Bankruptcy Indiana

It's interesting how stories I covered in Bankruptcy in Indiana are surfacing once again.  Yesterday I wrote about Michael Vick and the new developments with his case since he filed individual bankruptcy two years ago.  Vick, of course, is not at all typical of the everyday working folks whom I help file personal bankruptcy in Indiana.  As a debt consolidation lawyer who offers bankruptcy information in Indiana, though, I used the Vick case to illustrate how a bankruptcy trustee supervises the whole process until the debtor emerges from bankruptcy.

Another celebrity about whom I wrote is actor Nicolas Cage, who filed bankruptcy last year, also in another state far away from where I offer Indiana bankruptcy help. Last winter, when I first began to discuss the Cage bankruptcy with the Anderson, Bloomington, Indianapolis, and Columbus bankruptcy lawyers in the Zuckerberg bankruptcy law offices, Cage had already lost four of the homes he owned to foreclosure. Since so many of our clients turn to us to help stop foreclosure on their homes, that celebrity story was a way for me to illustrate how filing individual bankruptcy in Indiana can sometimes help stop foreclosure.

Well, just a couple of weeks ago, I heard news about Nicolas Cage's properties again.  His Las Vegas mansion (owned by the mortgage lender after the foreclosure) has just been sold.  So, why was filing bankruptcy not effective in preventing foreclosure in Cage's case?

First, remember we're talking about multi-million dollar properties, so that may have been a factor.  But Nicolas Cage also owed multi-million dollar tax debts.  In 2002, 2004, and 2007, he failed to pay his income taxes, and so the IRS filed liens against his real estate.  As a longtime bankruptcy attorney in Indiana, I need to point out that one of the big myths about bankruptcy is that it is totally ineffective when it comes to taxes.  That's not true at all. In the four Zuckerberg bankruptcy law offices, we get rid of old income tax bills for clients all the time. In fact, one of the big bankruptcy services in Indiana I've been able to provide is in the area of back taxes for personal bankruptcy and for small business bankruptcy in Indiana.

The thing about taxes, though (and the law is different in different states) is that income taxes more than three years old qualify for forgiveness under the bankruptcy laws of Indiana. Cage claimed he was given bad financial planning and tax planning advice.  Some sources claimed he spent too lavishly, and that ultimately led to the foreclosures and the bankruptcy.

Could Cage have saved his home through bankruptcy?  Maybe.  The main thing to keep in mind is that it's crucial, at the very first signs of financial trouble, to get expert legal advice!