Things You Should NOT Do If You’re filling for Bankruptcy

Tuesday, May 9th, 2017 | Bankruptcy | No Comments

Things You Should NOT Do If You’re filling for Bankruptcy

Perhaps you’re facing a challenging financial situation due to high medical bills, unemployment, or a recent divorce. Your debts are accumulating, and there’s no money to cover what you owe your creditors. Now you’re considering bankruptcy as your only remaining solution, well, it’s a good move, but you need to plan in advance to steer clear of common mistakes. To have a smoother bankruptcy filing process, it’s crucial that you avoid these ten things:

Transferring Property or Money

Transferring your assets to other people to keep them safe from the bankruptcy proceedings is unnecessary. In fact, this does more damage than good since the court can consider these attempts as fraudulent, even if you had not intended to conceal the assets. Owning assets don’t keep you from filing bankruptcy. Moreover, this doesn’t imply giving up all your assets.

 

Paying Off Certain Creditors

Any payments you make to certain creditors within the 90-day period before filing for bankruptcy is considered as a preferential transfer and may be problematic in your case.

Under Tennessee law, all creditors should be treated equally – no creditor should receive special preference over the others. In most cases, the bankruptcy trustee ends up suing the creditor to recover the amount you’ve paid them so that it can be distributed among your creditors equally. Unfortunately, this process may delay your bankruptcy filing as well as ultimate discharge.

 

Filing under the wrong chapter

Although not entirely distinct, both Chapter 7 and Chapter 13 bankruptcy forms give you the chance to get out of debt. Thus, you should discuss your financial situation in detail with your bankruptcy attorney to ensure you have all the information necessary to making this important decision.

 

Using Your Credit Cards

If you’re considering filing for bankruptcy, the very first thing you shouldn’t do is using your credit cards. You would never want ever to give the impression that you are “exhausting” your credit cards. All your creditors review your account activity once they receive the bankruptcy notification and may file a non-discharge ability complaint to have you repay the debt. However, you can still use a debit card that is linked to your bank account to make purchases.

 

Depositing Extra Money in Your Bank Account

No additional money should be deposited into your bank accounts apart from your sources of incomes such as your job. You shouldn’t deposit anything else or accept checks to deposit from people that are trying to assist you to come out of your debts. For your personal business, you shouldn’t run your business transactions via your personal accounts. Always consider keeping everything separately to avoid confusion and any suspicion of fraud.

 

Filing Lawsuits

Tennessee’s exemption laws may not protect your lawsuit settlement if you mix the funds with other money. If you deposit money from a lawsuit in an account with money from other sources, the bankruptcy trustee may conclude that these exemption laws no longer apply.

 

Accepting Future Payments

Once you file for bankruptcy, every other payment you are to receive in the future, as well as the funds that you already have, will be a part of your bankruptcy estate. In simpler terms, your bankruptcy trustee will use this money to repay your creditors. Depending upon when you receive the money, future payments may comprise of things such as tax refunds, or even an inheritance. These payments become the bankruptcy’s court property until when your creditors become satisfied.

 

Paying off unsecured debt using your retirement fund

The majority of individuals do this for fear of their retirement fund being seized during the Bankruptcy Knoxville TN proceedings. Usually, your retirement account will be exempted during your bankruptcy. Therefore, you’d rather keep your funds in your retirement account than using it to cover your unsecured debt.

 

Allowing your Insurance Coverage Lapse

It’s always a wise decision to file for bankruptcy after renewing your insurance policy, if only you need to retain your liability insurance valid to insure unknown liabilities. This simply means you’ll have insurance cover that extends for at least a year into the future. On the contrary, it might be hard to get an insurance company willing to issue a new policy or renew your business coverage. Your existing coverage cannot be canceled as a result of your bankruptcy so long as you still make on time payments.

 

Providing dishonest, incomplete or inaccurate information

Under Tennessee law, you are obliged to disclose all information regarding your financial history, income, assets, debts, expenses, and lawsuits against you. Bankruptcy protects you only from the debts listed on the paper. If you leave out an asset, you may end up losing it unnecessarily. If you are afraid of losing an asset after you file a bankruptcy proceeding, you should discuss the matter with your bankruptcy lawyer before it’s too late to make changes to your case.

