Our client came to us with a pending garnishment against his paychecks by a creditor that had obtained a judgment for more than $150,000.00 against him. Given the large balance at issue, our client knew that he would never be able to pay the debt in full. Furthermore, the judgment creditor was not open to any payment arrangement that would be affordable for our client. Our client was additionally concerned that the judgment creditor would go after any other assets that former may have. We reviewed our client’s circumstances and determined that it was best to file this client for Chapter 13 bankruptcy protection as soon as possible to stop all collection activity outside of the bankruptcy. This would give our client a little more peace of mind and prevent him from losing approximately 25% of his paycheck to the judgment creditor. For our client, this garnishment would be the difference between being able to afford his regular monthly bills and potentially not being able to afford his rent. So we got to work.
We promptly filed the Chapter 13 bankruptcy to stop the pending garnishment. We also included our client’s additional debts. At the time of the filing of the bankruptcy, our client owed close to $200,000 in debts, not including any secured debts. We later discovered that our client also owed a small debt to the Internal Revenue Service.
Given our client’s situation, we proposed a thirty-six (36) month repayment plan that complied with the Bankruptcy Rules. This Chapter 13 plan proposed to pay the creditors a total of close to $17,000. This, in an of itself, would have been a great outcome for our client, but we did not stop there. As the case progressed, we paid close attention to the creditors that filed a proof of claim in the case and filed objections where it was deemed necessary and proper. Through this strategy, we were able to drastically lower the length of the Chapter 13 repayment plan to less than a year. The additional good news for our client is that his total repayment will be less than $10,000.00. This means that our client is on track to discharge about $190,000 in debts in less than 12 months. This is a 5% repayment plan on his total pre-filing debts.
Our client is incredibly happy with both the length and percentage of the debt repayment plan. Completing the bankruptcy for him will mean that he will no longer have to be concerned that he and his family will be left homeless because of a garnishment.
Loan Lawyers has helped over 7,000 South Florida homeowners and consumers with their debt problems, we have saved over 3,000 homes from foreclosure, eliminated $100 million in mortgage principal and consumer debt, and recovered over $25 million dollars on behalf of our clients due to bank, loan servicer, and debt collector violations, negligence, and fraud. Contact our Florida foreclosure defense lawyer for a free consultation to see how we may be able to help you
