Title: August 29, 2008
Q: A few years ago, I filed a Chapter 7 bankruptcy. I owed about $700 to Washington Mutual back then, but the debt was discharged. I recently applied for an account online with Washington Mutual because that’s the closest bank to my house. The bank opened a checking account about 4 months ago and issued a debit card. When I attempted to add my son as a signatory on the account, my debit card was cancelled by the bank the following day. I could not view any account details online, while my payroll check is in the account. I found out about this while trying to use my debit card at the grocery store and to buy gas for my car. Can the bank take my money away like this?
A: If your bankruptcy was discharged, no the bank cannot. You may have a lawsuit against the bank for violating the U.S. Bankruptcy Court discharge injunction. Once a debt is discharged in a Bankruptcy Court, no one can ever try to collect on it. Many credit cards will sell debt to collection agencies for a penny on the dollar and collection agencies will attempt to collect on these credit card debts, several years later. But your case is completely different. I would contact Washington Mutual and show them your discharge Notice. They might need you to produce the specific Bankruptcy schedule that lists the debt to Washington Mutual, so as to ensure that particular debt was included in your bankruptcy discharge. I suspect that they will return your money rather quickly after finding out that particular debt was already discharged.
Q: I keep receiving e-mails about my winning some contest I never entered into in the UK, or in Nigeria, or some bank clerk looking for someone in the USA to transfer some huge amount of foreign capital into the United States, a percentage of which would be mine. Why do I keep receiving these e-mails and what are they all about?
A. These e-mails are all fraudulent, and I would delete them without even reading them if I was you. The people perpetrating the fraud are looking for a “fish”. If you respond, they might entrap you to give your bank information to them, so that they can empty your bank account. Typically, they send you a bogus check or promise to transfer some large amount of money into your bank account by a certain date, and then ask that you write a check for their “percentage” back to them. If you have the “percentage” amount in your bank account already, they will cash your check while theirs will bounce, and you will be left holding the bag. Please these are all con games. Do not fall for it!
Maxine de Villefranche has been an attorney for 15 years and is practicing law in Tehachapi and Lancaster. Send your questions via fax at (661)825-8880 or e-mail your questions or comments to http://www.generalaw.com She will answer your questions to the best of her abilities.
Showing posts with label discharged. Show all posts
Showing posts with label discharged. Show all posts
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Friday, February 27, 2009
Legal Eaze #24 medicated son/ bankruptcy
Title: June 15, 2005
Maxine de Villefranche is an attorney and civil general practitioner with 13 years of experience. She operates her law practice from her new office in town, as well her Lancaster satellite office. She will answer legal questions posed to her by the readers, to the best of her abilities. Please forward your questions to maxinedev@msn.com.
Q. Our son resides with us. He is 22 years old and he suffers from schizophrenia. He has refused to take his medication on numerous occasions which is causing him to become aggressive, loud and obnoxious. He is a pretty big guy and my wife is sometimes fearful of him when she is alone with him in the house. He has never harmed her but sometimes I feel like it is only a matter of time before he does. I go to work every day and am away from our home from 7 a.m. through 7 p.m. five days a week. I don’t want my wife to feel like I am abandoning her and I don’t want her to be hurt by our son. What should we do?
A. You son need to be committed to a mental institution. What are you waiting for to do so? Are you waiting for your wife to be injured by your son? If your son refuses to take his medication, and that is the only thing that keeps him from acting out, then he is “an accident” waiting to happen. Until he realizes that taking his medication is what will keep him out of the hospital, he needs to be kept under control at all times. The medical staff at a hospital or a mental institution has the know-how to control a schizophrenic. You may also need to file a Petition for Conservatorship with the court in order to have the right to make medical decisions for your son. You may also need to manage his financial affairs, if he has any to manage, and becoming his conservator will give you that power.
Q. My credit card bills have become unmanageable. I am only working part-time now and I cannot keep a roof over my head and feed my family while continuing to pay for all our credit cards. My wife is eight months pregnant and cannot work anymore until she gives birth to our third child. What should I do?
A. File for bankruptcy, if you not done so already. I would advise you to hurry because the new bankruptcy laws will take effect in October 2005. Soon, it will be far more difficult for credit card debt to be discharged. In fact, many will be forced to file a Chapter 13, which entails repaying debt over time. Financial management classes will also be mandatory. The new bankruptcy laws will be disastrous for people who reached financial bottom through illness. Unfortunately, Congress members listed too closely to the credit card industry’s complaints. One can only expect that debtor’s prison will be reinstated next.
Maxine de Villefranche is an attorney and civil general practitioner with 13 years of experience. She operates her law practice from her new office in town, as well her Lancaster satellite office. She will answer legal questions posed to her by the readers, to the best of her abilities. Please forward your questions to maxinedev@msn.com.
Q. Our son resides with us. He is 22 years old and he suffers from schizophrenia. He has refused to take his medication on numerous occasions which is causing him to become aggressive, loud and obnoxious. He is a pretty big guy and my wife is sometimes fearful of him when she is alone with him in the house. He has never harmed her but sometimes I feel like it is only a matter of time before he does. I go to work every day and am away from our home from 7 a.m. through 7 p.m. five days a week. I don’t want my wife to feel like I am abandoning her and I don’t want her to be hurt by our son. What should we do?
A. You son need to be committed to a mental institution. What are you waiting for to do so? Are you waiting for your wife to be injured by your son? If your son refuses to take his medication, and that is the only thing that keeps him from acting out, then he is “an accident” waiting to happen. Until he realizes that taking his medication is what will keep him out of the hospital, he needs to be kept under control at all times. The medical staff at a hospital or a mental institution has the know-how to control a schizophrenic. You may also need to file a Petition for Conservatorship with the court in order to have the right to make medical decisions for your son. You may also need to manage his financial affairs, if he has any to manage, and becoming his conservator will give you that power.
Q. My credit card bills have become unmanageable. I am only working part-time now and I cannot keep a roof over my head and feed my family while continuing to pay for all our credit cards. My wife is eight months pregnant and cannot work anymore until she gives birth to our third child. What should I do?
A. File for bankruptcy, if you not done so already. I would advise you to hurry because the new bankruptcy laws will take effect in October 2005. Soon, it will be far more difficult for credit card debt to be discharged. In fact, many will be forced to file a Chapter 13, which entails repaying debt over time. Financial management classes will also be mandatory. The new bankruptcy laws will be disastrous for people who reached financial bottom through illness. Unfortunately, Congress members listed too closely to the credit card industry’s complaints. One can only expect that debtor’s prison will be reinstated next.
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