If you’re planning to file for bankruptcy, and you cannot shun from some of the things mentioned above, you can take advantage of the ‘look-back’ periods by delaying your filing. This simply implies that the courts will only take into consideration certain transaction types within a specified period. Consult a knowledgeable and experienced bankruptcy attorney to guide you based on your unique situation and help you navigate bankruptcy Knoxville TN.

Tags: Attorney, Bankruptcy, finances after a divorce, Financial management, help with bankruptcy, Knoxville bankruptcy

Financial Recovery After Divorce

Thursday, November 3rd, 2016 | Divorce Attorney Knoxville TN, Divorce Knoxville | No Comments

Financial Recovery After Divorce

 

Though the negative financial effects of a divorce can be a hard situation for any person to go through, the outcome can vary greatly depending on many situation such as Financial status, Job Status, and Custody Status. Prenups are also a major factor, as well as the court’s determination of whether one party has acted egregiously. When all is said and done, it is possible that both people will have to begin the process of financial recovery after a divorce – but in different ways.

 

 You may hear or read advice that uses the term “rebuilding” your finances after a divorce. This is wrongly used in many cases because there are situations where one or both parties can break even or come out ahead financially. “Recovery” is a much better word because the combination of plans made and community property will be divided, many times unequally. Therefore, recovery can be more of a challenge for one party than the other.

 

The first thing to do is to circle your financial wagons. Determine how much you will have to pay to the other person for monthly alimony and/or child support. Consider it as a monthly bill like your rent or utility bills. Since many families have depended on two wage earners to mete expenses, it is important to recognize there is only one after the divorce. If a prenup exists, remember that it will be just a piece of paper once the court has divvied up the assets and property of the marriage. Financially recovering from a divorce can be especially difficult if you are not employed for any reason and have to assume all the financial responsibilities as a result.

 

Once you have taken stock of all your financial assets, you need to protect the assets you have. This will likely mean you will hire an attorney and a financial advisor – one to protect your assets and the other to manage them. One of the best sources for finding a lawyer and financial advisor who can be trusted is the recommendation of a trusted friend or colleague. Going it alone is highly discouraged as you will be going through emotional turmoil in addition to adjusting to a whole new lifestyle.

 

Specifically, you will need to divorce yourself from your ex-spouse on all financial connections – credit cards, loans, joint property holdings that have not been settled through the divorce, etc. It is not the time to be nice because you are likely to be putting your own financial future at risk by staying connected. Legally you are not a couple, and that applies financially as well. Divorces are very often painful experiences, and maintaining financial connections only presents an opportunity for muddying up the waters now and in the future.

 

There are two basic categories you will find yourself in – financial survival or financial management. If you have a good job and are able to hit the ground running after the divorce, then it is a matter of protecting what you have – and what you expect have. Survival is more difficult, especially if you do not have a job and have to make child support or alimony payments. You will need to establish a foundation to get financially stable, which means having a place to live, money for food, and a way to look for and get to a job. You will not be able to move forward without a dependable source of income – or perhaps more than one source.

If you are in the position to focus on the management of your finances, then act like you are married. Avoid falling into the trap where because you are now single you can easily afford the child support or alimony payments, that you do not have to plan for the future. In fact, the truth is the opposite of the perception. If you have children you will want to be prepared to help them along the way, which includes sending them to college. If you plan to marry again, which many people do, then you will want a more secure financial future (with the requisite prenup at the appropriate time) – and the time to start is now.

 

If you are the one who is awarded primary custody of the children, recovering from a divorce is likely to be more of a challenge. The most common reason is that it is very difficult to plan your financial affairs because there are always unexpected expenses or emergencies that will come up that involve the children, forcing you to either scuttle or revise your financial plans. The best approach for such situations is to put away as much cash as possible in liquid assets, such as bank accounts, and only when your new lifestyle is established and there is a fixed monthly income-expense pattern will it be safe to move forward – slowly. A passive income source is a good way to shorten the time between divorce and having financial wiggle room.

 

The key to successfully recovering financially after a divorce is to make as few changes to your daily routine as possible. Do not quit your job, relocate, or become socially reclusive. There is a time for everything, but that time is not supposed to negatively affect you, especially in the financial arena. Many people find that professionals such as attorneys and financial advisors can keep you afloat during the worst times after a divorce. Consider them to be both resources and assets to create a new foundation for financial recovery.

Tags: Attorney, Divorce, finances after a divorce, Financial management