Bankruptcy Law in Virginia
Questions about filing bankruptcy? You’ve come to the right place!
Welcome to my website. I’m Virginia bankruptcy lawyer Robert Weed. I have a lot of information here. More than you’ll find lots of places on the internet.
You’ve taken a big step. You have decided to learn more about bankruptcy. I want to meet you half way. I want to meet you with plenty of information–enough for you to decide if we should talk in person. Spend as much time here as you want–learning about the idea behind bankruptcy. Why people file bankruptcy and what it does.
A Personal Welcome
Some of this will probably what you already know. Some maybe different than what “Everybody says.”
When we get together in person, I want to spend our hour together talking about your big question.
“What will bankruptcy do for me?”
To answer that question in one hour, I’ll need to do my homework. I’ll need to know a lot about you. And you’ll probably want to know a lot about me.
When we meet, I want to make sure that bankruptcy is the best thing for you–and if we decide it is, we want to be sure we are doing it in the best way for you.
Over two million people will file bankruptcy this year. That’s about one out of every hundred American adults in just one year.
If this keeps up, nearly half the people in the country will file bankruptcy at some point in their lives.
Eleven thousand bankruptcies were filed in 2010 here in Northern Virginia.
What does that tell you? A lot of people are hurting. And, for most people, bankruptcy works.
The bankruptcy law, first passed in 1898, is still there. In 2005, changes made the paperwork harder and the regulations trickier, but most people can still get the debt relief they need. Bankruptcy law in Virginia still works.
So what’s the big deal?
Under the 2005 bankruptcy law, everybody is assigned a budget–for food, clothes, transportation–and based on that the court decides if you should have money left over to pay your debts.
If that budget shows you should have more than $180.00 available to pay your credit card bills, the law tries to make you keep paying.
Some of the numbers in that assigned budget are fair, some are ridiculous.
Here’s the most ridiculous. People in Northern Virginia are allowed $270 per month to cover car expenses–gasoline, insurance, car repairs, maintenance, tires, tolls, everything. (That number was calculated when gasoline was close to $2.00 a gallon.)
For people with long commutes (and Prince William County, Virginia, has the longest average commute of anywhere in the country, outside of New York City), $270 just might cover $4.00 a gallon gas–leaving nothing at all for tires, maintenance, repairs, and insurance.
Even so, we can usually get your budget to work, and get your bankruptcy approved.
On some things, the assigned budget is easy on some people. (The bank lobbyists who wrote the new law for Congress weren’t exactly rocket-scientists; they didn’t not much about bankruptcy law, and they didn’t know–or care–about what hard working people do to survive.)
So some breaks are built into the law; and with good planning, we can usually set you up to take advantages of the breaks, and offset the areas where the law is unfair.
This means we will do everything legally allowed to do to arrange your situation and present it to the court, so that you can get approved for a Chapter 7 wipe-out-your-debts bankruptcy. (Assuming, which is true for most people, that Chapter 7 is best for you.)
If you really can’t pay your bills, we can usually show–even under the new law–that you really can’t pay your bills.
And if you end up in Chapter 13, we’ll fight to hold down your repayment to the legal minimum, so that at least you end up with a lot more breathing room than you have now.
More problems with the 2005 law.
The 2005 Bankruptcy Law doubled the size of the bankruptcy code; it did a lot more than than just assign you a budget.
Your paperwork is a lot harder. Under the old law there was a presumption–a legal assumption–that you were eligible to file a Chapter 7 get-out-of-debt bankruptcy. Now you have to prove it.
There are new rinky-dink requirements–hoops you have to jump through: taking two classes on the internet, saving your pay stubs for six months, showing the court your social security card, tax forms and bank statements.
The people behind the new bankruptcy law sold Congress on the idea that all these requirements and paperwork would make the system more honest. The result–which is what the bank lobbyists really wanted–is that people who are distracted and worried sick–like you, right now–have all this additional burden to face. They want you to break down, give up, make mistakes that they can use to beat you with.
