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Jeffrey Summers, of Taft, California, and Stafan Miller, of Santa Clara, California, perpetrated a scam upon multiple creditors. They formed Maxwell, Turner & Associates, a collection services company who employed around 20 people. From February 2009 until May 2010, their company did not deliver on their promises to clients. Summer and Miller would provide false information about legal proceedings and tell their creditor clients wrong contact information for debtors. Also, if the company did collect any money from debtors, it would not pass this money along to the appropriate creditor. Instead, the two would pocket the money. The scheme took in more than $2.7 million.

Summers was convicted for conspiracy to commit mail fraud and sentenced to 8 years in federal prison. Miller was ordered to serve 6 years and 9 months for conspiracy to commit mail fraud and money laundering. The two have also been ordered to repay $1,311,700 in restitution to the victims of their fraudulent scheme.

If you feel that you have been defrauded in any financial situation, you should speak with a Jacksonville Consumer Law Attorney to see if a remedy this available for you.

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12 Laws of Christmas, Bankruptcy, Gun Trust LawyerInterested in a Gun Trust or one of our new Asset Protection Gun Trusts? This special is for today only. If you contact us by email or telephone today, we will knock $100 off the price of your Gun Trust. To learn more about what a Gun Trust is visit the Gun Trust Lawyer® Blog If you contact us after hours on Dec
The Law Office of David M. Goldman has decided to do 12 great specials for our new and existing clients.

If you want to be the first to find out about the special offers by the Law Office of David M. Goldman for the remaining 12 Laws of Christmas, be sure to check this blog daily or subscribe to our blog updates.

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12 Laws of Christmas, Bankruptcy, Foreclosure Defense LawyerThis special is for any new or existing Foreclosure Defense clients and can offer you a substantial discount and save you a substantial amount of money. While we understand that not everyone will be able to take advantage of the offer, for those of you who can it should be considered. If you pay for 2 months of Foreclosure Defense we will give you a credit for an additional month at no charge. For more information on Strategic Default or Foreclosure Defense in Florida, please see the target=”_blank”>Florida Foreclosure Defense Lawyers Blog.

The Law Office of David M. Goldman has decided to do 12 great specials for our new and existing clients. Many of the specials will only be valid for the day they are mentioned, but we will honor this special as long as you contact us about it by December 25th and pay for it by the end of the year.

If you want to be the first to find out about the special offers by the Law Office of David M. Goldman for the remaining 12 Laws of Christmas, be sure to check this blog daily or subscribe to our blog updates.

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Filing for bankruptcy can be very confusing for those trying to go it alone. As an in-depth legal process, it is greatly beneficial to have a Jacksonville Bankruptcy Attorney to help you navigate your way through a successful bankruptcy. Here are some reasons why:

1. There are many calculations that must be done correctly. To file for bankruptcy, you must first know which Chapter you qualify for, a Chapter 7, 13, 11 or 12. One step to figuring it out is by completing a Means Test. This is complex thing to do. You must know things which deductions you can use for food, clothing, personal care, health care, housing, and many more. You’ll need to how the allowances for vehicles work and what involuntary deductions you can take. You must know how to list future debt payments correctly. And the list goes on and on. Without the proper knowledge and skill, this can be very difficult to do right the first time. If you do not do this correctly, the court could dismiss your case without a discharge, penalize you with fines or in rare cases, even send you to jail. Hiring a Jacksonville Bankruptcy Attorney would be beneficial because someone with knowledge and experience would be handling these issues, taking the stress off of you.

2. Another daunting task is drafting a Chapter 13 Plan. This Plan is very important, as it outlines your responsibilities over a three to five year period. You must know which creditors get paid, how much is required to go to unsecured creditors, and how to allocate the Trustee’s portion. You want to make sure that you get all the benefits you can through your Plan. It is not the job of the Court or Trustee to watch out for your interest, it is there job to be sure that the code is being applied properly.

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Mark Brunell, Bankruptcy, Chapter 11On 06/25/10, Mark Brunell, ex-quarterback for the Jacksonville Jaguars filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. In a Chapter 11 bankruptcy a debtor proposes a repayment plan that includes all of their creditors. Those creditors then get to approve of the plan if their rights are infringed. Once all creditors infringed are satisfied with the proposed plan, it can be confirmed. Mr. Brunell’s plan was confirmed yesterday by Jacksonville’s very own Judge Jerry A. Funk.

Consumer debtors who earn more than the median income for their family size cannot file Chapter 7 Bankruptcy. Often, this results in their filing of a Chapter 13, however Chapter 13 has a “debt ceiling”. This “debt ceiling” limits the dollar amount owed by any debtor who wishes to file this chapter. Currently, the debt ceiling is $360,475 for unsecured debts and $1,081,400 for secured. If a debtor makes more than the median income, but owes more than the debt ceiling, their only recourse may be to file Chapter 11, just as in this case.

