Let me help you get a fresh start and get your finances back in control.

Bankruptcy may help you eliminate:

• Credit card debt
• Debt management
• Debt collection harassment or lawsuit
• Real estate foreclosure, unpaid house payments and/or taxes
• Bank foreclosure
• Auto repossession and unpaid car payments
• Medical bills
• Co-signer on property held by another
• Judgments, deficiency notices on repossessed property

Chapter 7 Bankruptcy is a liquidation process. Bankruptcy law (Federal or Florida law) allows you to keep certain exempt property, which will not be sold or distributed to creditors. Non-exempt property is available to your creditors. The Law Office of Erich M. Niederlehner, P.A., can assist you in determining what is exempt and what is not and defend your position.

Chapter 13 Bankruptcy is a reorganization chapter under court supervision. Chapter 13 is appropriate for you if you want to avoid or stop repossession of your car or foreclosure of your house because of missed monthly payments or non-payment of property taxes. The Law Office of Erich M. Niederlehner, P.A., can assist you in obtaining the protection afforded by Chapter 13.

Bankruptcy Timeline:

1.  Retain the Law Office of Erich M. Niederlehner, PA, and start referring your creditor calls to our office.  Use the credit report and your bills to complete the paperwork given to you by the Law Office of Erich M. Niederlehner, PA.

2.  Complete the mandatory Credit Counseling at the credit counseling company whose paperwork was provided to you at the time of retaining the Law Office of Erich M. Niederlehner, PA or another counseling company approved for the Northern District of Florida.

3.  Schedule a time with the Law Office of Erich M. Niederlehner, PA, to bring your completed paperwork given to you by the Law Office of Erich M. Niederlehner, PA, along with six months of bank statements, six months of paystubs and credit counseling certificate which you may take at www.consumerbankruptcycounseling.info. Sorry, not available to Alabama filers, however, you may use InCharge at www.InCharge.org

4. You will then come back to the Law Office of Erich M. Niederlehner, PA to review the bankruptcy paperwork and sign said paperwork.  

5.  After you have signed your documents the Law Office of Erich M. Niederlehner, PA, will filed the Petition, Schedules and State of Financial Affairs with the court.  When these documents, which you have signed under penalty of perjury, are filed with the Court, you will be assigned a case number and this commences your case.  In most cases, immediately upon filing your case, an injunction goes into effect stopping your creditors from taking any further action to collect or recover on any debt you owe without first getting permission from the bankruptcy court. This injunction is called the "automatic stay".  

6.  Also, when your case is filed in with the court the court sets what is called a 341 Meeting.  This meeting is conducted by a Trustee.  This meeting is normally a very simple and brief meeting.  At this meeting you will be sworn in by the Trustee, and the Trustee will ask you questions under oath.  Also, if creditors choose to come to the meeting they are given an opportunity to ask you questions as well.  The Trustee's role is to liquidate (meaning, turn into cash) any non-exempt assets you have. The Trustee then distributes those funds to your creditors. The Trustee also monitors your case and will refer any incidences of fraud to the F.B.I. The Trustee can also object to the granting of discharge in your case if he/she believes your case was not filed in good faith (such as you have too much excess income to file a Chapter 7) or if you have committed fraud in connection with your petition and schedules.

It is important to remember that the Trustee does not represent you and the Trustee does not represent any creditor in your case.

7.  The Trustee has until 30 days after the date first set for your meeting with him/her to file an objection to any exemptions you have claimed. Again, this is rare, but it can happen depending on the specific exemptions you need to use in your case.

8.  Time for Objections By Creditors and Trustee - Your creditors have until 60 days after the date first set for your meeting with the Trustee to file a complaint objecting to the discharge of their debt, or to your entire discharge. Grounds for doing this include fraud (such as incurring charges on a credit card that you did not intend or have the reasonable ability to repay at the time they were made), false statements on a credit application, fraud while acting in a fiduciary capacity, willful or malicious injury to a person or property of a person, and certain others. Creditors can seek an extension of time to file their complaint, but as long as they received notice of your bankruptcy case, they must either file their complaint, or a motion requesting an extension prior to the expiration of the 60-day period.

9.  For cases filed after 10/17/05, you are required to complete a financial management course before receiving your discharge.  You can take the required course here at www.BEAdvisor.com, BEAdvisor offers the second course for only $11.00.  Sorry Alabama Clients, it is not an approved course for Alabama.  However, Alabama and Florida filers can use Dave Ramsey's course which can be found at www.DaveRamsey.com.  Another company to use is InCharge which can be found at www.InCharge.org.  In Chapter 7 cases, you must have completed this course (usually about 2 hours) and submitted the certificate of completion to the court no later than 45 days after the date first set for your meeting with the Trustee.  If you fail to do this, you will NOT get a discharge.  This course can also be done over the internet or by phone or in person and can be done at the same counseling center that the Law Office of Erich M. Niederlehner, PA, provided you when you retained the firm.

10. Discharge - The moment you've been waiting for! If nobody objects to your discharge within the 60 day period referenced above, and you have completed all the other requirements, then you will automatically get your Notice of Discharge in the mail shortly thereafter (usually within 4-6 weeks after expiration of the 60-day period). This notice basically provides that you are discharged from all dischargeable debts. Certain debts are not dischargeable, such as child support, alimony, certain taxes, student loans, and some others.

The discharge applies to all dischargeable debts which you scheduled in your bankruptcy papers and which received notice of your bankruptcy filing. If a creditor did not receive notice, they MAY be able to reopen your case and still challenge the discharge of their debt later on. Whether they can do this depends on a number of factors, including what the basis of their discharge objection is, whether assets were distributed in your case, and a few others.

It is important to understand that the discharge has nothing to do with the Trustee's obligation to liquidate (i.e. sell) any non-exempt assets that you may have. Your case can remain open for years after your discharge if the Trustee is taking actions on any of your assets or seeking to recover preferential payments you may have made to creditors.