Foreclosure Emergency
My Home is Scheduled to be Sold on the Courthouse Steps Next Week. Is there Anything I Can Do to Stop the Foreclosure?
If you are truly facing a foreclosure emergency – and your house may be sold on the courthouse steps in a matter of days, we strongly recommend that you seek legal help rather than rely on promises of a “deal” from your mortgage company or help from a “foreclosure prevention” company that you hear about on the radio or on TV. Foreclosure emergencies call for the services of a law firm that has the experience and know how to deal with this threat to your home.
Obviously the sooner you can contact us to discuss your possible Chapter 13 the better. You can call us at 770-488-9300.
If you are facing a foreclosure sale next week, you do not have much time to act. Assuming that you do not have the funds to pay off your mortgage, your only real option to stop the foreclosure involves filing a Chapter 13 bankruptcy reorganization.
Chapter 13 stops foreclosures by creating an “automatic stay” as to all collection actions by creditors, including foreclosures, repossessions and wage garnishments. The automatic stay is the core protection of bankruptcy and judges will usually take a firm stand to protect the integrity of the bankruptcy stay.
Chapter 13 = Automatic & Immediate Stop to Foreclosure Process
The automatic bankruptcy stay goes into effect the minute you file your Chapter 13 case – even if that filing is 10 minutes prior to the foreclosure sale and the foreclosing mortgage company is not aware that you have filed. All lenders are expected to abide by the say – if they take adverse action not knowing that you have sought bankruptcy protection, your judge will allow them a few days to “undo” whatever it is they have done – if the creditor does not take remedial action quickly, it can be held liable for damages.
Although the automatic stay offers very strong protection, it does have some limits – for example if you have previously filed a Chapter 13 case, the stay will only go into force for 30 days and you will have to appear before the judge to argue for an extension. If you have filed two or more cases within the past year, the automatic stay will not go into effect at all and your Chapter 13 filing will not stop a foreclosure. Your Clark & Washington lawyer can evaluate your debt situation and advise you if there are any automatic stay issues present.
You must also have a credit counseling certificate before you can file a Chapter 13 case. You can read more about the credit counseling requirement by clicking on the link. You should assume that it may take a one to three days to obtain a credit counseling certificate, so if you are dealing with a short time frame, you should immediately start the process of obtaining a credit counseling certificate. Click on the link to learn more about the credit counseling requirement.
Call Clark & Washington for Your Foreclosure Emergency
Because bankruptcy representation is all the we do here at Clark & Washington, we are uniquely positioned to help clients facing foreclosure emergencies. Our firm files over 500 bankruptcy cases each and every month and we have earned our reputation as Georgia’s largest filer of personal bankruptcy cases. We accept cases that other lawyers will not handle and many of our Atlanta area colleagues refer us “last minute” Chapter 13 cases.