Spokane Bankruptcy Lawyer

Some actions have legal ramifications that can be difficult to deal with. However, if those legal ramifications also come with financial consequences, this can have long-term devastating effects. Most people already find financial activities to be complex and bewildering, and it’s often even more overwhelming when dealing with financial law. This rings especially true in a crisis involving something as serious as debt that can no longer be managed.

That’s the reason we have a team of bankruptcy attorneys who are ready to help. We offer years of experience and expertise in helping people to resolve situations such as:

• Filing for bankruptcy
• Repossession
• Wage garnishment
• Creditor harassment

Of course, Americans do have the right, if they choose to exercise it, to represent themselves in legal matters. However, with financial law, especially specific areas like bankruptcy law, this can result in severe consequences and poor or uninformed choices. It’s critical to get reliable, experienced legal guidance, such as from our bankruptcy attorneys, to help people ultimately work toward positive outcomes.

This advice applies everywhere in the USA, including here in the Pacific Northwest, with its many locales and attractions. The region's uniqueness makes it a perfect place for some Americans to travel, work, and even live. As with other states in the USA, it also has autonomy when it comes to the administration of regional and local laws.

New arrivals to Washington State can choose many fine cities to take up residence in, like Spokane and other parts of Spokane County. Living here, as it is with other states, also requires living under the jurisdiction of federal, state, and municipal laws. These laws are put into place for people and organizations, such as the banking systems Spokane County residents must use.

Unfortunately, even when there is no major crisis to deal with, a dynamic economy and plenty of opportunity still don’t guarantee financial success for everyone. Whether it’s poor choices or bad timing, some residents of Spokane and Spokane County can accrue unmanageable debt and then may become subject to both state and federal debt laws. Anyone interested in maintaining their agency during such an experience should study the basics of bankruptcy. The next step after that is to work with an experienced bankruptcy attorney in Spokane and see whether it’s necessary to file for bankruptcy.

For people familiar with the term “bankruptcy,” hearing the word immediately creates associations with a financial crisis, so it’s no surprise people don’t view this experience as a positive one. While it’s true that bankruptcy isn’t good, people should realize that it is also not a permanent or terminal state from which no one can return. Bankruptcy, while extreme, is often conducted with the goal of helping the person to eventually recover by providing a structure and plan to follow.

Bankruptcy is a specific type of financial status that carries with it certain legal expectations but also confers some protections as part of a process to address debts and eventually repay them. Laws exist at the federal level to regulate bankruptcy but can be regarded as overall guidelines. This is because the states themselves are typically granted a great deal of local autonomy to create their own bankruptcy policies. This facilitates states being able to craft laws and regulations that are aligned with local needs and interests. Washington State is no exception, with specific rules in place governing exactly how Spokane and other Spokane County residents go through the bankruptcy process.

Spokane County residents should keep in mind that bankruptcy itself is a general term. There are, of course, some general characteristics that apply to all bankruptcy cases, such as having an amount of debt that can no longer be controlled or managed. However, within that general status, there are more specific categories of bankruptcy, which means people will file for the type of bankruptcy that is appropriate to their situation. A number of different economic variables determine the bankruptcy types. A Spokane bankruptcy lawyer in Spokane County can help people determine which types they qualify for, such as:

Chapter 13 bankruptcy has a nickname within financial circles: “the wage earner’s plan.” This solution requires specific qualifications to be considered eligible. One of the biggest qualifiers is gainful employment with a reliable regular salary or a source of profit or revenue. Full-time employees with a fixed, regular wage are one of the most common examples of people who qualify for Chapter 13 bankruptcy. Because this is a type of bankruptcy that is available to people who are still receiving some type of income to rely on, it is sometimes viewed as a less severe bankruptcy filing than other types.