Creditors in a Chapter 11 must retain their existing rights in the proposed plan, or consent to having those rights modified by the plan or get at least as much in the plan as they would if the debtor was liquidated in a Chapter 7 bankruptcy. Because Mr. Brunell owned $350,000 in assets that would be unexempt (and therefore liquidated) in a Chapter 7, so his plan requires that $350,000 will be paid to his unsecured creditors by June 30, 2012.

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12 Laws of Christmas Bankruptcy, Criminal Defense LawyerIf you or a family member has been accused or are under investigation for a Crime and are looking to hire a Florida Criminal Defense lawyer to represent you, we have an offer that may make it easier to hire an attorney around the end of the year. The Law Office of David M. Goldman is offering to reduce any new retainer by $500 for representation for a felony or misdemeanor crime. For more information, you may review the Jacksonville Criminal Defense Lawyers Blog.

The Law Office of David M. Goldman has decided to do 12 great specials for our new and existing clients. Many of the specials will only be valid for the day they are mentioned, but we will honor this special as long as you contact us about it by December 25th and pay for it by the end of the year.

If you want to be the first to find out about the special offers by the Law Office of David M. Goldman for the remaining 12 Laws of Christmas, be sure to check this blog daily or subscribe to our blog updates.

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Is your credit card company driving you crazy? Think they are trying to rip you off or aren’t taking your complaints seriously? The Dodd-Frank Act created the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), an agency to whom you can voice concerns regarding your credit card companies. Since their opening in July 2011, the office has fielded more than 5,000 consumer complaints. Some of the most common complaints dealt with collection practices, debt protection services, account closures, identification theft, fraud, and fees.

After a complaint is filed, the CFPB acts as a go-between in order to resolve the issue between you and your credit card company. So far, approximately three quarters of the complaints have been either partially or fully resolved by the credit card company. The rest are either still under review or there was no relief found.

Consumers can submit their complaints either online with Consumer Finance’s Government Site or by calling 855-411-CFPB (855-411-2372). In the near future, CFPB will be fielding complaints for all kinds of consumer financial products, including mortgages and other loans.

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Dave Ramsey, Bankruptcy, Debtor Education, Credit CounselingJacksonville bankruptcy filers are required to take a credit counseling course before filing bankruptcy as well as a “debtor education” course during their bankruptcy before they can obtain a discharge of their debts. When George Bush signed the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005, there was a feeling that those filing bankruptcy must be doing so because they do not know how to properly budget money. This feeling lead to the creation of 11 U.S.C. §109(h) and 11 U.S.C. § 727(a)(11) which require the counseling and education courses.

In the past, the primary reasons for filing bankruptcy were varied, the Chicago Tribune states that the primary drivers of bankruptcy are illness, divorce and loss of employment. While this used to be true, it seems that the vast majority of the people I consult with have only one issue, what to do with a home that is more underwater than it is worth and a bank that won’t budge when it comes to modification.

When an underwater home is the reason for bankruptcy, no amount of budget knowledge is going to help, yet it is still required. Fortunately, there are Debtor Education providers like Dave Ramsey, who give more useful tips on growing wealth than how to simply balance a checkbook.

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AMR, the parent company of American Airlines, announced November 29, 2011 that they filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the Southern District of New York. The company said that in the first nine months of 2011, they lost $868 million and project that they will lose around $1.1 billion by years end. AMR, a Fort-Worth based company, listed $24.7 billion in assets and $29.6 billion in debt in their bankruptcy Schedules.

An article in the Financial Times says “the move brings to end a nearly decade-long effort to avoid Chapter 11. In 2003, American chose to avoid bankruptcy, while its rivals used the process to shed their pension plans and reduce structural costs, leaving it at a substantial disadvantage.”

The company’s CEO, Gerard Arpey, was not in favor of the company filing for bankruptcy. In fact, he had spoken out several times saying that he did not want AMR to file for bankruptcy. So he retired. Tom Horton, previously the company’s president, will now step in as the new CEO.

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Florida Homestead ExemptionFor Jacksonville Bankruptcies, individuals filing bankruptcy are permitted to keep certain amounts of property pursuant to the “Florida Exemptions“. One of these pieces of property is their Homestead.

Article X § 4 of the Florida Constitution prevents a home of up to 1/2 acre within a municipality or 160 acres outside a municipality from being forced to sale by anyone except those holding liens for taxes, mortgages, mechanics and the like. This protection is one of the most liberal in the United States Bankruptcy Courts and has lead to the relocation of celebrities such as Oj Simpson who homesteaded property to avoid the loss of otherwise obtainable assets. Due to the quick relocation of people like Simpson, Florida now requires a person to own the property at least 1215 days (about 3.3 years) to exempt the entire value of equity in the home.

A new case, In re Gentry rules that even when a debtor initially states that they intend to abandon their homestead at the date of filing, they can later change their mind by filing an amendment and keep the home. Originally it was thought that the debtor’s intention on the date of filing is what controlled this issue, but the Tampa court stated that Florida Homestead protection is so widespread and liberal that the debtor can change their mind mid-bankruptcy. The question that remains unanswered is just how far into a bankruptcy a debtor would be to be “too late”.

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