Money Saving Tips

It’s a common misconception that you need everything to be perfectly aligned before you can start saving money, but this is not the case. In fact, if you wait for the “right time,” it’ll never happen. That’s why the best time to start saving money is right now. Fortunately, there are a lot of straightforward strategies that you can use to save money. Here are some that you may not have even thought of before. Cut down on your grocery budget.After you put together your Read More +

Popular Tax Breaks Not Being Extended

Many changes regarding the tax code will be occurring over the next couple of years. Along with a massive end-of-year spending bill, lawmakers also modified the treatment of retirement savings. Unfortunately, they didn’t give any tax credits. Therefore, there are four tax breaks that won’t be extended. The Child Tax Credit Currently, most parents receive a tax credit of up to $2,000 per year for each child. This became more generous throughout the first half of Biden’s term, which was viewed as successful by most Read More +

Tampa Bankruptcy Court Decision Relating to Tax Refunds

A Bankruptcy Judge in Tampa delivered an important decision regarding tax refunds in Bankruptcy. On July 20, 2022, Bankruptcy Judge CJ Delano rendered a decision regarding whether a debtor may retain a portion of a tax refund received in the amount of $5,500. The debtor claimed $3,750 of such refund as exempt. The debtor’s argument was that portion of the refund should be exempt because it represented monies that the debtor withheld from his social security benefits. Social security benefits are exempt from levy, attachment, Read More +

Tampa Bankruptcy Court Important Decision Regarding Discharge of Income Tax Debt

A Bankruptcy Judge in the Tampa Bankruptcy Court delivered an important decision regarding the Discharge of Income Tax Debt in Bankruptcy on August 23, 2022. The debtor filed what is referred to as an adversary proceeding seeking to Discharge numerous hundreds of thousands of dollars in tax debts. The Internal Revenue Service responded and argued that such debt should not be discharged pursuant to Bankruptcy Code 523(1)(C) based upon the premise that the debtor had willfully attempted to evade the payment of such taxes. Bankruptcy Read More +

Alternatives to Paying the Collection Agencies

It can be truly unpleasant to deal with collection agencies. A lot of people wonder how their debt became the business of a collection agency in the first place? In most cases, the creditors such as credit card companies or some other organization you have received services from, send the debt to the collection agency after four months of non-payment. If the creditor tried to contact you to seek payment in this period and failed to do so he will send the case to a Read More +

Discharge of Student Loans in Bankruptcy Proposal in New Bill Before Congress

A new bill being presented to Congress will permit the discharge of student loans in bankruptcy provided certain conditions are met. The bill, sponsored by Senator Richard Durbin and Senator John Cornyn, is titled the Fresh Start In Bankruptcy Act. Under the current bankruptcy laws, it is quite difficult to discharge a student loan in bankruptcy. Generally, the debtor must bring an adversary proceeding and obtain a finding from a bankruptcy judge that the student loan constitutes an undue hardship. The undue hardship standard is Read More +

Chapter 13 Bankruptcy Retention of Tax Refund

REQUIREMENT TO PROVIDE COPIES OF TAX RETURNS TO CHAPTER 13 TRUSTEE IN CHAPTER 13 BANKRUPTCY, THE COURT WILL REQUIRE THAT ALL DEBTORS TIMELY FILE TAX RETURNS DURING THE CASE PENDENCY. WHEN YOU FILE YOUR TAX RETURN, PLEASE IMMEDIATELY EMAIL SUCH COPIES TO JWELLER@WELLERLEGALGROUP.COM OR OTHERWISE PROVIDE A COPY OF THE TAX RETURN TO OUR OFFICE, IN ORDER THAT THE OFFICE MAY PROVIDE THE COPY OF THE TAX RETURN TO THE CHAPTER 13 TRUSTEE. THE BANKRUPTCY COURT AND THE CHAPTER 13 TRUSTEE REQUIRE A COPY OF Read More +

Bankruptcy Attorney Procedures for Phone Consultation with Client [to Be Held After Signing Petition, But Before Scheduled 341 Hearing]

SCHEDULE MEETING WITH CLIENT 7-8 DAYS BEFORE THE SCHEDULED 341 HEARING DEBTOR(S) NAME ON SOCIAL SECURITY CARD MUST EXACTLY MATCH THE NAME ON THE PETITION. REVIEW APPROPRIATE DOCUMENTS. DEBTOR(S) MUST READ THE BANKRUPTCY INFORMATION SHEET DEBTOR(S) MUST HAVE A COPY OF THE BANKRUPTCY PETITION. THE PETITION SHOULD BE EMAILED TO THE DEBTOR(S) AT THE TIME OF THE FILING OF THE PETITION. THE OFFICE MAY CREATE A DESIGNATED EMAIL ACCOUNT FOR THE DEBTOR(S) OR THE DEBTOR(S) MAY PREFER TO HAVE THE PETITION EMAILED TO ANOTHER ACCOUNT. Read More +

Bankruptcy Considerations for Small Business Owners

Chapter 7 liquidation use to be the only type of bankruptcy a small business could file for. If they wanted to remain in business they’d need to file for Chapter 11 protection and fill out a lot of paperwork. However, in 2019 Congress passed a Reorganization Act entitled Subchapter V. With Subchapter V bankruptcy is streamlined. A business will get a lot of benefits for filing Chapter 11 (e.g. the ability to restructure its loans). There also aren’t as many hoops there as exist for Read More +

Procedures for Potential Clients Seeking to File Bankruptcy

PHONE OR IN PERSON CONSULTATION (DEPENDING UPON AVAILABILITY) WITH JAY WELLER IS MANDATORY. MR. WELLER WILL DISCUSS WITH THE POTENTIAL CLIENT ALL OF THE ISSUES, TYPICALLY RELATED TO BANKRUPTCY, HOW THOSE ISSUES ARE ADDRESSED IN BANKRUPTCY, THE DIFFERENT CHAPTERS OF BANKRUPTCY, AND REMEDIES OTHER THAN FILING BANKRUPTCY, AND THEIR FEASIBILITY, AND EFFECTIVENESS. MR. WELLER WILL DEMONSTRATE HOW BANKRUPTCY RELATES TO THE SPECIFIC ISSUES CONFRONTING THE POTENTIAL CLIENT. UPON A FULL ANALYSIS OF THE POTENTIAL CLIENT’S ISSUES AND CIRCUMSTANCES, THE POTENTIAL CLIENT CAN THEN MAKE AN Read More +