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Yes, you absolutely can. In fact, having high medical bills is one of the biggest reasons why someone chooses to file a St. Louis bankruptcy.

The amount that hospitals charge for medical services is extremely high. A recent report done in Time Magazine shows just how ridiculously high. In one example, the author cites how hospitals will routinely charge $10 per aspirin (when you can buy a bottle of 100 aspirin on Amazon for two or three dollars). And that’s just for aspirin!! So you can see how quickly these bills add up. In the end, it’s not unusual to see a medical bill in the tens of thousands of dollars (and that’s even when you have decent insurance).

But a St. Louis bankruptcy attorney can get these bills discharged. Medical-related debt is described as “unsecured” debt. This means that there is no collateral attached to it. In other words, if you don’t pay the bill, it’s not as if the doctor is going to come and repossess the stitches she sewed into you.

Yes, you do. The court does not allow you to pick and choose which debts will be included, and which will not. But there are a few wrinkles to that general rule.

To begin with, there are three main types of debts: 1) secured debts (such as a mortgage or car loan); 2) priority debts (such as taxes and child support arrearage); and 3) unsecured debts (such as credit cards, payday loans, and medical bills). Let’s look at an example of each category, and see how a St. Louis bankruptcy affects them.

An automobile loan on your vehicle is a common debt. It is considered to be “secured” because the debt has collateral (i.e. the car itself). When you file for bankruptcy, the debt owed to the car creditor has to be listed, but that doesn’t mean you have to lose the car. Most often, people wish to retain ownership of the vehicle. And this goal is normally achieved. The main question is whether or not the car has a great deal of equity. If indeed the car has much more than $3,000 of equity (or $6,000 if you are filing jointly with your spouse), then it is possible the Bankruptcy Trustee will want liquidate the vehicle. So for example, if you have a car that has a loan against it for $10,000, and the car is worth about $12,000, then your state exemption of $3,000 will more than cover any equity that exists. (12K – 10K = 2K; but the 3K exemption that the state gives you covers the 2K of equity). In this kind of situation, you can keep your car and continue making payments on it.

No, you do not. You given the option to retain your home (with certain qualifications) when you file a St. Louis bankruptcy. But such an asset has to be listed in your bankruptcy nonetheless.

For most people, real estate is the most important and valuable asset they own (not to mention the fact that it is the place where you and your family happen to live). So the idea of losing such a prized possession causes quite a bit of nervousness. But the main question to answer in such a situation is whether or not the house has significant equity. The answer to that question will help determine the outcome of your house (and also what chapter of bankruptcy you will file).

First of all, the state of Missouri allows for a $15,000 exemption to cover any equity that may exist in your home. So let’s say that your home has a loan against it for $100,000. And you believe that the fair market value of the home (in other words, what you realistically think the house would sell for if you were to put it on the market) is $110,000. In this situation, the 15K exemption that the state provides would more than cover the equity in your home. As a result, there is nothing the Bankruptcy Trustee or court can do with it. So if you wish to retain the real estate, you would just continue to make your regular monthly payments to the creditor. Of course, the value of your home may be less than what you owe. In this kind of situation, the house is upside down, and obviously no equity exists at all. Keeping your home with these kinds of numbers is easy.

Yes, absolutely! Probably the biggest misperception that people have when they meet with me is the idea that their credit rating or score will never recover after filing for bankruptcy. Like they will never again be able to finance a car, or get a home loan, or even take out another credit card. But the exact opposite is true.

The government describes a St. Louis bankruptcy as a “fresh start / clean slate”. It is a chance to wipe the slate clean so that you can start fresh. It’s a chance to pick yourself back up, and rebuild your financial life (and in many cases, your emotional well-being, too). This fresh start begins the moment you file you case. At that very moment, the bankruptcy court wraps a protective shield around you called the “Automatic Stay”. This is a fancy way saying that none of your creditors can come after you any longer. They can never try and contact you by phone, or mail, or in any way demand money from you ever again. Wage garnishments automatically stop, bank levies are unfrozen, foreclosure sales are prevented, car repossession are halted, and lawsuits are withdrawn.

This provides pretty much instant relief from the stress you’ve been experiencing, and gives you an immediate chance to start rebuilding your credit. For example, the average bump from a discharge in a St. Louis Chapter 7 is about 30-40 points. That’s not a huge number, but it gives you that initial start towards reaching your goals. And on average, people begin to see their credit score get back to where it should be within 18 months after filing a case.

You simply tell them to stop calling you. It’s literally just as simple as that. Of course, that doesn’t mean that the collection agency will follow your instructions. Or follow the law.

St. Louis collection agencies are bound by the FDCPA (Fair Debt Collections Practices Act). It is a federal statute that tightly regulates what a debt collector can and can’t do when they try to collect on a debt. But chances are you’ve never heard of the FDCPA. If so, you are like most people (whenever I mention this law to clients, they usually stare at me blankly).

