Bankruptcy

Life happens.  Oftentimes, financial hardship can hit a person more than once during a lifetime.  If you have filed bankruptcy before, and debt is piling up again, bankruptcy is probably still available to you as an exit strategy.  So, the question is, how many times can you file bankruptcy?  As with many things in the[...]

Paying off Debts to Family Members and Close Friends When a person falls on hard times, family and close friends are often there to lean on. They may provide loans to see you through a rough patch. However, repayment of such loans leading up to filing bankruptcy can be disastrous. Paying back your family or[...]

The short answer is, probably not. Arizona law provides an exemption for, “All firearms of not more than an aggregate fair market value of two thousand dollars.” So, if your collection of firearms is worth $2,000 or less, you will be able to keep them in a chapter 7 bankruptcy. The exemption doubles if you[...]

So, you’ve moved to Arizona recently, but you want to file a chapter 7 bankruptcy. Can you? As with every legal questions, the answer is: “It depends.” To file a chapter 7 bankruptcy in Arizona, you just need to have resided here for the majority of the past 180 days (91 days) before the filing[...]

When you file a bankruptcy, it creates a bankruptcy estate, which consists of everything that you own. State and federal law allows you to protect certain property from your creditors and from sale during the bankruptcy case. These laws are called exemptions. In Arizona, the Arizona exemptions apply, as long as you have lived in[...]

Increasingly, fraudsters are posing as legitimate debt collectors or attorneys and offering to accept a discounted amount to settle valid debts.  They call unsuspecting consumers and are convincing.  They typically know your social security number, your address, the amount of the debt, and the name of the creditor.  They will claim to be from an[...]

It can be hard to make ends meet under normal circumstances.  In Arizona, creditors can garnish up to 25% of your take-home pay, depending on the type of debt.  If you’re already living paycheck to paycheck, wage garnishment be disastrous. Luckily, filing bankruptcy can stop most garnishments.  When you file your bankruptcy case, the bankruptcy[...]

It is rare for a person to lose a house in an Arizona chapter 7 bankruptcy case. That’s because the exemption for most people is $150,000 of your house’s equity (A.R.S. § 33-1101). If your home’s value, less any mortgages, is $150,000 or less, there’s a good chance you will get to keep your home.[...]

Arizona law allows you to keep $300 in one bank account. A.R.S. § 33-1126(A)(9). This only applies to the day that your chapter 7 bankruptcy petition is filed. It is important to note that that the law does NOT allow you to just withdraw cash to get under the $300 limit and then deposit it[...]

ARS § 33-1125(8) allows you to protect, “equity in one motor vehicle of not more than six thousand dollars. If the debtor or debtor’s dependent has a physical disability, the equity in the motor vehicle shall not exceed twelve thousand dollars.” If you are married, you can double this exemption and use it on the[...]