Foreclosure Defense
Serving Families Throughout Mobile
Mobile Foreclosure Defense Attorney
Helping Our Clients Keep Their Homes
When it comes to foreclosure, Alabama’s rate is ranked around 20th in the U.S. with nearly one in every 9,500 homes going into foreclosure. If you missed a mortgage payment, you risk losing your home and becoming a statistic. That said, you shouldn’t face foreclosure without a fight. By hiring experienced legal counsel, you can defend your home from this process.
Ryan Legal Services, Inc can offer the legal services you need to protect your home from foreclosure. With nearly 25 years of experience, our attorney has developed client-focused solutions that have helped many fend off foreclosure. Many were able to improve their financial situation and keep their homes. If your bank has notified you that you’re at risk of foreclosure or that it intends to file an action against you, you need a foreclosure defense attorney in Mobile like ours immediately.
The foreclosure process begins as soon as you miss a mortgage payment. Once that happens, your lender gains the right to foreclose on your home for as long as you owe this debt. In most situations, your lender will send at least one warning before formally notifying you that it intends to foreclose.
It’s important to act as soon as possible because lenders can foreclose within 30 days of their notice. If you allow this process to occur unchallenged, you could lose your home in a foreclosure sale and remain liable for the unpaid balance on your mortgage (known as a deficiency balance).
Remember: You can’t get your home back after a foreclosure sale, so it’s vital to discuss your situation with a foreclosure defense lawyer in Mobile as soon as possible. We can also walk you through what happens during foreclosure and what your next steps should be.
Can You Stop Foreclosure Once It Starts?
You might think there’s nothing you can do to stop foreclosure, but this is incorrect. Foreclosure – and all collection actions your creditors may have against you – can freeze when you file for Chapter 7 or Chapter 13 bankruptcy.
As soon as you file for bankruptcy, the court will order an automatic stay against collection actions. This means that your creditors can’t leverage legal recourse to collect payment until your bankruptcy case settles. The automatic stay can prevent foreclosure if your lender has yet to file and it can also stop foreclosure in its tracks if it's already underway.
If My House is Foreclosed Do I Still Owe the Bank?
After receiving a foreclosure letter you still have several options if you act quickly. Most lenders provide a 4 week notice period in which you can take steps to stop the foreclosure by doing any of the following:
Filing for Bankruptcy - If you are unable to make your payments your best option may be to file for bankruptcy. By filing for bankruptcy you may be able to get an automatic stay which temporarily prevents your lender from foreclosing on your home.
Can You Get Your House Back After Foreclosure?
Once your house has been sold, there isn’t much you can do to get it back without redeeming the property by paying the full amount to purchase the home back from your lenders. Alabama law allows homeowners up to 1 year after their foreclosure to redeem their home (Alabama Code Title 6. Civil Practice § 6-5-248). However, if you fail to move out of the home within 10 days after the lender gives you a written demand for possession, you will lose your right to redeem the home.
How Can I Keep My Home?
The automatic stay only persists for as long as your bankruptcy case is ongoing, which may only be as long as you need to plan a move to somewhere else. If you don’t want to lose your home, though, you can fight to keep it by filing for Chapter 13 bankruptcy.
While Chapter 7 can eliminate certain unsecured debts outright, Chapter 13 allows debtors to consolidate and reorganize their debt – including secured debt like mortgage arrears – and pay it off within three to five years. This makes Chapter 13 a powerful tool you can use to save your home if your debt is primarily mortgage debt.
At Ryan Legal Services, Inc, we provide our clients with the legal support necessary to defend their homes from foreclosure. We know that nothing is more important to you than protecting your home, which is why our foreclosure defense attorney in Mobile is committed to helping you build a strategy that can work for you.
Have questions? We are here to help. Still have questions or can't find the answer you need? Give us a call at 251-241-5234 today!
What are Exemptions?
Most of the exemptions which will apply in a Chapter 7 case are found under Alabama state law. States are all given the option by Congress to decide whether to operate under their own exemption statutes, or under the exemption statutes set out under Title 11 of the U.S. Code ( the “Bankruptcy Code”). There are additional statutes ( “laws”) in both the United States Code and under the Alabama Code.
