Bankruptcy Indiana

For someone who never wanted to be a real estate lawyer, I've needed to know an awful lot about real estate.  That has been the case more than ever in the most recent part of the close to 25 years I've served as a debt consolidation lawyer offering bankruptcy services in Indiana.  Falling real estate prices have been the subject of headlines and have caused problems for bankruptcy clients in Indiana who need my help to stop foreclosure.

As I've written in many earlier Bankruptcy in Indiana articles, under the new bankruptcy laws of Indiana, filing Chapter 13 bankruptcy can often help stop foreclosure when second mortgages are discharged by the bankruptcy court.  However, first mortgage debt is not dischargeable in bankruptcy, so for clients filing bankruptcy Chapter 7 in Indiana, the process will not help them stop foreclosure.

The current administration has been offering cash incentives to mortgage services companies who agree to help homeowners remain in their homes.  I, along with the Anderson, Bloomington, Indianapolis, and Columbus bankruptcy lawyers who work in the Zuckerberg bankruptcy law offices have been called upon to help stop foreclosures by helping our clients prepared the mortgage modification paperwork so they can try to qualify for these mortgage lender programs.

According to the Indianapolis Star, "nearly $83 million in Federal funds is available to help unemployed Hoosiers avoid foreclosure on their homes. And now, there's a new foreclosure prevention program, called Hardest Hit Fund, which just this month was extended to 17 states, including Indiana.  A related program, the Emergency Homeowners Loan Program, administered through HUD, provides zero interest loans of up to $50,000 for qualified unemployed - or underemployed - people. Every one of the good bankruptcy attorneys in Indiana who works with me stays on constant alert for new programs coming out to help stop foreclosure.

Meanwhile, as one of only a dozen Certified Consumer Bankruptcy Specialists in our state, there are various ways I am able to be of help (along with the other Indiana bankruptcy attorneys in the four Mark Zuckerberg bankruptcy law offices:

• I help by analyzing a homeowner's financial situation
   
• I am used to  having skilled property appraisals run
   
• As a bankruptcy attorney in Indiana, preparing debt-income ratios for the applications for help is an area of expertise for me
   
• To achieve mortgage modification, I and my colleagues help by negotiating various mortgage compromises on behalf of clients.

Sheriffs' sales have become a bigger and bigger part of the stories shared by clients who turn to me for Indiana bankruptcy help. Indiana has a three-month waiting period before a sheriff's sale can be triggered, with the only exception being residential real estate that has been abandoned.

As part of my mission to offer bankruptcy information in Indiana to my readers and clients, (as wekk as to the attorneys around the state of Indiana whom I help educate on the new bankruptcy laws in Indiana), it's important for me to include real estate matters in the mix. No getting away from it - nowadays, a bankruptcy attorney in Indiana needs to know a lot about real estate!