But just because you’ve never heard of it, that doesn’t mean the St. Louis debt collectors get a free pass. They must still obey each and every tenant of the law. So let me give you a few examples of how a debt collector might violate your federal rights: 1) they can threaten you with a lawsuit; 2) they can harass you, call you names, or try to intimidate you; 3) they can leave you a voicemail that does not identify themselves as a debt collector (trying to collect on a debt); 4) they can tell you that they have reported the debt to the credit bureau when in fact they have not; 5) they can send you a letter that does not disclose certain rights that you have. And the list goes on and on. In fact, my experience has been that most people have their rights violated without even knowing it.

In this kind of situation, it is very important to determine what the fair market value of your vehicle is. If there is a great deal of value in the car, then it could be at risk of being liquidated, depending on which chapter of St. Louis bankruptcy you file. But a good St. Louis bankruptcy attorney can make sure that there are no issues with you losing the car.

There are two main types of consumer bankruptcies that people (and married couples) may file. In a St. Louis Chapter 7, there is a Trustee who looks very closely at all of your assets. The reason why the Trustee does this is because he or she is trying to determine whether or not your assets have a good deal of equity (or market value). Part of what you are responsible for when you file is to disclose exactly what you own. This would include bank accounts, cars, houses, stocks and bonds, and even potential claims for personal injury and worker’s compensation.

Your St. Louis bankruptcy lawyer will then apply certain state exemptions to these assets in an attempt to keep them safe. For instance, the state of Missouri allows an individual filing for bankruptcy to exempt up to $3,000 of equity (this number jumps up to $6,000 for a married couple). So if you have a 2001 Ford Explorer (that is in only decent shape, and a lot of miles), then the fair market value of the automobile is going to be somewhere in the neighborhood of $2,500. In this scenario, there would be plenty of exemption funds to cover the value of the car (and your car would safe from the Trustee grabbing for liquidation).

Not unless they have permission to do so from the original creditor, and they are prepared to file the suit immediately. If neither of those preconditions are met, then there is a good chance that your rights have been violated.

The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) is a federal statute that protects consumers against the overreach of the collection industry. The Act tightly regulates what a collection agency can and can’t do in its attempts to collect on a debt. If a violation of the Act occurs, the debt collector must pay you up to $1,000 in damages, and it must also pay for all of your attorney fees.

Once a debt is turned over (or bought up) by a St. Louis collection agency, it is necessary that they disclose certain rights to you. This information must be delivered to you within thirty (30) days. During this thirty day period, you have the right and opportunity to dispute the debt in question. For instance, if you do not think you owe the debt, or if you do not believe the debt accurately reflects that correct amount, or if you simply want to see a breakdown of the past due amount owed, you have every right to demand it from the collector.

Yes, there is. It is called the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA). It is a federal law that is designed to protect you against all the horrible things that a collection agency can (and will) do in its attempts to collect on a debt. But there is far more to it than that.

The FDCPA was set up as a way to combat the excessive and flagrant abuse of the system that debt collectors engage in. The statute lays out very clearly what is a violation of the law, and spells out what the remedies are when a violation occurs.

For instance, it is a violation of the FDCPA to leave improper messages. So if a collector leaves a voice message for you, but fails to identify itself as a collector (or that it is attempting to collect on a debt), then it has broken the law. If the collection agency representative threatens you with a lawsuit, or a wage garnishment, or anything that sounds threatening at all, then chances are it has violated your consumer rights. Or if the collector uses foul language, racial slurs, or speaks in a harsh tone to you, it has more than likely violated your rights.

No, you cannot. Domestic Support Obligations (things such as child support or spousal support) cannot be discharged in a St. Louis bankruptcy.

The reason why is pretty simple: such an obligation has been determined over years of public policy and law to be so important that it should never be relieved. So if you were to file a St. Louis Chapter 7 bankruptcy, your unsecured debts (like credit cards, medical bills, payday loans, etc.) will be knocked out for good. But things like child support (and most tax debt) will still remain an obligation.

Sometimes, the amount of back child support that you owe (in other words, the amount of child support that you have fallen behind on) can be the most significant debt you are handling. In this type of situation, it may be a better option to file a St. Louis Chapter 13 bankruptcy. A Missouri Chapter 13 is described as a repayment plan over the course of three to five years during which you pay back certain debts. These debts would include mortgage arrearage, tax debt, car loans, sometimes a portion of your unsecured debts, and back child support.

Yes, but only after they go through the normal procedural hoops the court requires. This is assuming they have permission from the original creditor to do so in the first place. But let me back up and explain a few things first.

When a debt is passed on to a collection agency, the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) begins to take effect. This federal law regulates what a debt collector can and cannot do in their attempts to collect on a debt. And if the collector violates this law, it should be held accountable.

So for instance, the law states that a collector cannot threaten you with a wage garnishment if it has no right to do so. A lot of collection agencies will of course make this threat, knowing full well that they are not in a lawful position to do so. Besides, even if they have permission from the original creditor, they would still have to go through the regular procedures in order to get the garnishment in place.