Chapter 7 and Chapter 13 Bankruptcy Attorney with Teel and Gay, PLC
Looking for a career fair to get you back on track? The Jackson Sun posted here that the Goodwill Career Solutions centers at 15 West University Parkway and 1320 S. Highland Ave., Jackson, will host job fairs for CareAll Home Care in Jackson, Bolivar, Henderson, Reagan, Savannah and Hickory Valley from 9 a.m.-1 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 10.
More information is available at www.events.goodwillcareersolutions.org
Good luck!!
Our firm, Teel & Maroney, PLC, will be holding a free Bankruptcy Information Session in conjunction with West Tennessee Legal Services on Thursday, April 17th, 2014. The session will be held at the Jackson Chamber of Commerce (near the Civic Center) from 6pm – 7pm. It will be very casual and we will have time for questions and answers as well. This is open to anyone who has financial concerns and is wondering if bankruptcy might be an option for them. Seating is limited, so we ask that anyone who plans on attending call our office by April 15 to register.
Please pass this information along to anyone you think might benefit from the free information session!
You’ve seen the list of what you need to bring to your first bankruptcy appointment. Now you are wondering where can you find all of those things? If you don’t have those things at home, there are a few websites that can help you with some of the information.
1. Tax Return
The IRS now allows you to obtain your tax transcript (a fancy word for your tax return) online. Simply go to the IRS website here. You will have to register using your email address and personal info, but you will be able to instantly download your last few tax return transcripts. If you don’t have a printer to print them, contact your attorney’s office and see if you can email them to the attorney.
2. Pay stubs
If your employer uses ADP for payroll processing, you can download your pay stubs here. You’ll need to register or use your username and password to login, and then you will be able to access the PDF’s of your pay stubs. Remember we will need the last six months worth of pay stubs.
If your employer does not use ADP, there may be other ways to access your pay stubs online. Check with your payroll department and they should be able to give you more information.
3. Credit Report
Go to annualcreditreport.com, enter your information, answer a few questions, and you should be able to get at least one of your credit reports. Remember to either print the report or save it to your computer (you may be able to email it to your attorney).
Remember that you can only get your annual credit report free once every 12 months, so if you’ve requested yours within the last 12 months, you will not be able to get another free one until after that 12 month period is over.
Also keep in mind that everything may not be on your credit report. When you get your report, look it over. If you know you owe someone who is not on the report, write them down. If possible, call that person you owe and find out how much you owe, your account number, and their mailing address. All of this information will help make sure the people you owe get notice of your bankruptcy filing, and cause you less stress and headache down the road.
4. Unemployment income proof
If you have received unemployment income in Tennessee, you can visit the state’s unemployment benefits website here and obtain proof of the income you’ve received.
These websites should help you obtain many of the things you need to bring to your first bankruptcy appointment. If you have any questions about your upcoming appointment with me, or need to make an appointment, just call our office and ask for me or send me an email!
Have a great day!
As back to school time draws near, so does the looming debt that can come with it. Just think about it. There are pencils, paper, crayons, hand sanitizer, and all that other stuff the teacher puts on a list you have to buy. And then there are the clothes and shoes and backpacks, and the list just goes on and on. And all of that costs money.
It’s not shocking to hear that many people get into credit card or loan trouble around Christmas, but have you thought about people who rely upon credit cards and loans to help get their children ready for school every year? If you are one of those people, you may be wondering what to do now that you’ve used your credit cards and gotten loans to get all of those school supplies and clothes so your kids can go back to school and be prepared. Not only do you have these new bills to pay, but somehow the rent or house payment still has to get paid, plus the electricity, and then there’s food…….
If you are having trouble making your payments (or find yourself in trouble in the next few months when those bills start rolling in), you might need to talk to a bankruptcy lawyer to see what your options might be. Luckily, you already know a lawyer to talk to! Me! I would love to meet with you and talk about your situation, find out what your goals are, and tell you how the bankruptcy laws would apply to your situation. Just email me or call our office at 731-424-3315 and ask for me, Alissa, and we will set up a time for you to come in and have a conversation.
Want more info on bankruptcy? Look around my website at my bankruptcy articles. I’ve posted answers to the questions I get most often. Don’t see the answer you are looking for? Bring your question with you to your appointment and I’ll be sure to answer it!
Here are a few tidbits of information that I think will come in handy for you while you are in your bankruptcy case:
(disclaimer: None of this is intended to be legal advice. Reading this by itself does not make me your lawyer (ie doesn’t create an attorney-client relationship). Contact your lawyer with questions. We help people file for bankruptcy relief under the Bankruptcy Code).
1. When you go to your meeting of creditors, be SURE to bring BOTH your photo ID and your proof of your social security number. If you do not bring BOTH, your meeting will not be held and you will have to come back in about 2 weeks to do it all over again. See my article here about what forms of ID and SS proof are ok.
