So you transferred the house with equity to your Mom, what you did was take an asset that you could have protected with your exemptions, put that asset in someone else’s name and you can no longer protect the asset. Furthermore, the Bankruptcy Trustee can take steps to avoid the transfer, and now the house is not owned by you or your Mom, but by the Bankruptcy Trustee, who will sell the house, and use the proceeds to pay off your creditors.
DO NOT transfer anything you own into someone else’s name before you file bankruptcy.
2. You tell your bankruptcy attorney that you knew you were going to have to file bankruptcy so, you repaid a $3,000 loan to your Mom, and a $5,000 loan to your girlfriend.
PROBLEM: The Bankruptcy Code does not allow you to repay your friends and relatives at the expense of your other creditors. In the above example, if not corrected, you would be required to repay the $8,000 to the bankruptcy trustee, or he would seek turnover from your Mom and girlfriend. The trustee would then distribute the $8,000 on a pro rata basis to all of your creditors.
3. You were served with a Summons and Complaint several months ago. You decided the best possible course of action was to ignore the matter.
PROBLEM: Everything is going good at work today, and here comes someone from Payroll and they hand you notice of wage garnishment, and the Sheriff will start in a week or two to garnish 25% of your wages. At this point your only option to stop the wage garnishment maybe bankruptcy.
If you had not ignored the matter, and filed a Response to the Complaint, it may have been possible to have the matter dismissed for several different reasons. The first thing your attorney will look at, how long has it been since you used or paid on the credit card. More than 4 years? It may have been possible to have the case dismissed due to Statute of Limitations.
Do not ignore a Summons and Complaint, contact your attorney immediately to determine your best course of action.
4. You are thinking I am probably going to file bankruptcy, why worry about my car payment.
PROBLEM: Your car secures the debt. If you do not make your car payment, the creditor can repossess the car. The bankruptcy will slow down the repossession, it will not stop the repossession. If you do not make your car payment you will loose your car.
- Law Offices MJ Mann Bankruptcy Attorney
- 2706 Artesia Blvd, Suite BK
- Redondo Beach, CA 90278
- 310.376.9865
