Bankruptcy law has changed since the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005 took effect. Now, there are requirements and restrictions, some of which are beneficial. It will be important to look over the bankruptcy law changes to determine if they will affect any attempts to file. Consider other options you have if you actually can no longer qualify for bankruptcy under the new rules.

Bankruptcy law used to be more lenient. As a result, people began to abuse the system, filing when they really didn’t need to file and making huge purchases on credit before filing.

Not anymore. Now that is considered bankruptcy fraud. Consult with Eric Lanigan and Roddy Lanigan to find out if you qualify for bankruptcy. There are several financial options available to resolve problems. 

For these reasons and more, changes had to take effect. When they now make it much harder for people to be able to file and eliminate their debts.

Eliminating or pay off debt under the protection of the government is one program to look into. Under Chapter 7 bankruptcy, debt is forgiven while in a Chapter 13 bankruptcy, it is expected that a person follow a debt payback plan in five years. The old bankruptcy laws allowed filers to basically choose which chapter they preferred to file under.

Also, Chapter 7 filers could value their property at the auction price under the old bankruptcy law. The new law puts the retail price on personal property, increasing the value and the chance of the property being repossessed. Under the old law, debtors were allowed to keep an amount of personal property regulated by the filers state of residence.

The new law requires at least two years of residence in the state before using their exemption laws. When the old law was enacted, housing and food allowances were determined by the actual cost.

Under the law changes, there are fewer leniencies for housing and food allowances. The IRS sets these allowances afor food per month and for housing and utilities. Income has to be below the state’s median income for your size family.

A repayment plan will also need to be enforced under Chapter 13 if the court determines owing is $100 or more of disposable income. Child support becomes a high priority debt. Also, if you file now, credit-counseling courses within 180 days of filing are also required.

The new bankruptcy law changes also limit home exemptions if the home was purchased less than three year and four months before filing for bankruptcy.

These changes not only affect those filing, but everyone involved. The new bankruptcy law affects credit card companies. They now have to include on the bill how long it would take to pay off the current balance at the minimum payment rate.

Lawyers are expected to raise their fees for these services because of the liability issues the new rules imposes. The lawyers will have to spend more time crossing their T’s and dotting their I’s to make sure not to break any laws and meet all requirements when filing client documents and processing files.

With the new bankruptcy law changes, came a flood of last minute filings under the old law. Thus, the sudden number of filings affected the courts. Overall, the new laws force those who would otherwise qualify for Chapter 7 to file under Chapter 13.

When it comes to filing personal bankruptcy, careful thought and preparation has to be given to the process of a bankruptcy and selecting an attorney to handle it. Do-it-yourself bankruptcy is absolutely not recommended by Winter Park bankruptcy lawyer Eric Lanigan or Roddy Lanigan.

There is no way that you can possibly prepare or provide information to a Federal bankruptcy court without the complete direction and legal support of a qualified Florida bankruptcy attorney.

It’s not even recommended that you hire an attorney who doesn’t regularly practice bankruptcy or have experience in the bankruptcy area. When you complete the initial questionnaire for an attorney you should begin asking questions about the attorney’s capabilities in the bankruptcy arena.

When it comes to a do-it-yourself bankruptcy you will not be assured that a bankruptcy will be approved. As though the pressure of unmet bills hanging over one’s head is not enough, added fears from the unknown consequences of this decision can loom like an insurmountable obstacle.

You may think that forethought and basic research skills, a person may deal successfully with this difficult situation. But you had better have a willingness to consider the counsel of an attorney to provide you with confident decision-making in the area of personal finances and insolvency.

A decision must be made as to whether one should continue with a client who comes in after trying to start a do it yourself bankruptcy. Obviously, if a person is in the situation where they have weighed this option, there is already the pressure of dealing with unmet obligations and situations caused by the individual by the attorney.

A bankruptcy attorney will want details surrounding the steps taken alone to file the bankruptcy. Next the attorney will tell the individual which type of bankruptcy will best resolve a particular situation. An attorney will knowing how to go about filing bankruptcy and there will be some complicated processes, paperwork and filings to handle.

