TheFloridaBankruptcyLawBlog

Where may a business file bankruptcy? The president of a small family business based in Georgia called me to ask whether his business could file a Chapter 11 bankruptcy in Florida. The business was a Georgia corporation with offices in Atlanta, Orlando, and Tampa. The caller preferred to file bankruptcy in Florida because he thought doing so would reduce the publicity and his own embarrassment in Atlanta where the president resided. In addition, the president maintains a personal residence in Orlando where he lives half the year.

Chapter 13 bankruptcy offers debtors the opportunity to strip off a wholly unsecured second mortgage on their primary residence. Most courts have held that debtor’s mortgage is stripped from his house when he completes the Chapter 13 plan and gets his Chapter 13 discharge.

People often buy cars for their children or for an elderly parent. When they do so, some of these people  put their own names on the car title to get lower insurance rates or to reflect their own contribution to the purchase. Sharing car titles with a another family member  can be a problem if the you or the other family member subsequently files bankruptcy. In Florida, the general rule is that if your name is on the car (or boat) title, then you own the car.