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Florida law provides a certain exemption for annuities. Florida Statute section 222.14 provides that "the proceeds of annuity contracts issued to citizens or residents of the state,  upon whatever form, shall not in any case be liable to attachment, garnishment ... or legal process in favor of any creditor ... of the person who is the beneficiary of such annuity contract, unless the  ... annuity contract was effected for the benefit of such creditor. One requirement is that the annuity must be issued to a "citizen" or "resident" of Florida. Sometimes [...]

Chapter 13 bankruptcy is often used to save a home or investment property from foreclosure. Generally upon the filing of a chapter 13 case, foreclosure cases are generally stopped and a person is given the opportunity to propose a chapter 13 plan to save their home from foreclosure. Reinstate Mortgage Under a chapter 13 plan, you may propose to catch up their mortgage payments over a period of up to 60 months.  For example, if a person is behind $10,000 in payments and their [...]

On August 25, 2020, the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals issued its decision in the case of Whaley vs. Guillen (In re: Guillen), No. 17-13899 (11th Cir. 2020) in which the court dealt with an important issue with regard to the requirement to modify a chapter 13 plan. Section 1329 of the Bankruptcy Code provides for certain requirements to modify an already confirmed chapter 13 plan. The 11th Circuit rejected the chapter 13 trustee's argument that the debtor need show a change in circumstances [...]

Credit reports should be updated by the creditors and credit reporting agencies after a bankruptcy filing or discharge to reflect that debts have been discharged. Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act. creditors and credit reporting agencies are required to report accurate and complete information. How Long on My Credit Report ? In general, the filing of a bankruptcy case may be reported on a credit report for up to 10 years from the date the case is filed. The websites of Experian and TransUnion [...]

It is generally possible to qualify for an FHA (Federal Housing Agency) mortgage loan after a period of time after the filing of a Chapter 13 or Chapter 7 bankruptcy.  FHA mortgages are offered by individual lenders and insured by the FHA. Chapter 13 Bankruptcy  The FHA handbook states that a FHA mortgage loan may be approve after 1 year of payments under a Chapter 13 plan. The Chapter 13 plan payment performance must have been "satisfactory" and all required payments must "have been [...]

Last week, the President signed into law the "Cares Act" which provides broad relief for individuals and businesses affected by the present situation. One of the sections of the Cares Act made a change for a period of time to the new Subchapter V provisions (the Small Business Reorganization act) that was just signed into law in February, 2020. Subchapter V provides for a simplified procedure for small businesses to reorganize their affairs under a streamline version of Chapter 11. The Cares Act broadened [...]

The Bankruptcy Code provides for personal bankruptcy relief under chapters 7 and 13. Chapter 7  Chapter 7 provides in general for the discharge of debt together with the liquidation of non-exempt property by the Chapter 7 trustee. Chapter 7 is usually used by those with lower income and little or no non-exempt property. Chapter 13  Chapter 13 is usually used by those with higher income or substantial non-exempt property. It is also used by those who need to reorganize their secured debt, such as [...]

Article X, Section 4 of the Florida Constitution provides generally for the exemption of a Florida homestead. Courts generally hold that once a property is established as a homestead, it does not lose that status until it is "abandoned." Various types of conduct may constitute "abandonment."  Generally, a homestead is considered abandoned when it is no longer a bona fide home and place of permanent residence. The main consideration in the determination of whether a homestead has been abandoned is the owner's subjective "intent." The homeowner's [...]