Skelton Law Firm

My consultations are probably a little bit different than most attorneys. I offer a free one-hour consultation. I recommend that you bring as much information on your paycheck stubs and what you owe and your monthly budget. We'll go over that when you call in and we'll figure out what you need to bring with you.

We sit down and we talk about what the problem is and what your goals are for filing bankruptcy and then we go through your income and your expenses. We go over what you owe...

Basically, in a chapter seven bankruptcy, the day after you file bankruptcy it goes back to that "18 Again." You can start building credit as soon as possible. You will absolutely get credit card offers in the mail the same week that you're going to your court date with me. I typically recommend that you be responsible.

If you want to start rebuilding slowly, you do things like get a gas card and pay it off every month. We also enroll all of our chapter seven clients in a program...

A lot of people ask if bankruptcy will fix my credit (that's my favorite question). Bankruptcy doesn't fix your credit per se, but it does give you that fresh start because it stops collections. I used to call it the "18 Again Effect." Your credit starts back where it is when you file bankruptcy (like you're 18 again), but you are able to rebuild it going forward.

So the creditors that you owed before can't continue to report that negative collection on there anymore. So it starts...

"I went to law school for not necessarily the noblest of reasons at first. I wanted to make sure that I would not be poor—that I wouldn't have to depend on anyone else as far as making money—that I could always have an education and go. It went back to the way I was raised.

I had a stay at home mom and my mom didn't necessarily have the confidence to do much else besides be a mom. And when my dad got sick they recognized that she didn't have a driver's license. She didn't know how...

You can. A lot of people call me asking that question and sometimes they want to get rid of their car, and that is possible. It can definitely get included in the bankruptcy. If you're current on your car in a chapter seven, it is safe. We do obviously have to make sure that you don't have too much equity in your car. Equity is when your car is worth $10,000, for example, and you only owe $2,000 on it. In this hypothetical scenario, you would have $8,000 of equity in it. There are...

That's always a complicated question. There are ways that we can work it out so that you can do a no money down bankruptcy. I typically try not to do them that way. The number one question is how much does bankruptcy cost? Most people ask that and it's important—we know how much a shirt costs when we go into a store. We want to know how much it costs to file a bankruptcy.

Anybody can look up the filing fees. Chapter 7 bankruptcy is $335 and a chapter 13 is $310. That's how much the...

Bankruptcy can stop a garnishment. A lot of times in Washington you will get a judgment against you and you won't even realize it. They do not have to take you to court per se. They send you documents that start the lawsuit process and you might not recognize that you've just been sued.

If you don't respond to that, they take out what's called a default judgment against you and they start a garnishment process where they go into your employer and they show this judgment and they say,...

Chapter seven is what most people think of is bankruptcy; when you list your debts, credit card debts, medical bills, collections, that type of thing—and you ask the government to forgive them and to erase them from your credit. It does not get rid of most taxes or student loans, but it will get rid of all of your other unsecured debt (things that you owe).

Typically, how you qualify for that is based on your income and on what you own. There are assets that we can protect with what...

Exemptions:  When you file for bankruptcy, you are allowed to protect a certain amount of “stuff” from liquidation under a Chapter 7 bankruptcy, or from being counted as an asset available to pay back creditors in a Chapter 13 bankruptcy.  Washington allows you to choose from either the federal or state exemptions.  Always speak with an attorney regarding the best choice for claiming exemptions in a bankruptcy.

Chapter 12: Family Farmer or Fisherman. This section of the Code allows family farmers and fishermen to enter into a repayment plan similar to a Chapter 13 Wage Earner Plan.