Orlando Bankruptcy Blog

Until now, an Orlando chapter 7 bankruptcy has not done much to help a homeowner with an unsecured, or “underwater,” second mortgage on their property.  (These mortgages are also commonly known as HELOCS, or Home Equity Lines of Credit.)  In an Orlando chapter 7 bankruptcy, the courts have refused to remove a second mortgage lien, even though the [...]

  A Chapter 13 and second mortgage lien can be a great combintation.  If the balance of the first mortgage is higher than the fair market value of the home, the homeowner can “strip” the second mortgage lien.  This means that after the homeowner successfully completes a chapter 13 bankruptcy plan, the second mortgage lien will [...]

Orlando residents who are considering filing chapter 7 bankruptcy should know the rules that apply to their financial transactions.  Filing chapter 7 bankruptcy is based on a very simple agreement with the Orlando bankruptcy court: you will receive an almost immediate discharge of all your debts, in exchange for your agreement to surrender to the court [...]

Are you an Orlando homeowner in foreclosure? Are you trying to short sale your home? Then you should hire an attorney to help you defend the foreclosure.   Here are the reasons why: REASON 1:  You are more likely to get a better short sale deal if you are defending the foreclosure with an attorney.  This is [...]

Orlando homeowners trying to fight and defend foreclosure without a foreclosure defense attorney should know that it can be harmful to your financial health.  A new program requires banks and servicing agents that foreclosed on Orlando homeowners to undergo audits to determine if the homeowner suffered financial harm as a result of the foreclosure process.  This [...]

Knowing how to fight foreclosure requires an in depth understanding of the Florida Rules of Civil Procedure.  A mortgage foreclosure is a type of civil action, and civil lawsuits are governed by these rules.   The rules require that a homeowner who decides to fight foreclosure must file a written response to the lawsuit within twenty days [...]

Foreclosure defense attorneys know that Orlando homeowners in foreclosure face a deficiency judgment that can plague their finances for up to twenty years.  Many homeowners who face foreclosure do not yet feel ready to consult with a foreclosure defense attorney.  These homeowners may suffer unnecessarily from the “underwater home” crisis that is a plague to the Orlando home-owning [...]

Hiring an Orlando mortgage foreclosure defense attorney may be the smartest decision some Orlando homeowners make this year.  Last week, the Orlando Sentinel reported that mortgage foreclosure filings increased in September by a whopping 42%, after banks flooded the courts with an additional 3,209 mortgage foreclosure lawsuits.  The only good news to this statistic is that the [...]

The world breaks everyone, and afterward, some are strong at the broken places. Ernest Hemingway, Farewell to Arms, 1929

A bomb was dropped today on a roomful of Orlando bankruptcy lawyers who were attending the Central Florida Bankruptcy Law Association’s annual seminar.  The newsflash deals with what mortgage companies are doing to snatch the  homes of families who are seeking debt relief in chapter 7 bankruptcy court.  It all has to do with the [...]