Bankruptcy will give thought to the effects of these legal actions upon one’s financial future. For these reasons, although one may be legally able to file for a do-it-yourself bankruptcy, it is probably not a good idea to do so without at least attempting to get a handle upon this course of action with a tough, talented Florida bankruptcy attorney.

Investment fraud is big business in Florida. There are millions of people who retire in the state for health reasons because they need warm weather. The retirement funds come with the seniors who move down and fall prey to the scam artists who through a wide array of financial schemes go after life savings and assets.

Winter Park, Florida, law firm Lanigan and Lanigan, P.L., has been providing legal guidance to recover investment losses and pursue charges against those responsible for the many securities crimes that take from people of all ages. Eric Lanigan and Roddy Lanigan work with clients to bring the investment and securities criminals to justice by uncovering the fraud committed against unknowing, innocent individuals.

Seniors aren’t the only group with investment funds. People of all ages retire early and move to Florida for a life near the ocean and are often taken advantage of through eleborate investment and pyramid schemes with the promise of quickly doubling their savings or investments.

Common Florida Investment Schemes and Fraud:

• Commodities Fraud – Commodities are valuable products or materials of uniform quality–precious metals, coffee, crude oil–scam artists use fake sales practices to solicit victims’ funds for commodities transactions that either never occur or are inconsistent and short of the original sales pitch.

• High yield investment frauds known as Ponzi or pyramid schemes – These promise high rates of return with little or no risk. If it sounds too good to be true, it is. A Ponzi scheme uses money collected from new investors to pay returns promised to first investors. Success stories in the first group gives the impression of a legitimate, financial enterprise behind the ripoff artists’ story. In a Pyramid scheme, investors are given a payment by the ringleader to recruit new investors with no legitimate underlying investment.

• Market Manipulation – Known as pump and dumps create artificial buying pressure using false or deceptive sales practices for a targeted security, typically a penny stock to artificially increase trading volume and drive up the price which brings illegal earnings to the perpetrators and losses to innocent investors.

• Property inflation: Flipping property starts with ring leaders who buy property, work with  appraisers and false buyers to artificially inflate property values. They lie to banks in order to get mortgages.

The problems surrounding Florida investment fraud and losses can devastate the future of any individual no matter what occurs when it takes a life savings or an asset. For help in finding out how to recover a loss that was taken through a scheme by a scam artist, contact Orlando securities and investment losses attorney Eric Lanigan or Roddy Lanigan.

Buying and selling a new home is an emotional experience. It can also become a legal experience if you hire a realtor to find the home of your dreams or sell your home and something doesn’t work out as planned.

Regardless if it’s your home, a home you’re buying, are having issues with a disclosure form or a dispute over a home warranty, a property line, a land zoning or quality issue consult with Lanigan and Lanigan, P.L. If you have a problem with real estate work with Orlando real estate attorney Eric Lanigan or Roddy Lanigan to handle your real estate legal issues.  

The number one reason that real estate agents and brokers are involved in litigation are due to  client and agent issues regarding agency representation according to a survey conducted every two years by The National Association of Realtors.

Agency representation issues refer to whether a real estate agent represents buyers or sellers or provides dual agency representing both parties. If a realtor represents both parties, it must be divulged before the contract for agency is signed. Agency representation cases rose 36 percent from 2009.

Agency issues were one of the top 3 causes of litigation:

• Agency 73%
• Property condition disclosures 68%
• Ethics 53%
• Third-party liability 49%
• Fair housing 48%
• Technology 48% 
• Anti-trust issues 47%

The lawsuits were based on accusations that an agent or a broker had breached client fiduciary duty. For example, an agent was accused of failing to explain the importance of property disclosures and instructing them on how to complete a disclosure form.

The sellers said that the agents, who were dual agents and represented the buyer in the transaction, breached their fiduciary duties because they failed to instruct them on how to complete the property disclosures form or explain the importance of the form.

The judge residing over the case agreed that the seller should not fill out the property disclosure form without benefit of the agents’ experience, instruction and knowledge.

However there was a twist because the sellers resisted the agents’ advice to disclose new floors they had installed on a list of alterations they had made the house, the judge said, which should have alerted them that other work they had done was also an alternation that needed to be disclosed. The judge ruled in the agents’ favor.

