The first step in protecting your interests during foreclosure is to act. The majority of Americans who find themselves behind on their mortgage payments do nothing and end up losing their homes because they either did not know what to do or waited so long that it was too late to do anything about it. Furthermore, the problem does not end after the bank repossesses your home. After the bank determines its loss on the property, it will file a lawsuit to recover the deficit from you so the worst thing you can do is nothing.

Individuals facing the potential of losing their home have only 20 days to respond to an official foreclosure lawsuit after they have been served. The moment one receives the notice, they should contact a lawyer immediately to obtain help and find out what the options are to stop foreclosure. Having an accurate understanding of foreclosure laws can oftentimes mean the difference between saving your home or losing it. In many cases, a reputable law firm can offer assistance that will allow you to stay in your home. Some of the options available to homeowners to stop foreclosure are: loan modification, stipulated foreclosure with no deficiency, short sale, deed in lieu of foreclosure and filing bankruptcy. If staying in your home is not the best option for you, a reputable attorney will help you move forward and begin rebuilding your life.

Finding reputable legal counsel is the second step in obtaining foreclosure help. Make sure you find a licensed attorney or law firm that has a substantial number of years of experience in the foreclosure process, understands the laws and has experience dealing with the lending institutions that initialize the foreclosure process. Also, be careful of who you take advice from. It might not be in your best interest to hire a loan modification company to represent your interests or provide help during the foreclosure process. They will protect their interests before protecting yours, so keep this in mind when considering your options.

If you can no longer afford your home, do not walk away from it. Contact an attorney immediately and he or she will serve as your advocate throughout the foreclosure process. Their goal is to help you stop foreclosure proceedings by providing you with the best help possible by explaining the foreclosure process and rendering the best defense possible to stop from the loss of your home.

Why Should You Hire an Experienced Bankruptcy Lawyer

Getting an appropriate lawyer to handle the process of filing for bankruptcy is important in a number of ways. For instance, these experts can provide you with information regarding what you should do before and after the process.

Complex for the Average Person

There are many stringent bankruptcy codes that can confuse the average person, causing you to make mistakes while overlooking the procedure. There are also different classes of bankruptcy that a person or business can file. It may be easy to differentiate the various bankruptcy forms for the process. However, a bankruptcy lawyer is required to decide which one fits the situation the best.

Necessary Legal Help

With recent laws that passed, those filing for bankruptcy may require credit counseling and other options. A bankruptcy lawyer can explain these, their processes and effects. Asking a bankruptcy lawyer to handle the process can provide you with all the necessary information regarding the process. It will also help you understand the law better.

In addition, hiring an expert that is knowledgeable in filing for bankruptcy will ensure that the process is carried out smoothly.

The first true day of your chapter 7 bankruptcy cases is the day that you file your chapter 7 bankruptcy petition. This means that someone has submitted all your chapter 7 bankruptcy documents to the bankruptcy court.

Two weeks later, on day 14, all of your creditors will be notified of your chapter 7 bankruptcy by the court-appointed trustee who will oversee your personal bankruptcy case.

Once your creditors have been notified, an automatic stay goes into place and they can no longer contact you until the meeting of creditors, which will take place between day 20 and day 40. This meeting of creditors is basically the creditors’ opportunity to object to your chapter 7 bankruptcy filing.

If there is no objection to your chapter 7 bankruptcy filing, the trustee will continue to liquidate your assets. This liquidation of assets usually starts between day 20 and 30, and can start before the meeting of creditors.

In a chapter 7 bankruptcy, the trustee will sell all non-exempt assets in order to pay your creditors with the proceeds. By day 90 of your filing your bankruptcy, all creditors of non-secured debts must have filed their claims against you in order to secure any part of the proceeds of the liquidation of your assets.

If it all runs smoothly, you will receive your official discharge from the bankruptcy judge between day 60 and day 90 and your chapter 7 bankruptcy case will finally be over.

