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Personal Injury Law Firm Burns & Jain Injury Blog

We have been practicing law in Boston and throughout Massachusetts since 1985. I have represented clients in District Courts, Superior Courts, the Appeals Court, Housing Court, Probate Courts, Federal Bankruptcy Court and the Federal District Court.

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Massachusetts Consumer Protection 93A Law Interest Rate Decision in Federal Court

The Massachusetts Consumer Protection law, Chapter 93A gives several powerful weapons to consumers against companies or individuals in trade or commerce.

Credit Card Default Rate High for Massachusetts Consumers

The number of consumers defaulting on credit card bills is increasing nationwide, and in Massachusetts. According to the official record keepers, the credit card default numbers are up, the rate is up, and the index is the highest since 2004. We are seeing new Massachusetts personal bankruptcy clients who just can’t pay the minimum payments at increased rates. We are also seeing, more and more, credit card companies willing to negotiate a settlement.

Massachusetts Debtors Can Beat Credit Card Companies In Court

Credit card companies regularly sue debtors when they stop paying the monthly minimums. When our clients owe the money, and have no chance of paying them back, we often recommend Massachusetts personal bankruptcy. Many times, however, that is not a good option: when our client’s income is too high, when our client’s assets are too significant, and, in a recent case we handled in West Roxbury District Court, when our client had filed bankruptcy within the past eight years. For these, and other, reasons, they don’t qualify for bankruptcy.

Massachusetts Lawyer Denied Bankruptcy Discharge

Personal bankruptcy law gives the debtor a “fresh start.” The bankruptcy petition will be denied, however, when the Trustee finds assets or a fraud in the Petition. In another case handed down this month by Federal Bankruptcy Judge Feeny, a lawyer attempting to discharge his debts had his bankruptcy case denied because he “concealed property of the [bankruptcy] estate, failed to maintain accurate, complete and reliable books and records, or made false oaths or accounts in connection with his case” such as bank accounts, investment accounts.

Social Security, Lies and Videotape – a Massachusetts Consumer Lawyer’s Perspective

This note is not intended as a primer on Social Security, but a brief essay, by a Boston bankruptcy attorney who regularly receives a host of questions from clients on where its going, where it came from, and what is does now. From its inception during the Great Depression in 1935, the Social Security Act was expected to “To provide for the general welfare by establishing a system of federal old-age benefits and by enabling the several states to make more adequate provision…” Essentially, the federal Act was intended to provide economic security for all; a matter too critical to be left to the several states and their various laws.

Experienced Massachusetts Personal Bankruptcy Attorney Reprimanded

The Federal Bankruptcy Court in Boston handed down a decision sharply criticizing an attorney with 28 years of experience for putting his two clients, an elderly widow and her disabled daughter, through duplicative bankruptcy proceedings and attempting to collect excessive fees for both. Judge Boroff stated that it had “particular dismay with respect to the type of conduct” of the attorney. Based on the Court’s decision, clients seeking personal bankruptcy attorneys in Boston need to be ever vigilant about the reasonableness of the recommendations by those attorneys.

Massachusetts Credit Score News for Consumers

Many of our personal bankruptcy clients, now free of their debts, are looking for homes in this market. A problem for home buyers these days is that the FICO score has come to matter more and more following the credit crisis. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac wont purchase a mortgage from the front line lenders if your credit score is below 620. This is notwithstanding the fact that many bankers will freely admit that the FICO score is not the best predictor of responsibility in consumer lending – home equity and debt to income ratio are far more significant. So is job stability and marketable assets.

Protecting Retirement Accounts in Massachusetts Personal Bankruptcy

Massachusetts consumers who file for personal bankruptcy protection are fortunate when it comes to protecting retirement accounts. This is because whether they use the bankruptcy state exemptions (generally used when protecting a home with equity) or the federal exemptions (more generous for other assets), retirement assets can be protected if the Bankruptcy Petition and Schedules are properly prepared and filed.

Boston Attorney Fails to Attend Personal Bankruptcy Creditor’s Meeting Penalized

When personal bankruptcy attorneys are retained, their responsibility includes informing the client of the law, drafting the Petition and Schedules, filing the documents with the Court, and attending the Creditor’s Meeting, or §341 Meeting. In a recent case handed down by the United States Bankruptcy Court, a Boston attorney failed to appear at the Creditor’s Meeting for five different clients.

Massachusetts Personal Bankruptcy Filings Up for First Half of 2010

The numbers for the first half of the year are in and our Massachusetts personal bankruptcy clients will understand: chapter 7 personal bankruptcies are up 17.6% over that period. Chapter 13 reorganizations are up 62%! While these numbers are grim, the good news is that bankruptcies tend to be a lagging economic indicator; they rise after a great fall in income and following the worst part of recessions.