Transcript: Hello, my name is Jeff Kelly. I’m a bankruptcy attorney from Rome, Georgia. I’ve been practicing consumer bankruptcy for approximately 14 years. I’ve got office located. My main office is located in Rome, Georgia. I’ve got satellite offices located in Dalton, Cartersville in Dallas, Georgia as well. What I’d like to do in this podcast is talk about chapter 13. What is it? And how could it possibly help you? Many people like to refer to chapter 13 bankruptcy as the catch your breath provision of the code is designed for people who have money to pay back their creditors but who just can’t do it all tomorrow, like the creditors are demanding when creditors are making those harassing phone calls, threatening letters, Chapter 13 stops all that 1013 gives you time to catch your breath while you while you pay your creditors. Chapter 13 can stop foreclosures, it can stop garnishments, lawsuits, and repossessions of your car. You do not need the permission of your creditors to obtain chapter 13 bankruptcy relief. Okay. Now the first step you need to do if you’re thinking about meeting with the bank attorneys make a list of all your debts. Every debt you have in the world, a lot of people ask, Well, can I pick this one? Can I leave this one out? Now ...
Transcript: Hello, this is Jeff Kelly and Today is November 21 2019. And today I would like to talk about the topic of the bankruptcy means test. So what is the Means Test? Some people call it the median income test. Basically, this was like the main driver of when the bankruptcy laws were reformed way back in October 2005. I cannot believe it’s been that long ago, it seems like yesterday to me, but I remember that day. And the purpose was that, you know, Congress reformed the bankruptcy laws so that basically if you make more money than an average family of your size, then they don’t want you to be allowed to wipe out all of your debts in a chapter 7. They want you to file chapter 13. Now the philosophy is That there is closer scrutiny in a 13 as opposed to a chapter 7. I don’t know that’s necessarily true. I have found the chapter seven trustees to be just as anal and nitpicky as chapter 13 trustees. I think they’re they both guard the gate very well. You’re not going to slide anything past a 13 trustee or a chapter 7 trustee. But that was a philosophy is there is this myth out there that all these people were making great incomes and filing chapter 7 when they shouldn’t have been and the poor old credit card companies that are ripping off America by charging 30% interest or more, it was just unfair to them. So they created this thing called the median income test. Now, what I ...
Transcript: Intro Speaker: It’s time for KellyCanHelp hosted by Jeff Kelly, Attorney at Law with the law office of Jeffrey B. Kelly. And now here’s Jeff Kelly. Jeff Kelly: Okay, ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the show today. Today’s guest is Mr. Don Golden. He is a bankruptcy attorney from Tampa, Florida. And he’s got a company called Fresh Start for Life. And it’s something that we actually offer to all of my clients. And so I am looking forward to talking here with Don and hearing more about fresh start for life. Don, welcome to the show. Don Golden: Thanks for having me, Jeff. Jeff Kelly: You’re welcome. So tell us a little about yourself. How long have you lived in Tampa? Don Golden: So I moved here in 1997. I moved here right after I graduated from law school. So it’s been 23 years I’ve lived here Jeff Kelly: 23 years you’ve been in practice? Don Golden: No. Well, yeah. So I’ve been a practice in 1998. I had a little family emergency that prevented me from taking the bar exam. My dad died like two weeks before the bar exam in July. And I’m from Maine originally. So I had to go back up north and take care of some business and things. So I delayed taking the bar exam until February. So I didn’t actually start practicing law until February of 1998. That will actually April when I got my license. Jeff Kelly: Okay. And then throughout your career, you’ve specialized in bankruptcy. Don Golden: I have actually, except my first year I focused on Social Security Disability work. But after ...