The lobbyists wrote the 2005 bankruptcy law with a goal of making it so complicated that you are bound to fail. My job is to work with you so closely that you have to succeed.
Another thing: the enforcement now is very different. Investigators from the Justice Department now check behind you, running a computer search, looking at your bank statements and tax forms, trying to catch you.
Documents, details, and discipline. To get through all this, you need documents, details and discipline. They can be in short supply when you are panicked about money. We’ll do our best to help you with clear explanations of what you need to do and how we are working together.
One last thing. The 2005 bankruptcy law is especially tough on people with big families; the government is likely to claim that people with three or four children are spending too much on food and clothes and rent, when all they are trying to do is take care of the kids. That’s especially true here in Northern Virginia where nothing is cheap. This is one of the things that makes me the maddest about the new law.
What I want to know is, will it work for me?
I’ve talked to more than twenty thousand people in Northern Virginia about bankruptcy law and their financial situation. No two have been alike. That applies to you, too. If you think we need to talk, I can probably help you. But I need to know a whole lot about you and your situation to be sure that the help I give you is the best you can get. And is the right help for you.
When can we talk?
Under the old law, I offered a free consultation to anybody who wanted to talk to me. I can’t do that any more. The new law is is just too tricky.
There are too many different strategies to get where we need to go; and when you ask me a question, you probably want some answer other than “maybe.”
So, now I still offer you an hour free consultation but first we have to do our homework. You have to come in with the information I need to be able to really answer your questions.
Only then can we work up our best plan to get you from where you are, to where you need to go.
We need a lot of information to give you the right answers
Before you see me, we’ll get you forms to fill out and bring in, so we have all the information we need to help you. (You can download those forms at the Consultation tab of this website.)
Based on our experience with ten thousand people under the old law and two thousand under the new, our forms are designed to organize the information we need to get you your new start.
Then, you have an hour long (free) orientation meeting with one of my experienced bankruptcy paralegals. We want to make sure you have complete information to point you in the right direction.
After you meet with my paralegal, we do about an hour’s worth of our work. We type your income and budget into our computer and run a computer analysis of your information. Do we have what we need? Can we get you the fresh start you need?
Now we’ll set up our hour-long bankruptcy lawyer consultation. We’ll take the time to fully understand what’s going on in your life, and the best way to use bankruptcy law in Virginia to help you.
If you bring everything I need, then at that free consultation, We will:
- Answer all your questions
- Decide if bankruptcy is right for you
- Determine your eligibility
- Work out our best strategy to prove your eligibility
- Plan your bankruptcy in a way that best fits your situation and goals
- Work out a fee and payment schedule
- Agree, at that point, to take your case.
At the end of our hour consultation, most people leave with a plan to get a new start in life and a clear field for the future. I can see smiles in place of tension on people’s faces, and people say things like, “you’ve already given me hope.”
Ready to Get Started?
Please check the Consultation Section on the menu for the information you will need to gather and to learn more about the process. Then call for an appointment at one of my Northern Virginia bankruptcy law offices.
- Alexandria 703-518-8811
- Manassas 703-335-7793
- Stafford 540-771-5582
- Sterling 703-421-7111
- Woodbridge 703-680-5688
PS. The new law also requires me to tell you that I am a “debt relief agency.” I help people file bankruptcy in Virginia.
One more thing: Click on the blue circle. Customer Lobby asks my bankruptcy clients to review my service. About a dozen people a month take the time to post their comments, good and bad.
These independent reviews keep me and my people on our toes–and let you know what real people really think about filing for bankruptcy with me.
P.S. Maybe I should also mention that locally I’m a member of the Better Business Bureau. Nationally, I’m an active member (and twice an award winner) with the National Association of Consumer Bankruptcy Attorneys. I’m also a member of the American Bankruptcy Institute. And the National Association of Consumer Advocates.
P.P.S. The image below says “Read Client Reviews.” It links to reviews by hundreds of people across Northern Virginia. Thinking about bankruptcy can be stressful–no doubt. But, when you read what people say in their own words, you can see the smiles.