Whenever there is a statute that provides additional protection for your property over and above the standard list of exemptions, you can claim these exemptions to further protect your property. Failure to timely claim an exemptions can have the effect of a waiver of that exemption. This means it is highly important to provide your lawyer ( “attorney”) with all of the information he or she requests from you concerning your property. The panel trustee is only able to seize and liquidate property to pay creditors which is not subject to a legal exemption under Alabama OR federal law.
In Chapter 13 bankruptcy cases, the Debtor keeps all property. Exemptions are still important to identify and claim in your case, however. Failure to claim all of your exemptions in a Chapter 13 case can result in you being required to pay your creditors more than you would otherwise owe them if all exemptions were claimed.
At Ryan Legal Services, Inc., we are highly knowledgeable and keep up to date with respect to Chapter 7 and Chapter 13 bankruptcy exemptions. We represent individual clients in Baldwin, Mobile and Washington Counties.
Kevin Ryan is an experienced bankruptcy lawyer who will be there for you. Call us to set up a free telephone or office consultation. Kevin Ryan is admitted to practice before the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Alabama. http://www.alsb.uscourts.gov
What is a Reaffirmation Agreement?
You may decide that you would like to keep your relationship with certain creditors in a Chapter 7 case. The procedure to maintain certain debts post-bankruptcy is called Reaffirmation. Reaffirmation is accomplished by entering into a written agreement with the creditor using one of a number of Official Bankruptcy Forms. Usually, the debtor and creditor simply re-establish the original terms of the loan. In some cases, the creditor may agree to reduce an interest rate, or modify the original contract terms as an incentive for the debtor to reaffirm the debt.
Reaffirmation of a long term mortgage loan or an auto loan may be something a debtor would want to consider in the context of filing a Chapter 7 bankruptcy case. The terms of the agreement, and whether the agreement would be in the client's best interest is something that a competent lawyer will discuss with a client. Reaffirmation of a mortgage or auto loan will cause the future payments to be reported to the major credit bureaus ( Trans Union, Experian and Equifax). Timely payments will help raise the debtor's credit score after the bankruptcy discharge order is issued in the Chapter 7 bankruptcy case.
A debtor will generally have only forty-five (45) days after the conclusion of the Meeting of Creditors to file the Reaffirmation Agreement. The debtor is required to file Official Bankruptcy Form 8 ( Statement of Intent) with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court that identifies the debtor's intent with respect to secured debts like auto and car loans. A debtor is never required to reaffirm any debt in a Chapter 7 bankruptcy case.
At Ryan Legal Services, Inc, we have been representing individuals in Chapter 7 and Chapter 13 bankruptcy matters since 1998. We represent individuals in Baldwin, Mobile and Washington Counties.
Kevin Ryan is an experienced bankruptcy lawyer who will be there for you. Call us to set up a free telephone or office consultation.
Should I Transfer Property Pre-Bankruptcy?
There are some cases where a client can meet with a lawyer and make arrangements to change the ownership of property, sell property, or dispose of property prior to filing a bankruptcy case. However, this should never be interpreted as a blank license to indiscriminately transfer assets out of your name. You should never transfer title to any property, or spend any amount of money that is not allocated towards necessary household bills, utilities, and pre-existing secured debt payments prior to consulting with a bankruptcy lawyer. The initial office consultation with a lawyer is dedicated mostly to discussing these issues. A lawyer will always be interested in meeting with you sooner rather than later so that these potential issues can be identified and properly addressed prior to moving forward on your case.
Transfers of property, or spending discretionary funds prior to filing a bankruptcy case can often result in negative consequences when you later file a bankruptcy case. Every bankruptcy case presents different circumstances, and different opportunities to legally protect your property from creditors. The objective in most bankruptcy cases is to protect all or as much of your property while terminating all or most of your debt. This is usually where a bankruptcy case can become too complicated for a person to obtain all of the benefits of a bankruptcy filing by filing a case without hiring a lawyer. The best bankruptcy attorneys set and accomplish goals with their clients to protect the maximum amount of property and obtain a discharge of all or a maximum amount of the client(s)' debt in the least amount of time.
You should not transfer any of your property until you speak with a qualified, experienced bankruptcy attorney. At Ryan Legal Services, Inc., Attorney Kevin Ryan has more than 18 years experience handling complex Chapter 7 and Chapter 13 Bankruptcy matters. Call now to schedule a free telephone or office consultation. We are happy to discuss these issues with you personally and confidentially.
Kevin Ryan is an experienced bankruptcy lawyer who will be there for you. Call us to set up a free telephone or office consultation.
