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Bankruptcy Law

Bankruptcy Law April 16, 2020

Illinois suspends wage garnishments & bank account freezes.

On April 14, 2020, by executive order, Governor Pritzker temporarily suspended all consumer creditor judgment collection practices. The suspension is for the duration of the shelter- at-home order which is currently running through April 30, 2020, but we expect that it will be extended into May. We applaud the Governor for taking this action to […]

Bankruptcy Law April 15, 2020

Social distancing has made the bankruptcy process easier than ever.

As COVID-19 continues its devastating impact in America, like you, I am mourning the incredible loss of human life and thinking about those of us who have lost jobs and are struggling financially. Psychologically, we can only take so much bad news, and it can be helpful in this difficult time to think about some […]

Bankruptcy Law April 13, 2020

O’Keefe Rivera & Berk defeated a creditor in important bankruptcy discharge case, preventing an eviction. Read the Judge’s opinion.

A client recently came to us who had filed for bankruptcy without an attorney, and received a discharge, but was being evicted from her property by her condominium association. The client told us that she had asked many attorneys for help, but, but none were willing to take her case. We listened to the story, […]

Bankruptcy Law August 24, 2019

New City of Chicago parking ticket forgiveness program is the most dramatic and positive change for Chicago area bankruptcy filers in the past 10 years

On January 1, 2019, the City of Chicago implemented a new bankruptcy parking ticket and speed camera ticket policy, called, “FRESH START,” marking the most dramatic change to benefit our bankruptcy filers in the past 10 years. The policy gives you the opportunity to discharge ALL of your parking tickets which were issued more than 3 years ago. […]

Bankruptcy Law October 10, 2018

Student Loan Companies try to take advantage of Chapter 13 Clients by cancelling income based repayment plans. We won’t let them.

Chapter 13 Bankruptcy clients who are in the income based repayment (“IBR”) program for their student loans are at risk of having those plans cancelled by the lenders during their Chapter 13 cases.   What this means is that upon filing the Chapter 13, the lender will place the loan into a forbearance status, continuing […]

Short Sales as an Alternative to Bankruptcy

We’re now in 2018, and many properties have regained market value since the financial crisis of 2008, which caused a short sale boom.   However, in  the Chicago area, many properties continue to be underwater, meaning that their market values are less than the balance owed to the mortgage lienholders.    So, while not a […]

Bankruptcy Law August 24, 2017

A recent success with student loan bankruptcy discharge

It’s pretty well known that discharging student loans in bankruptcy is really, really tough. The standard from the bankruptcy code is that the client must have an undue hardship, meaning that the client couldn’t meet a basic standard of living if forced to repay the loans. Plus the client must have made an attempt to […]

Bankruptcy Law January 23, 2017

How will President Trump affect personal bankruptcy?

Over the past several days, many people have asked me for my opinion on how Donald Trump’s administration might affect the world of personal bankruptcy. One might assume that Trump, having utilized the bankruptcy code to his advantage on more than one occasion, would be a friend to personal bankruptcy during his presidency. This would […]

Bankruptcy Law November 9, 2016

Tenancy by the Entirety and Chapter 13 Bankruptcy

Recently, our clients, a married couple, presented me with a seemingly impossible task. The Clients were struggling under the weight of over $300,000 of credit card debt, yet, they also had over $160,000 in equity in a marital home. Due to their poor credit, the clients could not refinance or borrow against the home to […]

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