Tuesday, November 28, 2017

How To Pick a Bankruptcy Attorney

https://media.istockphoto.com/photos/woman-discussing-ideas-and-strategy-in-studio-office-picture-id637928380?s=170x170

 I, along with all bankruptcy attorneys in Northeast Florida, receive calls on a regular basis asking what our fees are for filing bankruptcy.  I suspect these people essentially don't know what they don't know.  If the caller is planning on filing bankruptcy, he or she is asking the wrong question. 

Bobby Wilbert, a bankruptcy attorney in Jacksonville, Florida, recently posted a link on his website to a concise blog page I thought was very good concerning picking an attorney, posted by Cathy Moran.  She relates the hiring of a bankruptcy attorney to picking a coach, not calling around for the cheapest price or looking for the attorney that shows up first in search results on the internet.  The link to the article is 
https://www.bankruptcyinbrief.com/selecting/

Wednesday, November 22, 2017

Debtor Wins Discharge of Student Loan Debt

Think the private loan you have for education is an educational loan?  You may want to have an attorney review it after a recent decision.

Yolande E. Essangui v. SLF V-2015 Trust, et al., Adversary No.16-00201,
Main case 16-12984

The issue before the Court is whether a private loan extended for educational purposes is dischargeable in a debtor’s chapter 7 case. There are three (3) subsections addressing educational debt that is excepted from discharge.  Apparently the argument was centered on which of the 3 sections is applicable in determining the loans dischargeability.  Based on the facts of this case, the Court held that the private student loan at issue is not an educational benefit, as it did not qualify for federal student loan assistance.  The Court entered an Order granting the debtor’s motion for summary judgment and denying the defendant’s motion for summary judgment.