Chapter 13 permits debtors to “cram down”, or reduce, the amount of a mortgage on investment property to the property’s current market value. A client recently asked me if the Chapter 13 cram down eliminates past-due mortgage payments and if the “cram ... Read full article
Student loans are almost impossible to discharge in Chapter 7 bankruptcy. The debtor must show actual hardship to discharge a student loans. Courts interpret hardship very strictly. If you are able to work you probably don’t have hardship sufficient to ... Read full article
Because of substantial decline in Florida real estate values Chapter 13 bankruptcy is commonly used to strip off second and third mortgages from the debtor’s upside down primary residence. Junior mortgages are not stripped off the residence at start of ... Read full article
My last post discussed a bankruptcy seminar which promoted advantages of court ordered mediation in the context of a Chapter 13 bankruptcy. Here are a some additional interesting points I heard from various seminar speakers (in no particular order) Your ... Read full article
Last month I attended a seminar about mortgage modifications in Chapter 13 bankruptcy. There were several points that warrant a series of blog posts. One speaker compared mortgage mediation in the context of a Chapter 13 bankruptcy with mortgage mediation ... Read full article
Chapter 13 debtors can cram-down the value of mortgages on properties other than their principal residence. The debtor initiates the process by filing a motion to value the underlying property. If the property is under water the court will modify the ... Read full article
People get excited about the prospect of cramming down mortgages on investment properties in a Chapter 13 bankruptcy. I received at least two calls this past week from people interested in using Chapter 13 to both strip a second mortgage on their ... Read full article
Have you been jerked around by mortgage banks in court ordered mortgage mediation in Chapter 13 bankruptcy cases? Another local attorney spoke with me this week about how big banks are playing debtors and their attorneys in court ordered mortgage ... Read full article