The length of a business contract depends on the number of clauses being mutually agreed upon. It may be of a single page or it may run into several pages. Every business contract is legally binding and attracts relevant stamp duties. The general practice is to compose such business agreements in the presence of lawyers of all the parties involved.

The first page of a business contract usually contains the names and addresses of the signatories. A brief description of their jobs can be mentioned along with their names. The date of signing is put on the first page.

The next part of the contract is called the recitals. This is a very short description of the type of transaction the parties are going to enter into. It’s usually not much longer than a paragraph. After recitals follow the specifications, in which there is a detailed description of the job the parties are to undertake. This part may run into several pages and it contains a very succinct description of the exact job portfolio. It will sometimes contains formulas, diagrams, sketches and graphs in order to better explain the nature of the job.

Payment comes in the next section. A very clear mention is made of the remuneration that one of the parties is to give to the other. Either the exact figure is mentioned, or at least the determining factors are outlined. If time is extremely relevant in the completion of the job, then the sentence “Time is of the essence” will be included. Whatever the conditions regarding the payment may be, they are put in the contract.

There are several legal points covered in a business contract. It is written in the contract which state jurisdiction will apply in case of a legal suit. Also, the tenure of validity of the contract is mentioned. A business contract is a very delicate matter. It takes several deliberations between the associated parties along with the involvement of their lawyers to reach a final draft. There are sometimes several negotiations and amendments in the agreement, until it becomes satisfactory to all concerned. Only after mutual agreement are the signatures put down on the document. All concerned parties have a copy of the contract as long as it is valid.

If your business needs assistance in the preparation of a business contract or other business law assistance, please contact KEL Attorneys today.

Another element of recovery is lost wages or lost time from work. This includes salaried employees and those that work for an hourly wage. When you have sustained a personal injury, and you have to miss work or work part-time, you may be able to recover these damages against the person that has caused the accident.

Your right to recover against the person accountable may also include pain and suffering. Pain and suffering is more than medical bills or lost wages. Medical bills and lost wages are the portion of your personal injury claim that are easy to calculate because each involves numbers that can be summed up. Pain and suffering may be a multiple of the medicals bills or other number assigned by a computer program used by an insurance adjuster. Whatever the case may be, pain and suffering is an attempt to compensate you for the time that you are in pain after an accident. Despite the difference in terminology, “pain and suffering” is a term used to describe how your life was affected by the accident and your ability to carry out your activities of daily living. Examples of activities of daily living include taking care of children, driving, getting dressed and caring for yourself.

There is another element called “loss of normal life”. This element is sometimes called disability. Loss of normal life is the temporary or permanent diminished ability to enjoy life. In more severe cases there may be the element of permanency to the case. Do you have a permanent injury diagnosed by a doctor? Will you continue to suffer pain years after the accident caused your injury? Maybe you have a permanent scar or deformity. These injuries may be compensated as permanent. If you have been in a personal injury accident, please call KEL Attorneys today for more information.

Early action is vital. Very seldom does someone wake up to find that their home is in foreclosure. There are always warning signs that will precede the event. Being aware of these signs and taking corrective action early on can mean the difference between keeping your home or losing it.

As soon as you know you’re going to miss a mortgage payment, contact your lender. Contacting your lender early on allows them to assist you in getting help to work out alternatives. The truth is most banks don’t want to take your home. They don’t want the hassle of foreclosing, maintaining, and then trying to sell the home. They would rather some arrangement be worked out, but this often requires your early action and contacting them.

You should always follow up your phone call with a letter. You need to draft a hardship letter and send it to your lender. Don’t be too creative. Be specific about what caused your payment delinquency, make it detailed and be honest, but also be concise.

Don’t accept a short sale unless you have no other options. A short sale is when the bank or lender agrees to sell your home for less than what you owe. The difference between the selling price and the amount you owe will still need to be made up by you, and, of course, you will lose your home in the process.

You will find that being polite and patient with lenders will go a long way. There are many solutions a lender can offer you. These might include extending your repayment period, suspending payments for a few months, or tacking the missed payments onto the back end of the loan.

