Automatic stay issues

My Chapter 13 Was Dismissed Two Weeks Ago - Can I Refile a Chapter 13?
A visitor to one of my web sites wrote me to ask about refiling his Chapter 13. After being in a Chapter 13 for almost 2 years, this gentlemen lost his job and fell behind with his Chapter 13 payments. His mortgage company filed a Motion for Relief because he had falled behind on his mortgage payments (this motion was granted) and the trustee filed a motion to dismiss based on the delinquency in trustee payments. This motion to dismiss was also granted and the case was dismissed. (…)

Do I Have to Give Back the Car I am Financing if I File a Chapter 7?
I have a question about the blog in Nov,2006. You said that filing bankruptcy can stop car repossion . (…)

Will a Bankruptcy Filing Stop the Enforcement of a Judgment Lien
First - I LOVE your blog - you have great info!! Little background. Discover card sued us for around $15,000 on cc debt, we disputed etc and after going back and for in court the attorney who BOUGHT the debt filed for summary judgment, we filed for a motion to reconsider. (…)

A Review of Mortgage Foreclosure Laws in Georgia - How a Bankruptcy Filing Stops Foreclosure
The threat of a mortgage foreclosure serves as a prime motivating factor for many Chapter 13 bankruptcy filings. As an attorney who practices in this area, I sometimes forget that frightened, stressed out homeowners who are actually facing foreclosure may not realize exactly how or why a Chapter 13 can save their home. Therefore, in this post, I would like to review a little about foreclosure law in Georgia and discuss the strategy of using Chapter 13 to stop the foreclosure and reinstate the mortgage. (…)

Property Surrendered in Chapter 7 - Will I Owe if There is a Deficiency?
What happens when you surrender real estate in a bankruptcy? What does it mean for the trustee to "abandon interest" in the property. And most importantly, are you - the debtor - responsible for any deficiency balance that may arise after the case is over and the property sold? (…)

Cost of Chapter 13 May Outweigh Its Benefits
Yesterday, I met with a potential client who was facing immediate foreclosure (today) and I encouraged him not to file Chapter 13 to stop the foreclosure. (…)

Weakening of Consumer Bankruptcy Protections Based on Faulty Assumptions
One of the consequences of the new bankruptcy law (BAPCA law) has to do with erosion of protections offered by bankruptcy in various situations. For example, the automatic stay provisions, which previously offered a comprehensive, no-questions-asked protection from any creditor action, no longer provides absolute protection in all circumstances. Under BAPCA, the automatic stay terminates in 30 days (unless you go to Court to renew it) in certain repeat filing situations and it does not exist at all in the third case filed within a year. (…)

Cars With Starter Lockouts and Chapter 13
I note a series of recent posts on the NACBA list serve about used car dealers who are using "starter lockouts" against Chapter 13 debtors to prevent the debtors from driving their cars. As I understand the technology, a starter lockout is a device installed in the electrical system of a car that can be activated by satellite. (…)

Trends in Mortgage Foreclosures
One component of the new bankruptcy law that gets little popular attention has to do with the limitations the new law places on re-filed Chapter 13 cases. The Bankruptcy Code now provides that in a second case filed within one year of a first filing, the automatic stay terminates in 30 days unless the debtor files a Motion to Extend Stay. For a third filing within a year, the automatic stay does not go into existence at all. (…)

Stay Violation - When to Go For Sanctions
Orlando bankruptcy lawyer Jonathan Alper recently wrote in his Florida bankruptcy blog about a case he observed in the Orlando bankruptcy court in which a debtor's lawyer failed to win stay violation sanctions for his client because of his desire to extend professional courtesy to the creditor's lawyer. The debtor's attorney dropped his demand for sanctions against the lawyer but continued to pursue a contempt recovery against the actual creditor. The judge ruled that the attorney was the party who did not honor the automatic stay, not the company, and by dismissing the lawyer from the Complaint for Sanctions, the debtor had no basis for recovery. (…)

$150 Automatic Stay Violation Results in $6,000 damages award
I read a very interesting case summary in the March 30, 2006 edition of the Consumer Bankruptcy News. It described the Lisenby case from the Middle District of Alabama. (…)