Filing for bankruptcy may be the biggest step you take to get back on top of your financial situation, but as with everything, you may run into a few issues afterward. The best approach is not to panic, but to be smart about what you do next. If you've found bankruptcy help in Milwaukee, chances [...]

It seems that the most likely candidates to build up an insurmountable amount of debt are college students. They often fall into bad spending habits and end up with credit card debt that gets out of hand quickly. That debt then follows them for years to come. You may be well out of your college [...]

Utility expenses can be incredibly daunting if you let them get out of hand. It can be easy to put off the utility payments to pay other bills that seem more pertinent, but when you are left with a massive balance and suddenly it looks like the company is about to shut you off, you [...]

Right now, people are facing some of the hardest times they have ever seen. The number of Wisconsin bank foreclosures have risen and the demand for relief has increased. Many attorneys out there realize this, and have expanded their practices to offer help with bankruptcy procedures. Be aware of inexperienced lawyers. The fact that someone [...]

It seems that factories are shutting down left and right these days and the ones that suffer the most are those that thought they had real job security with companies that they have been with for years. The unexpected seems to keep happening, and unfortunately, it has been happening to many different people out there. [...]

More often than not, people ask me, "Can I pick and choose which debts I want to list in my bankruptcy?" Unfortunately, the answer to this question is no. Every person that files a personal bankruptcy in Milwaukee must list all of their debt in their bankruptcy paperwork. Picking and choosing what to list is [...]

Many people seem to think that if they want to file a Chapter 7 bankruptcy, they will lose their home or their car in the process. This is not true. Unless my clients would like to walk away from their overwhelming mortgage, or if they cannot afford their car loan and would like to surrender [...]

The economy, though efforts are being made to turn it around, has taken a huge hit on all types of people. It could be argued that small businesses have suffered the most. Most attorneys avoid working with small businesses when it comes to bankruptcy because the process can be quite complicated and involved. In Wisconsin [...]

What's next for our troubled economy? Hard to say, but everyone hopes a rally is right around the corner. Unfortunately, the latest bankruptcy numbers indicate that the economy is not yet ready to be taken off life support. For example, national consumer bankruptcy filings increased by 9 percent in October. And so far this year, [...]

A lot about our society has changed over time, hasn't it? Take bankruptcy. Declaring bankruptcy is understandably a big decision for most people–but it seems to carry much less of a stigma than it once did. Given the difficult financial straits that many Milwaukee and other Wisconsin consumers find themselves in, an individual bankruptcy in [...]

The Federal Bureau of Investigation understandably has a full plate these days, particularly given its top priority–terrorism prevention. But along with its higher-profile law enforcement role, the FBI also has a unit that investigates white-collar crime, including bankruptcy fraud. Bankruptcy fraud usually goes hand in hand with serious crimes such as mortgage scams, identity theft, [...]

Wisconsin consumers and their counterparts around the country clearly have a ways to go before the economy rebounds. Under the latest available statistics, one out of every nine Wisconsin homeowners (11%) is either behind on their mortgage payments or already in foreclosure through the end of September. The good news, if we can call it [...]

Jim Doyle, the governor of Wisconsin, has signed legislation that makes it easier for consumers in the state to keep more of their property under the bankruptcy laws in Wisconsin. In November, the legislature passed the bill and sent it to the governor's desk, where it was signed on December 1. Among the bill's provisions [...]

An upcoming study from two professors affiliated with Harvard and Ohio University claims that personal bankruptcy has gravitated towards middle and upper middle class professionals rather than those in lower income brackets or others who simply throw money around irresponsibly. Given falling real estate values and layoffs, the middle class can no longer expect that [...]

All indications are that the recession has really slammed entrepreneurs and small business owners, those risk takers who are often considered the backbone of the economy. According to some estimates, small business is the primary driver in commercial bankruptcy filings today. If you own a troubled small business in Wisconsin, the law won't let you [...]