You may also want to talk about extending the contract with your lender. Lets say you have a 30-year fixed rate loan, perhaps you can change it to a 40-year loan. Not all lenders may be willing to do this, but it is certainly worth asking about. The difference in the payment amounts can be the difference between keeping the home and losing it.

Refinancing, in general, is also a common option but homeowners should understand that refinancing is much easier to get when the housing market is moving up and less easy to get when the market is moving downwards.

Another option for some homeowners is bankruptcy. This is an option that must be decided based on the advice of an attorney. Not all homeowners can find relief from the bankruptcy court. For this reason, you must speak with an experienced attorney who can fill you in on the details and whether or not your home can be protected.

Avoiding foreclosure is not always easy and it can be very stressful, but keep in mind that a foreclosure will remain on your credit record for seven years. It may be up to four years after a foreclosure that you will be approved for regular interest rates again. These are just a few of the reasons that you should work as hard as possible to avoid foreclosure.

The government sponsored enterprise, which has been under government conservator-ship since 2008, announced that those who are strategic defaulters “who walk-away and had the capacity to pay or did not complete a workout alternative in good faith will be ineligible for a new Fannie Mae-backed mortgage loan for a period of seven years from the date of foreclosure. Borrowers who have extenuating circumstances may be eligible for new loan in a shorter time-frame”.

According to a Fannie Mae executive  they are taking these steps to highlight the importance of working with your servicer. Fannie Mae takes the position that strategic default is bad for borrowers and communities. It definitely hurts a persons credit rating, but those who are opting to strategically default have often weighed this consideration against the alternatives and choose to default anyway. It can hurt communities by driving down housing prices by virtue of putting additional distressed housing stock on the market. More strategic defaults also means more losses for Fannie Mae.

In a statement, Fannie Mae stressed that borrowers who made good faith efforts to work with lenders in order to “resolve their situation” will be eligible for Fannie Mae loans much quicker than those who walk away. Fannie Mae stated also that it will pursue deficiency judgments against strategic defaulters in states where that recourse is available to lenders.

This raises several questions: how will Fannie Mae know whether someone is strategically defaulting or not? Certainly in some situations it will be obvious, but in other situations it will not be. Also, how much will it cost to pursue deficiency judgments, and is it worth it? Finally, does holding strategic defaulters out of the housing market for seven years cause more harm than good?

The topic of strategic default is a difficult one. One the one hand, there is a lot to be said about honoring contracts and obligations. On a different side, strategic default is a financial decision, and businesses do it all the time, and are never really criticized on the moral grounds that residential strategic defaulters are.

Upfront fees are usually nonrefundable even if you are not satisfied with the results. It’s gotten so out of hand that the FTC (Federal Trade Commission) is considering a ban on these fees. There are scammers who are preying on people, such as yourself, who are in danger of losing their homes. These so called companies are asking for $2,000 to $3,000 in upfront fees from people who can’t even afford to make their loan payments.

The Attorney General’s office is handling tons of complaints involving debt negotiators. The scams involve people calling themselves “debt negotiators” who claim to help consumers with loan modifications. They charge a hefty upfront fee and are usually never heard from again.

If a company asks for an such fee, a red flag should go up in your mind. These fraudulent companies are popping up all over. The problem is so bad that upfront fees are banned in 20 states. One such state is California, who recently passed a bill banning upfront fees for loan modifications, which covers anyone asking for the fee, including lawyers. There had been a huge number of complaints to the state Department of Real Estate from consumers who had paid up to $3,000 dollars in upfront fees and got nothing in return.

If you contact a loan modification company and they ask for upfront fees, stop. They do not have your best interest in mind and only want to take your money. No matter how good the deal sounds you should not take the chance of loosing your hard earned money to a possible scam.