Real estate professionals said that breach of fiduciary duty is a catch-all for consumers not satisfied with the outcome of a real estate transaction. Agents are responsible for putting clients’ interests ahead of their own–a fiduciary duty.

Brokers practicing dual agency have a more limited duty of loyalty to their clients — by definition, they can’t be advocates for both — and have to maintain client confidentiality. For example, an agent who tells a seller in negotiations how much a buyer might pay is breaching fiduciary duties to the buyer.

By limiting or eliminating fiduciary duties that brokers and agents owe their clients, lawmakers in more than 24 states have reduced the legal liability of realtors providing services in non-agency relationships such as transaction brokerage. But that hasn’t stopped consumers from filing lawsuits testing those defenses.

A client served by dual agents may also conclude that their agent has withheld crucial information or advice from them in order to keep a deal on track. This is where lawsuits have an opening.

The extent to which real estate brokers and agents are expected to put their skill, competency and experience to work to uncover issues about a property that their clients may think they should know goes beyond property defects — particularly in the world of commercial real estate.

The extensive amount of national debt held by college graduates in student loans is affecting their ability to qualify for a home loan and a delay in housing market growth.

Students coming out of college today have more debt than ever and they’re coming into an economy that is underperforming. These things pile onto each other and will not help the housing recovery.

Income Used to Pay Down Debt
The $1 trillion in student loan debt is starting to slow the economy just as the housing bubble created a mortgage debt problem. The issue is that any extra consumer income is now going to pay down debt from student loan. However, federal student loans, unlike mortgage loans, can be eliminated in bankruptcy. Federal student loans are forever for most people although there are exemptions.

The exemptions from having to repay a federal student loan are few and very difficult to qualify. However if you want to find out what exemptions can alleviate federal student loans even temporarily, setup a meeting with Florida lawyer Eric Lanigan or Roddy Lanigan.

Industry analysts say that housing prices are likely to fall for a sixth straight year. That in turn may be a consideration in consumer spending, but not for those and strapped with student loans. This will be difficult although the economy may start to show some signs of strength.

A tight budget makes it impossible to save for or buy a home and renders college graduates with debt unable to engage in consumer spending that would in turn sustain the economy. This will continue for many years for students with federal loans. Because while an average amount of debt is approximately $25,000 per student, college costs continue to grow. Students that continue into masters programs can incur debt extending beyond $100,000.

Mortgage Rates Lowest in 40 Years
Record-low mortgage rates haven’t revived housing sales enough to spur the economic recovery. A 30-year fixed rate mortgage was 3.87 percent on February 9, according to a Freddie Mac index which showed this to be the lowest rate in 40 years.

Now that there is so little value remaining in homes across the country, Americans have nowhere to borrow money for college expenses, cars, or business. Not owning the home of their dreams due to student loans, means individuals will have to pay cash.

There are new immigration legislative measures recently announced by President Obama created to help bring and keep people from other countries. The focus is on individuals who will provide jobs through businesses and who will strengthen existing businesses with the level of skill they bring.

Orlando immigration attorney Clarisse Carbonell has been preparing employment visas for multinational corporations hiring foreign nationals since 2001. Clarisse handles immigration cases and is Of Counsel to attorneys Eric Lanigan and Roddy Lanigan.

Consult with Clarisse about immigration when your business is trying to solve immigration issues and navigate the many rules, regulations and changes that are involved in the process of bringing foreign employees into the United States.

The Startup Visa is the name of the program with makes the H-1B program stronger. It includes providing green cards to foreign-born science, technology, engineering, and math graduate diplomas to help keep them working in the U.S.

The Obama Administration is trying to attract and keep highly-skilled immigrants which is described as critical to job creation and economic recovery. New jobs in the U.S. are created in start-ups and small businesses.

Statistics show that 25 percent of high-tech startups in the United States were founded by immigrants, leading to more than 200,000 jobs in America.

