What Should I Tell My Creditors if I Decide to File Bankruptcy?  If you are behind on making payments to your creditors, many times they will call you and ask you to pay your debts to them. Sometimes creditors will ask you to pay the debts in a cordial polite manner. Other times they will call and literary threaten you with going to jail. Many creditors have Robo calls in which a machine may call you many times a day to threaten and harass you. After you have consulted with Duncan Law, under certain circumstances, we will allow you to refer creditors to our office and we will confirm that ..read more

A foreclosure hearing is an opportunity for you to appear in front the clerk of the court of the county in which your home is located to dispute the right of the mortgage company to foreclose and sell your home at a foreclosure sale. The clerk of the court is similar to a judge regarding the foreclosure process. The details of the process is located in North Carolina Gen. Statutes 45-21.16. Usually the mortgage company will have an attorney to appear on their behalf to state to the clerk of the court you are behind on your mortgage payments. The attorney usually provides documentation to the ..read more

A 10 day upset bid period in foreclosure in North Carolina, or sometimes called the redemption period or bid,  is the opportunity for someone to bid on the sale of a house after a foreclosure sale date. Under North Carolina law, a person or company has the ability to bid at a higher price than the price in which the house was sold at the actual foreclosure sale. The upset bid must be made within  10 calendar days of the actual foreclosure sale date. The new bid must be at least 5% or $750 higher than the original bid at the foreclosure sale. See NCGS 45-21.27.  Once a ..read more

A motion for moratorium in a chapter 13 bankruptcy is a request by the debtor to temporarily suspend normal chapter 13 plan payments. The debtor’s attorney must file a motion with the bankruptcy court requesting a hearing to obtain permission from the bankruptcy judge to temporarily suspend the chapter 13 plan payments made by the debtor. The debtor must provide adequate reason to temporarily suspend the chapter 13 plan payments. Normal reasons for the suspension or moratorium of the payments may be temporary unemployment, illness in which the debtor cannot afford the normal chapter 13 plan pa ..read more

Confirmation is very important in a chapter 13 bankruptcy. Under 11 USC 1325 the bankruptcy court can approve, or confirm, the chapter 13 plan. The chapter 13 plan is usually developed by the debtor and presented to the chapter 13 trustee for his or her approval. If the chapter 13 trustee recommends confirmation of the chapter 13 plan, the bankruptcy judge will usually confirm, or agree to the Chapter 13 plan payments. The chapter 13 plan usually consist of how the debtor’s debts will be paid through the chapter 13 plan process. In the chapter 13 plan, the debtor’s debts are paid usually with ..read more

If you own a small business, you may be responsible for the business credit card debt. One of the key questions regarding the business credit card debt is did you personally guarantee the payment of the credit cards or did your company guarantee the debt? Nearly 99% of the time you personally guaranteed the credit card debt. The debt obligation is usually determined by the credit card application which you originally filled out to obtain the credit card. Most credit card companies require the individual, not the company, guarantee the payment on the small business credit cards. You’re probably ..read more

The bankruptcy automatic stay usually does not stop child support payments. Section 362 of the bankruptcy code deals with the automatic stay provision. Normally, when someone files a bankruptcy an automatic stay, which is a court order from the federal bankruptcy court, stops or stays all collection activities against the debtor. However , there are a few exceptions to the automatic stay. One of these is the payment of child support, otherwise known as domestic support obligation. However, if a person is behind on their child support payments, a chapter 13 bankruptcy may be able to help the pe ..read more

 Do I need to file an answer with the court or respond to a lawsuit? The answer is normally yes! Once you are served with a lawsuit you normally have 30 days to file an answer with the court. If you do not file a written answer to the lawsuit within 30 days from the date the lawsuit was served upon you, you will automatically lose the lawsuit. The creditor will obtain what is known as a default judgment against you because you do not file an answer to the lawsuit with the court. You must file a written answer with the clerk of the court in the county in which you reside. Merely conta ..read more

A “notice of right to have exemptions designated” in North Carolina is a legal document from a creditor who has obtained a judgment against you. This notice of right to have exemptions designated form is sent to you by the judgment creditor requiring you to list all property that you own. Any property that you own is subject to be seized by the sheriff department unless it is exempted in this form. Usually you have 20 days from the date the notice of right to have exemptions designated form is receive by you either by the sheriff serving it on you, or receiving it in the mail. If you ..read more

                 What Happens If I Surrender My House In Bankruptcy? If you file a chapter 7 bankruptcy or a chapter 13 bankruptcy, usually you have two        choices regarding your home. If you are not behind on your house payments you can file a chapter 7 bankruptcy and either keep your home and keep making your regular house payments on the home, or you can surrender or give back the home to the mortgage company and not owe any debt on the mortgage. If you are behind on your h ..read more