In Chapter 7 Bankruptcy
In a Chapter 7 liquidation case, a trustee is selected at random from a panel of lawyers. Their main goal is to sell property and distribute the proceeds to creditors. In this process, a trustee sits down with the debtor during a “341 meeting” and asks them questions about their assets and financial affairs. From there, trustees review bankruptcy documents and is entitled to ask questions to find out if any nonexempt property, assets, or items can be seized by the trustee and sold to satisfy debts.

In Chapter 13 Bankruptcy
In a Chapter 13 reorganization, a trustee’s role differs somewhat from a Chapter 7 bankruptcy. A debtor still meets with a trustee in a 341 meeting and is asked about assets and financial affairs. However, the trustee cannot take any of their property or assets. Instead, they assess the bankruptcy plan to see if it fits technical requirements and if it seems like it has a reasonable chance of success in repayment. Additionally, many trustees in Chapter 13 offer financial counseling and management.

It is important to to remember a couple things about a bankruptcy trustee in order for a case to run smoothly. First, they aren’t your enemy who is seeking to suck you dry. Their main goal is not to pick through your possessions and sell them off. In fact, most are quite reasonable people who are simply trying to do their job. In relating to a trustee, a debtor first of all needs to be completely honest. This includes an accurate listing of your assets because inaccurate disclosure can lead to criminal prosecution and a loss of discharge.

Trustees are not the only aspect of a bankruptcy case that is important to be informed about. If you are seriously considering bankruptcy, you need to consult with an attorney who understands recent bankruptcy laws. Not all bankruptcy attorneys are the same. While the process appears complicated, a bankruptcy attorney will be able to help you understand your options and avoid making bad decisions. You get one chance to file bankruptcy right the first time. The attorneys at KEL know what they’re doing, because bankruptcy is their specialty. Contact KEL Attorneys today for a free consultation.

There are record numbers of foreclosures all across the country and many of them are justifiable; however, there are also an alarming number of strategic defaults occurring (1 out of 4 foreclosures), and that this is a cause for concern. A strategic default is when a homeowner walks away from their property despite having the financial ability to make the mortgage payments. With the rapid decline in real estate values, it has convinced many homeowners that there’s no point in paying on a mortgage that is much higher than the current value of their home.

There are strong opinions on both sides of the argument. On one side, there are those that believe it is highly unethical to walk away from a mortgage contract when you’re still financially able to make the payments. When you enter into an agreement with a financial institution you have to convince the lender that you have the means to honor the terms of the contract. If the lender agrees, a legal contract is signed and the borrower is now obligated to make the monthly payments. Walking away from a home and dishonoring the contract is a breach of good faith between the lender and the borrower.

On the other side are the proponents of strategic defaults who suggest that a mortgage contract is nothing more than a business deal and if the terms no longer benefit both parties, the deal is broken. The fact of the matter is that its just a business deal and should exclude any moral, emotional, or ethical underpinnings. This group feels that there is a moral obligation to be responsible to family first, and if your family’s situation is compromised, action must be taken. It’s also thought that the banks deserve what they get, as they should be responsible for freely handing out mortgages to less than qualified borrowers; which, ultimately caused the housing bubble and the subsequent bursting of the bubble that caused housing values to fall. Those against strategic default argue that the banks should not be blamed for the bad decisions made by consumers.

Walking away from a home has many consequences that need to be considered before the keys are handed in. First of all your credit rating will take a big hit, up to 200 points in some cases. Secondly, it will be very difficult to obtain credit for a number of years, and if a lender does agree to issue another loan the interest rates will be quite high. Most important of things to consider is that in some states including Florida, is the bank is able to pursue repayment of the defaulted amount either on their own or through a collection agency. Certain jurisdictions allow up to 20 years to recover the outstanding debt.

Does the value of a house make it any more a less a home? If you can still afford the mortgage payments is it worth the stress and grief to uproot your family and move in to a rental property simply because the home’s value has fell. On the other hand, if your house was purchased solely as an investment vehicle and you have no emotional ties to the property, then walking may be the best option for you; just be sure you have considered all of the repercussions that can result from your decision.