The following initiatives to change the H-1B program have been offered:

• Allow spouses of F-1 students to enroll in part-time study courses
• Allow spouses of H-1B holders (known as H-4 visa holders) who are waiting for USCIS action on an adjustment of status green card application to apply for work authorization after meeting a minimum period of H-1B status in the U.S.
• Support employment-based immigrant visa applications for outstanding professors and researchers
• Treat E-3 visa holders from Australia and H-1B1 visa holders from Chile and Singapore the same as related work visa holders allowing them to continue working for up to 240 days while petitions for extension of status are pending
• Start an Entrepreneurs in Residence program to enhance current immigration laws’ that attract foreign entrepreneurial talent
• A 17-month extension of optional practical training for F-1 international students with a prior degree in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics

When you go to court to pursue a settlement in a lawsuit for a personal injury received on the job, in a slip and fall at a store, or from a failed product in a vehicle, or other personal injury case, you should be prepared for what’s ahead of you.

The best Orlando attorney will tell you that they need you to keep detailed records of what you feel, how your recovery goes. This is important because a person recovering from a personal injury is totally consumed with getting better and healing. A personal injury attorney is there to be sure that a settlement will be given to the victim by ensuring that all the details of the injury and recovery are documented.

The reason this is important is that the victim is going to need money to pay the medical bills after suffering physically in the personal injury. You hear people discussing settlements, but if you’re a victim of a personal injury, you should know what that is.  

A settlement is a legal wrap to ending a dispute.  It’s an agreement between the injured party and the disputing persons to resolve the damages.  Terms in a settlement are agreed in writing.  The written agreement is a contract enforced by the court.   

If the case goes to court, the usual way that you come to a settlement is through mediation.  Mediation is a formal settlement in which all sides in the dispute discuss terms to settle the disputes.  A court can force mediation attendance but the court can’t force the disputing parties to settle.  

Settlements become complicated because of the need to payoff subrogation liens.  These are claims against the settlement by health insurance companies, medicare or medicaid or worker’s compensation companies for money paid for doctor’s bills and for lost wages.  

Parties have to be paid out of the settlement. Insurance companies will ask for all 100 percent of all money paid. Most of the time they truly only get a fraction of the money.  If the lien is an ERISA, or Medicaid lien, then 100% of the money may have to be paid to the ERISA carrier.  

An Orlando personal injury attorney who is experienced can discuss ERISA and Medicaid issues with you so you can understand their claim.

Things then become complicated because in a personal injury case the plaintiff agrees to sign off on a release in exchange for an agreed amount of money that is paid at the closing of the deal.  Once a release is signed, the money changes hands, the plaintiff’s claims are then not able to be upheld in court.  

If a lawsuit has been filed in a court, the attorneys send a notice to the court stating the case is over and the court will close the file permanently. In the end the terms of a settlement decide who pays legal and court fees.

If you have questions about what a personal injury attorney thinks of your case, consult with Roddy Lanigan to find out immediately what you should do to keep up with your case.

When a company needs a corporate bankruptcy attorney Orlando has many options. There are many, many Orlando bankruptcy lawyers but business owners should become familiar with the types of law firms and their practice areas to best represent their company. When there is a financial difficulty, it’s important to decide based on the needs of the company and the practice areas of the firm.

Eric Lanigan has been practicing law including business and civil litigation, bankruptcy, foreclosure and securities and investment losses in Orlando for 35 years. He strengthened the practice of Lanigan and Lanigan by joining with his son Roddy Lanigan four years ago.

The Lanigans will tell you: bankrutpcy is not a simple process and bankruptcies are some of the most complex areas of law in the United States. Companies need to bring in experts who can help the firm find its way through those laws. When filing bankruptcy the lawyer will need to deal with real estate law, contract law, corporate law and tax law.

If a struggling company owns real estate or has other assets, the importance of hiring business bankruptcy attorneys is even greater in order to preserve these assets. Once a firm files for bankruptcy protection the court provides immediate legal protection from creditors. The first concern is that the paperwork for the filing is done correctly by a highly experienced bankruptcy attorney in Orlando.

A court may refuse to hear the petition, leaving the company open to further action from the creditors if a Chapter 11 bankruptcy is filed incorrectly in any form.

