Hiring Has Not Picked Up: A Look at Unemployment Claims Stats
The number of newly laid-off workers seeking unemployment benefits unexpectedly rose last week, further evidence that the job market recovers at a very slow and bumpy pace. California, Texas, Florida, Pennsylvania, and even Georgia have experienced the highest recent increases in unemployment claims.
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Georgia Personal Bankruptcy Filings Continue to Increase
According to a recent article regarding Georgia bankruptcy published in the Atlanta Journal Constitution, it is nothing new that Georgia has one of the highest bankruptcy rates in the nation. What is new, suggests the AJC article, is who is filing: large numbers of people who have not previously had problems with financial instability.
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Giant Debt Collector Law Firm Mann, Bracken Out of Business
A number of stories have recently appeared in bankruptcy and 
consumer rights blogs suggesting that the Atlanta based collection firm Mann, Bracken, LLC has gone out of business. On his Caveat Emptor blog, Minnesota bankruptcy attorney Sam Glover has written several posts about the Mann, Bracken firm including one on December 22, 2009 stating that the calls to the firm's phone number instructs callers to communicate directly with their creditors. I called several numbers listed for Mann, Bracken but the calls were answered by a message that "all circuits are busy, try your call again later."
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Free Tool to Calculate Your Median Income for Bankruptcy Purposes
As you probably know, your eligibility for bankruptcy protection is determined in part by your household income. The Bankruptcy Code requires us to calculate your median income by looking at gross income earned by you, your spouse and any other working member of your household during the 6 months preceding the current month. We add up all the income and divide by 6 to arrive at a number. We then compare than number to a median income table provided to us by the Census Bureau and the United States Trustee's office. This calculation is called the "median income test."
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Bankruptcy Filings Increase Among Middle Class
This weekend's AJC Business story entitled "Bankruptcies hit State Hard" confirmed what I have been seeing on a weekly basis in my Atlanta area bankruptcy practice – more people who were solidly "middle class" are finding themselves facing huge debt loads and the prospect of a Chapter 7 or Chapter 13 filing.
Use Online Access Keep Track of the Disbursements in Your Chapter 13 Case
Once you file a Chapter 13 bankruptcy and begin contributing monthly to the payment plan, you may wonder where your money is going, who’s being paid and how much money you still owe until you get your Chapter 13 discharge. As a Chapter 13 debtor, you can have access to much of the same information that the Trustee and your attorney have.
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Has “Financial Repression” Stopped You from Filing Bankruptcy?
Editors note: In this compelling guest post, Charleston bankruptcy lawyer Russ DeMott describes what he calls "financial repression" – the tendency of honest, hardworking men and women to delay or forego bankruptcy protection because of the administrative and expense burdens added to the bankruptcy filing process by the 2005 BAPCPA changes to the bankruptcy laws.
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BAPCPA at 4 Years – Has It Solved Anything?
I have been representing debtors in bankruptcy cases filed in the Northern District of Georgia for over 20 years. Until the law changed in 2005, filing bankruptcy was a fairly straightforward process – often I would meet with a client, decide whether to file and select Chapter 7 or Chapter 13, collect information about creditors, develop a budget, then file that day.
Student Loan Discharge Case Heard by U.S. Supreme Court
Earlier this month the U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments in a case involving the question of discharge of student loans in a Chapter 13 case. The case arose from a Chapter 13 petition filed in 1992 by Francisco Espinoza, an American Airlines baggage handler.
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