2. Do not buy anything on credit while you are in your case without first getting the Court’s approval. Have something you think you need to buy on credit? Give your attorney a call to go over the situation and see what you need to do.
3. If you have a claim against someone, or a lawsuit against someone, be SURE to tell your bankruptcy attorney BEFORE you spend any money you get. You need to call your attorney’s office and tell them your situation so they can tell you what needs to be done. Also, if you think you have a claim against someone, go ahead and call your bankruptcy lawyer. They can tell you if you have a claim how the bankruptcy might be affected. Your bankruptcy lawyer might also be able to handle the claim for you, too, so you can keep everything together.
4. Be sure you’ve told your bankruptcy attorney everything, and that everything you’ve told is true. After all, you did sign a paper that says it’s all true under penalty of perjury. What does that mean? In a nutshell, if you lie, you might go to federal prison or face a big fine, or both. (See my article here about telling the truth.) The moment you realize something you’ve said isn’t right, you need to contact your attorney and get it fixed.
5. If you change where you live, where you get your mail, where you get your phone calls, where you get your emails, where you get your paycheck, or from whom you receive money, you need to let your attorney know.
6. Make sure that your employer is sending in the right amount of money each paycheck. It has happened where a payment change was sent to the employer, but the employer didn’t make the change for a month (or longer), and then the client got way behind in the bankruptcy payments and the Trustee wanted to dismiss the case. Don’t be that person! Stay on top of your paycheck, and make sure that when a new income deduction order comes out that your employer promptly makes that change, too! Problems? Call your attorney ASAP so your case doesn’t get messed up.
7. Stay on top of your case. See my article here about how to check your case status online. Do you see something on there that doesn’t look right? Did you get an order that didn’t make sense? Call your attorney and make sure that things are right! If you wait until the end of your 5 year case and then mention something, it’s much harder to get fixed than if you mention it as soon as you see it!
8. Don’t compare your case to anyone else’s cases. While you both may be in a Chapter 13 case, that’s where the similarities end. Everyone’s case is just as different as every snowflake. That’s why you hired a lawyer to make sure it was done correctly! And really, I find that most of those “other people” are not telling you the whole truth about their case anyway. So, don’t listen to them and make sure you understand why your case is the way it is. Call your attorney if you don’t so that you can understand. Knowledge is power, right?!
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Need a bankruptcy consultation? Give me a call! Contact me here.
You can access your Chapter 13 Bankruptcy information online via the National Data Center at www.13datacenter.com. The first time you visit the website, you will have to have some of your case information and register for a username and password. From that point on, you will only require your username and password.
Before you head to the website, gather the following items together. You’ll need them all to register for a username and password.
1. Your case number (7 digits. ex: 25-10675) Hint: The first two digits are the same as the year in which your case was filed. Your case number will be on paperwork received from the court.
2. Your social security number
3. Your mailing address as listed on your Petition.
4. The name of the Chapter 13 Trustee. (If you are in the Western District of Tennessee, Eastern Division at Jackson, your Trustee is Tim Ivy).
5. A username you’d like to use.
6. A password for your account.
7. An email address where you check email.
If you have issues registering or accessing your information, you can call the debtor support line at 1-866-938-3639. Their hours are monday – friday 9:00 am – 5:00 pm Pacific. They are closed on major holidays.
Many people wonder why their bankruptcy attorney has to ask so many personal detail questions. The short answer is because the law requires that you disclose all of your assets (which means everything you own), all of your debts (everyone you owe), all of your income (whatever the source), and all of your expenses (what you spend your money on). And no, “I don’t know” is not an ok answer to any of these questions.
So what if you don’t tell the court everything? What’s the worst that can happen? A slap on the hand? Not so fast. You could face a hefty fine, or time in a federal prison, or both. That’s after the FBI investigates you and asks even MORE personal detail questions.
Still not convinced that they actually prosecute people for not telling the Bankruptcy Court the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth? Take a look at this FBI press release to see what a doctor in Georgia did not tell the Court, and what he’s facing now. http://www.fbi.gov/atlanta/press-releases/2013/macon-doctor-indicted-for-bankruptcy-fraud
If you do not keep your bills as they arrive, you can get one credit report for free every 12 months. Go to www.annualcreditreport.com. There, you will need to enter some personal information and answer some questions to get your report. Remember, you can only get one free one every 12 months. Sometimes you will receive a message that says they cannot provide your report on the website, but you can get it by mail. Do not despair! Simply print out the form, fill it out, and mail it in with the required proof of identity, and your report will soon come in the mail. Just that simple. Not everything will be on your report, and each of the three reports may be a little different, but together you should get a good idea of everyone you owe.
Still have questions? Ask an attorney! Remember, only an attorney can give you legal advice!
Attorney Alissa Gay 