I was part of the great Equifax hack of 2017. I guess I knew it was only a matter of time, but I had procrastinated taking steps to protect my credit (even after personnally writing about identity theft for this blog!). Now I had to face the music. So I froze my credit this morning. […]

One of the first questions people ask about bankruptcy is "What do I get to keep?" To figure out the answer to this question you need to have and understanding of bankruptcy exemptions. Bankruptcy exemptions set out what assets you are allowed to protect or keep when you file a bankruptcy. If you have lived […]

This Stupid Criminal story comes to us from down under in Australia. It seems there were four young people living together in an apartment. One of them was not exactly in good graces with his roommates, so the other three decided to kill him. They plotted his death together, arguing over whether they should strangle […]

You did it! The taxes are done. It is tempting to shove it all in a file cabinet and forget about it until next year. Don't do that - yet. Have you ever looked at all that information in your taxes? You should! It can be very valuable if you want to get healthy – […]

As a bankruptcy lawyer in Southern Maryland, I know people will be asking me what to do with their government stimulus check. To make sure I was ready to answer this question, I figured I would look at what advice financial experts are giving. The advice I read seemed to be the same advice that […]

Maryland has a series of new laws that took effect October 1, 2015 affecting people with relatively minor criminal records. In the past, your criminal record was out there for the world to see as public information. Anyone with a computer could see if you were arrested for something, even if it was minor. This […]

Just in time for tax season come two horror stories of people who have royally screwed up their taxes after their divorce by not paying alimony the right way. We want to remind you that getting a divorce attorney is not the only professional you need to hire. In any tax situation, you should seek […]

Two new federal laws take effect April 1, 2020. Both were created in response to the Covid-19 threat on March 18, 2020. Both provide significant new protections for employees. And, predictably, both are confusing and unclear! Our firm does not handle employment law cases, but since these laws are of great interest to many of […]

There is a lot of help available for those Maryland homeowners who face foreclosure. There are a lot of federal laws too. To be honest, many of these government programs are not as helpful as they were meant to be. Some only consider people in a very narrow set of circumstances. Some are narrow in […]

When people come into our Waldorf or Lexington Park office for a free bankruptcy consultation, there are certain questions they will ask. One of these is “How much debt do you need to have to file for bankruptcy?” The truth is that there is no minimum amount of debt that you are required to have […]

In a chapter 13 plan you are supposed to send in regular plan payments to the bankruptcy trustee. The Trustee disburses the money to the creditors. Usually this payment comes right out of our paycheck after the plan is confirmed. If you don't get a paycheck because you were laid off because of COVID19, those […]

When people call to schedule their initial consultation in our Lexington Park or Waldorf office they usually want to know what to bring. Our answer is “Just bring yourself”. For the initial consult our main goal is to get an overall picture of your financial situation. We will have plenty of time down the road […]