Family Law

• Child Support
  Yes, with some exceptions. Bankruptcy will not normally wipe out: (1) money owed for child support or alimony, fines, and some taxes; (2) debts not listed on your bankruptcy petition; (3) loans you got by knowingly giving false information to a creditor, who reasonably relied on it in making you the loan; (4) debts resulting from “willful and malicious” harm; (5) student loans owed to a school or government body, except if the court decides that payment would be an undue hardship; (6) mortgages and other liens which are not paid in the bankruptcy case (but bankruptcy will wipe out your obligation to pay any additional money if the property is taken back by the creditor).
• Spousal Support
  Discharge types of debts singled out by the bankruptcy law for special treatment, such as child support and alimony (known as Domestic Support Obligations), student loans (but tuition is dischargable), court restitution orders, criminal fines, and some taxes.

Finance Law

• Bankruptcy
  In determining whether property is exempt, you must keep a few things in mind. The value of property is not the amount you paid for it, but what it is worth now. Especially for furniture and cars, this may be a lot less than what you paid or what it would cost to buy a replacement. You also only need to look at the equity of your property. This means that you count your exemptions against the full value of the property minus any money that you owe on mortgages or liens. For example, if you own a $500,000 house with a $400,000 mortgage, you count your exemptions against the $100,000 which is your equity if you sell it. While your exemptions allow you to keep property even in a chapter 7 case, your exemptions do not effect the right of a mortgage holder or car loan creditor to take the property to cover the debt if you are behind or do not make future payments. In a chapter 13 case, you can keep all of your property if your plan meets the requirements of the bankruptcy law. In most cases you will have to pay the mortgages or liens as you would if you didn’t file bankruptcy.
• Foreclosure
  The right to file for bankruptcy is provided by Federal law, and all bankruptcy cases are handled in Federal court. Filing bankruptcy immediately stops all of your creditors from seeking to collect debts from you, including stopping garnishments, foreclosures, and repossessions, at least until your debts are sorted out according to the law.
• Tax Law
  My fees for single person, basic Chapter 7 bankruptcy start at $2,000, married $2,500 (all fees inclusive including filing fee, credit counseling and credit report). Chapter 13 cases start at $3,500 (normally $1,000 down, balance through the plan). Neighbor island clients are charged an extra $300 for travel expenses. Prices will vary depending on the complexity of your bankruptcy. High income, real estate, business operations and tax issues are some of the factors that will tend to increase the price. Fixed income or extended unemployment with little to no assets will tend to reduce the price.
• Debt Collection
  Stop wage garnishment (sometimes we can recover recently garnished money), debt collection harassment, and similar creditor actions to collect a debt. Restore or prevent termination of utility service.