How to do an Annual Review
by Dave Gormley | Posted in Civil Law & Consumer | Reading Time: 7 minutes
What Should You Do With Your Government Stimulus Check?
by Dave Gormley | Posted in Bankruptcy & Foreclosure | Reading Time: 4 minutes
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...
Budgeting for Coronavirus
by Dave Gormley | Posted in Bankruptcy & Foreclosure | Reading Time: 6 minutes
Even if you have been keeping up with your bills, now is the time to do some emergency budgeting. Nobody knows how bad this will get. (Things have been changing fast. This post was published on March 14th. Not even a week later bars and malls were closed. Now the problem is even bigger. Unemployment...
Alimony is not tax deductible anymore and that may complicate things
by Nasheia Conway | Posted in Family Law | Reading Time: 4 minutes
Maryland divorce cases got harder to resolve after the 2017 tax law. Alimony is now treated completely differently for tax purposes. While the law was passed in 2017 the changes take effect for tax year 2019. Alimony is a complicated subject in a Maryland divorce. Click here to read our post answering all of your...
Large Tax Bills Are A Sign You May Need To File Bankruptcy
by Dave Gormley | Posted in Bankruptcy & Foreclosure | Reading Time: 2 minutes
Most people we meet with for a bankruptcy consultation have done anything and everything they possibly could to avoid filing for bankruptcy.(that bankruptcy consult is free, by the way) Often, “anything and everything” includes increasing their tax allowances and exemptions at work so payroll will start withholding less money from their paycheck. If not done...
No New Year’s Resolutions
by Dave Gormley | Posted in Civil Law & Consumer | Reading Time: 4 minutes
Should you make a budget and track all of your spending to make sure you follow it? Sure, but is making a New Years resolution really going to make you do it? Probably just the opposite. Almost all New Year’s resolutions fail in the first few months of the year. My New Years resolution each...
Prenuptial Agreements in Maryland
by Nasheia Conway | Posted in Family Law | Reading Time: 6 minutes
Now, right before the busy marriage season starts, is a good time to bring up this tough topic. Nobody likes to think of divorce before a marriage. But face facts – 50% of marriages end up that way. It is a realistic possibility for anyone. So. Got your prenuptial agreement? People think of marriage as...
I’m Just the Cosigner! Why are They Suing Me?
by Dave Gormley | Posted in Civil Law & Consumer | Reading Time: 3 minutes
In Maryland you will often see cases where the lender just sues the cosigner. This can be very frustrating for the cosigner of a loan. People in this situation who come to us for a bankruptcy consult or civil litigation consult to try to fight the suit often ask “Can they do this?” The short...
How to Store Your Documents – the Right Way
by Tucker Clagett | Posted in Civil Law & Consumer | Reading Time: 4 minutes
Even in our increasingly digital world, you still have some important legal documents that must be protected. If your most important documents are just shoved into a drawer, or a cheap metal filing cabinet, then you are going to have a HUGE headache if something goes badly. Nobody plans on a house fire, flood, or...
Recurring Charges: Why Are You Paying For That?
by Dave Gormley | Posted in Civil Law & Consumer | Reading Time: 2 minutes
On my way to Bankruptcy Court in Greenbelt, I caught a story on WTOP that said that more than 2 million people who are still paying for AOL dial-up service actually have high-speed internet access. It would seem likely that many of these people are paying for a service they no longer use. As part of...