During bankruptcy a company is responsible for devising a plan to handle its debt and yet still continue doing business to be able to make profits. This is no easy task and a business has to be able to adhere to the payment plan agreed to in the court’s proclamations.

A company must have a reorganization plan that will repay the debt owed and at the same time give enough leniency to conduct business. The most common type of bankruptcy is a Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The other types of bankruptcies are for non-business bankruptcy.

A Chapter 7 bankruptcy, a Chapter 13 bankruptcy is for families or individuals. A Chapter 12 bankruptcy is for farmers.

A decline in sales can lead a business to amassing debt it can’t repay, so corporate bankruptcy attorney Eric Lanigan will not only examine and advise a business on how to approach the court, but also will urge the business leaders to change business practices so that the downward trend will turn around.

Find out what a corporate bankruptcy attorney will do for your Orlando business to turn a potential business failure into a business reorganization that will ensure profitability.

Orlando foreclosure attorney Roddy Lanigan works with homeowners experiencing difficulty in paying their mortgages and facing foreclosure. He and partner Eric Lanigan tell all clients never ignore the seriousness of the matter because this financial challenge will not go away by itself. The only things that will go away by choosing to disregard phone calls, letters, or legal notices about the mortgage are your options to negotiate with lenders.

Despite the normal tendency to fear that if the true situation is made known to the mortgage company they will immediately begin foreclosure proceedings, the truth is that lenders don’t really want the house as much as they want the payments. Banks are in the business of lending and receiving money not property ownership.

Business people realize that in the real world everyone experiences financial difficulties for various reasons at some point. The mortgage company already has in place options on how to stop foreclosure from being the only solution to the problem.

The best way to stop a Florida foreclosure is to hire Orlando foreclosure attorney Roddy Lanigan or Eric Lanigan. There are so many options to be pursued that a person who sits on paperwork, doesn’t respond to calls, or attempts to make a call to the lender will lose out by inactivity.

If the mortgage company does not hear from a customer, after a very short period of time they will conclude that foreclosure proceeding has to begin. At that point the choices of how to avoid foreclosure will be very limited.

Many people will try to find money and will look at assets to sell, or take a second job to meet expenses. Others cut back on bills like cable service, entertainment or a second car. Regardless you have to try to determine if the financial setback is temporary or if another long term solution will be needed.

Foreclosure Attorney Will Provide Temporary Solutions
If the difficulty is of a temporary financial setback it may be possible to arrange with the mortgage company a way to repay the overdue funds over a period of time, or to skip a payment by having them add the funds back on to the principal, thus extending a little breathing room. This is also called a forebearance.

There are also options and solutions available from lenders who sometimes have special policies for dealing with customers who have been affected by natural disasters. There are other options for those whose financial problems come from military deployment.

If you’re trying to avoid foreclosure resist the idea of paying off smaller bills to lessen the number of creditors being dealt with at one time. This may make you feel better, but it’s actually a bad strategy. It would be better to lose a credit card than to lose a house.

If you’re trying to figure out how to stop foreclosure on your home, any funds that you have access to may be needed to pay an attorney to stop a foreclosure. When you send a partial payment, you may think that this is as good an effort as possible.

Even if a person cannot repay an entire mortgage payment, the idea that a token payment will at least indicate the intention to repay the debt is not exactly correct. Partial payments are still late and can still launch foreclosure without a written or negotiated agreement with the lender.  A payment may be just enough to keep the mortgage company from beginning foreclosure proceedings immediately, but not permanently.

The money is better spent by putting these funds towards a mortgage workout. Whatever you do, do not get desperate and sign any legal document from a lender without having an Orlando foreclosure attorney review it.

Be sure that hhe house is not being signed away or that principal balance is being increased to such an extent that you’ll have to pay it back for 50 years. Even if an offer is legitimate, any information they might give you that would stop foreclosure needs to be carefully considered.

The options available in your particular case can be reviewed and then renegotiated by the Lanigans. If you want to avoid foreclosure it will help to reorganize your finances, look at your options and decide what to do based on what your future financial status. Do something only after consulting with Orlando foreclosure attorney Eric Lanigan or Roddy Lanigan so that it’s an informed decision.