Chapter 13 Bankruptcy addresses the debt problem by creating a financial structure for people in debt to follow. Debt management is handled by creating a payment plan, which usually lasts between three and five years. For many, this will be familiar as it resembles other existing installment payment plans, such as car loans or even home mortgage payments. The exact amount of each installment is calculated by assessing the living expense requirements versus total income.

Two requirements must be met to qualify for Chapter 13 Bankruptcy. The first is that the person filing is able to submit some kind of verification or evidence of either a fixed salary income or a steady stream of revenue. The second requirement is that the debt cannot exceed a certain maximum. People who qualify for Chapter 13 bankruptcy must have a debt under 2.75 million dollars.

Chapter 7 bankruptcy is widely viewed as being a more severe solution to addressing debts owed. The process here is simple but dramatic, involving liquidating the assets of the person in debt and taking the profits from those sales to try to recover as much money as possible to put toward debt repayment. For many, Chapter 7 bankruptcy is often thought of as the least appealing resort when they don’t qualify for a Chapter 13 filing, usually due to a lack of satisfactory income requirements.

Chapter 7 bankruptcy works through an assessment and action process. A person's belongings are evaluated for value, though any items that have debt owing themselves, such as a car under loan with remaining payments or a home with a mortgage, are exempt. All other assets are fair game, including owned property and physical items such as vehicles, electronics, antiques, artwork, and liquid assets like cash, bonds, and investment accounts. Both private citizens and businesses may file for Chapter 7 Bankruptcy.

While an owned home can be seized and sold to recover debt, if the house itself is a source of debt, that has its own dedicated bankruptcy process. This is called foreclosure, and Washington State has its own regional laws and regulations for this contingency in Spokane and other parts of Spokane County. The core concept here is that a bank, credit union, or other financial organization that holds the mortgage now owns the home the mortgage was for. They are legally allowed to put it up for sale and use that profit to try to recover the remaining mortgage debt.

Homeowners concerned about the prospect of foreclosure should educate themselves on this process to have more clarity and make better decisions. For example, it’s important for people to know foreclosures are not easily triggered into action. A single mortgage payment that is late a few days does not flag a homeowner for foreclosure. In fact, banks and other mortgage holders can only take this step if mortgage obligations lapse over 120 days.

Foreclosures are a very specific type of repossession, with repossession being a more general financial concept. Repossession is when some asset, like a property or belonging such as a vehicle or retail electronic product, is on a payment plan, and those payments fall behind. If this continues beyond a certain point, the holder of the loan is legally empowered to take the asset back. Spokane residents should be aware, however, that specific repossession regulations are in place to define different types of repossession and how to administer them.

Spokane residents and those who live in other parts of Spokane County should be aware that even if their belongings are legally permitted to be repossessed, those residents still have consumer rights. Bankruptcy lawyers in Spokane may, for example, be able to help in getting an exemption on items by filing for specific types of bankruptcy. A car may be rendered “off limits” to repossession if it is required to earn income that would go toward paying off remaining debts.

In some cases, a solution to solve one problem can sometimes create other issues. This is sometimes the case when Spokane and other Spokane County residents are subject to wage garnishment. Wage garnishment is a tool of financial law that is authorized to “partition” a part of a person’s salary. One of the most common uses of wage garnishment is when a family breaks up through divorce. One of the ex-spouses may either agree to or be required by divorce conditions to pay child support. However, if child support payments are repeatedly missed, the court may order wage garnishment to ensure that some money is set aside for child support from that ex-spouse’s salary, regardless of their wishes.

Spokane residents have some legal recourse available to them in this situation, as wage garnishment does have limits. Washington State put laws in place to define the maximum limits that wages may be garnished, including provisions for exemptions. The law is set to a maximum of 25% of a person’s weekly salary is allowable for garnishing. Of course, the final amount of garnishment for an individual depends on the factors specific to their situation. Total salary, required living expenses, and even other ongoing debts, such as rent, are variables a Washington State bankruptcy attorney can use to help people mitigate wage garnishment amounts.

