North Carolina Bankruptcy Chapter 7, 13 (919)627-7748

Judgments

You can easily check your judgments by going to your county court house and asking a clerk where the computer is to look up judgments on people (you don't need to say you are looking them up on yourself, it is none of their business). In North Carolina, you can look up judgments STATE-WIDE at any county court house. Make sure you print out any information you find and send it in with your worksheet.

It is IMPORTANT that you respond to all judgments. Whether you know about it or not, a judgment puts a lien on your real property (real estate) in the County it is entered. To make matters worse, the judgment collects interest and often includes attorney fees.

If you have equity in the property the creditor may take your property and sell it at an auction. Not a happy way to move out of your home!

To compound things, a creditor can also come after your bank account and personal property, tools , equipment etc. To do that you first must be served notice. You must list your assets to determine if they are "exempt" or not (much like a bankruptcy). Anything that is worth more than the State exemptions, they can take. They can take nearly everything except pensions if you do not respond! - It is IMPORTANT we know about this ASAP - if it happens!

A judgment will ruin your credit and stay on your credit report for 10 years, BUT it is renewable, so it will likely stay on forever.

A judgment can also affect a security clearance!

Thankfully, many judgments can be discharged in a bankruptcy! We can look for judgments against you, and I recommend it. As of '05 we are charging $25 to look in one state, and $25 per judgment to pull the information to bankrupt it.

Liens

You must file a motion to avoid a lien before the bankruptcy is final and discharged or the lien will remain. If the bankruptcy is final, you will have additional Court costs and Attorney fees to re-file or reopen your case to avoid any possible liens. If you file a motion to avoid a real estate lien, you will need to have an appraisal of the property done.

A bankruptcy will stop garnishments of bank accounts and wages. But, if you wait so long that a wage attachment takes money out of your check, it is tough or impossible to get the money back.

Judicial Liens

A Chapter 7 can get rid of judicial liens where you have been sued and the Creditor has attached your home, but it generally does not get rid of consensual liens unless they are preferential transfers where someone was given a lien in exchange for less than what it was worth just before you filed bankruptcy.

Property may be valued by the Debtor in a bankruptcy at its appraised, taxed, PVA, or liquidation value (which is what property would bring at an auction). Normally you should value property at auction, liquidation, or wholesale value. You can redeem or buy back personal property from a lien holder, at wholesale value, by redeeming it. You can't redeem real property (homes). For redemption purposes, cars and other personal property are appraised at liquidation (auction) value under section 722 of the code. Redemption allows you to get your property free and clear by filing a Chapter 7 bankruptcy and paying the bank the liquidation value or auction value of the item.

If you have been sued, you may have judicial liens on your real property that we can avoid. We can get rid of these judicial liens if and only if you tell us about them: If you do not tell us about them, we will not be able to avoid them. If we do not get rid of them, you will still have these liens on your home after you have filed your bankruptcy. If you choose to take this risk, you may be forced to pay for the judicial lien in order to keep your property. If you wish to check for these judicial liens on your property, you may have a title check done through a title company. You should do a title check if you have any reason to believe you may have a judgment against you and you own real property that may have a judicial lien on it.

We do charge small fees if you need to file motions or proceedings to redeem property or to avoid liens on real property (such motions are not included in the fees charged by us in filing an uncontested bankruptcy). Removing judicial liens requires an additional motion and involves more legal work than a standard uncontested bankruptcy. There are no Court costs for this motion. A bankruptcy can get rid of a judicial lien (such as a lien resulting from a lawsuit or a tax lien), but you must ask us to remove any lien before the bankruptcy is discharged and give us a copy of any such lien, your deed, and an appraisal. (NOTE: If you need to file a separate adversary proceeding to recover garnished wages or attached bank accounts, we charge 33% of what we recover. On motions to redeem judicial liens we charge $350 for the motion to remove a judicial lien. These cases are separate lawsuits from your bankruptcy.).

Often finance companies take out liens on your furniture. When a finance company takes out a loan and secures it with your household goods (furniture and personal items) it is called a non purchase money security interest. You can avoid these NPMSI liens under the bankruptcy code if you have not taken out the loan within 90 days of filing bankruptcy or if you have not gotten additional funds from the finance company or refinanced the household goods loan within 90 days of filing bankruptcy. If you have refinanced these goods, you may want to wait a few days. Household good liens should be avoided in your bankruptcy. But you have to tell us about it for us to know about it and to avoid the lien. Even if you do not file a motion to avoid a household goods lien, it is rare and almost unheard of that a company will repossess household goods if you tell them they must get a court order first. Of course, they will repossess household goods if you voluntarily give them to them, but if they have to pay attorney fees and court costs to get the furniture they will almost always give up and let you keep it.

Consensual Liens

A bankruptcy does not normally get rid of consensual liens (mortgages and car title loans where you agreed to give someone a lien), but a consensual lien on a car or mobile home can be removed by redeeming the property. Also, in a Chapter 13 you can strip away a second mortgage, but there must be no equity in the home to which the second mortgage can attach. In other words, if the home is worth less than the first mortgage then you can destroy the second mortgage in a Chapter 13. The reason that a household goods lien can be avoided in Bankruptcy court is because it is an illegal and unfair trade practice that was outlawed by the government over 20 years ago, but finance companies still use it as a tactic to scare people into paying. See also FTC regulation 16 849 CFR ch 1 § 444

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> Why are we so much less expensive?

We are a family business. Sheree is the attorney and I am her paralegal (and husband!). We have been doing debtor bankruptcies for nearly 10 years now, and have perfected the way to save you money (along with earning a coveted A+ rating with BBB ®!).

First, with most businesses a HUGE amount of money is spent on advertising. Their clients (that could have been you!) pay for it by paying higher fees. Cameron Bankruptcy Law does not pay for advertising other than the $25/month for this website. Most of our clients are referrals from past clients and other attorneys, and the rest find us on the web.

Second, Cameron Bankruptcy Law is a Husband/Wife Team. We work out of our home. This means we don’t have to raise our fees for the massive overhead a separate office brings. It also means we are much more accessible - often even in the evening and on weekends. Typically, we meet people at a local business, and sometimes in their homes, making things relaxed and friendly - We have been doing this for nearly 10 years!

Third, We can do most things via email. You only NEED to meet face-to-face with us once before filing (although we find most clients want to meet more often). You don’t have to take off valuable time from work to wait in a bankruptcy attorney’s office!

We know things are tight, so we have a “Pay-as-You-Can” Plan. We know that even with our lower Chapter 7 prices, most people need some time to come up with the $999. Our first consultation is free, and as long as you pay SOMETHING each month, that’s ok! We will start working with you when you have paid $300 so you can get some immediate relief.

We do get a lot of referrals, and would appreciate yours. Unfortunately, we cannot compensate you for referring us; it’s against the law. We will thank you and thank you in advance!