Americans are fortunate to live in a country that offers the most advanced medical treatments in the world, but unfortunately, this can come at a great cost. For those without broad medical insurance coverage, the cost of an accident or diagnosis of a serious disease can be a financial disaster, potentially wiping out entire savings. This is especially true of chronic illnesses that require ongoing treatment, and thus escalating costs. Sadly, even in these situations, it’s possible that a medical estimate will not be followed, and families may find themselves caught off guard by the unexpected addition of even more expenses as medical bills come in.

Spokane bankruptcy lawyers are experienced in helping people deal with these unexpected bill increases. Washington State created laws to protect residents from surprise billing. Spokane County residents should never assume that just because a medical practice is fully licensed and legal means that the unfair bills they may ask for are also legally protected. These bills can be successfully challenged.

Like the rest of the world, Spokane and other Spokane County residents heavily rely on credit cards. If nothing else, they are the fastest, most convenient way to make online purchases. However, that ease of use, if combined with impulse purchases or lack of self-control, can escalate into serious debt. The entire country cites credit card debt as a major economic issue, and unfortunately, Washington State is no exception.

There are ways for people to stay ahead of credit card debt proactively with a little help. Government services are available that provide credit reports, debt counseling, and other services. Using these services helps residents to stay ahead, tracking and managing credit card debt to keep debt manageable and prevent escalations. However, once things become unmanageable, credit card companies are granted certain legal permissions to recover the debt they are owed. They may focus only on trying to get a specific payment or may go as broad as recovering the entire debt owed. Bankruptcy lawyers in Spokane and around Spokane County can help people facing this problem.

Financial laws in Washington State apply to both individual residents and the financial organizations that serve those residents. All financial organizations are expected to comply with consumer lending laws that outline the actions they are legally allowed to take. These laws also extend to their duly authorized agents, such as debt collection agencies. How these groups are expected to treat people in debt is governed at both the Federal and state levels.

It's an unfortunate reality that creditors—or individual collection agents—can ignore their legal boundaries. Often, they rely on the ignorance of the person in debt, hoping that the disadvantaged position a debtor finds themselves in will make them assume any act the collection agency or agent takes must be legal, or they wouldn’t be doing it. They rely on ignorance to let them get away with it.

Even in these situations, Spokane residents have rights that must be respected. For example, a person in debt may be employed at a workplace with a no-visitor policy. A debt collector cannot use a person being in debt to override a company’s general policies. Similarly, collectors can’t call people very early or very late in the evening as an attempt to intimidate or disorient people who owe debts.

Under normal legal circumstances, a Spokane or Spokane County resident who is getting sued should seek the advice of an experienced litigation attorney. However, there may be situations where something more specialized is relevant to the problem at hand. If a resident is facing a lawsuit related to debt, a better outcome may be achieved by talking to a Spokane bankruptcy lawyer or financial law attorney in Spokane County. These legal experts may be more relevant in litigation actions that don’t involve physical injury.

Specific circumstances, such as a person falling behind on credit card payments, may result in this type of lawsuit. A credit card company may decide, after not achieving satisfactory results with communication or collection agencies, to serve notice of a lawsuit being filed instead. If this does happen, a person being sued still has some legal options available, and the best course of action can often be determined by consulting a bankruptcy lawyer in Spokane County.

Banks are not the only financial organizations that are able to offer loans. Other types of finance companies can also do this, and in some instances, they provide faster, easier approvals for loan applications. However, these better rates are often offset by some severe negatives that residents only find out about if they start missing payments.

In some cases, these loan companies severely punish people who miss payments with increasing interest rates, harsh late fees, and other penalties. It’s possible, as these punitive expenses add up, that they can escalate a loaned amount so that it eclipses the initial loan and leaves a person struggling with a critical amount of debt. These situations, however serious, still have legal options to deal with them when you consult with a Spokane bankruptcy lawyer.