Protecting Your Assets During Bankruptcy: How We Can Help

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Dealing with the possibility of bankruptcy or actually going through the process can be an extremely overwhelming situation for anyone. It is not uncommon for people to feel lost, anxious, stressed, and ashamed of their financial situation. 

At OlsenDaines, we understand how important it is for our clients to not only receive relief from their overwhelming debt but also to protect their hard-earned assets. That’s why we are here to assist you in navigating the complexities of how to protect your assets during bankruptcy.

Understanding Bankruptcy and Asset Protection

Most people file for bankruptcy due to job loss, medical debt, or divorce. Whatever the reason, our team of bankruptcy attorneys can help you navigate through this process and make sure that your assets are protected. One of the most significant concerns clients have is whether or not they will lose their assets if they file for bankruptcy. The answer is no, in almost all cases. We will work with you to protect your home, cars, retirement accounts, and other personal property. We are here to ensure that you keep the assets you value the most.

How to Stop Creditor Harassment

Another frequently asked question is whether bankruptcy will stop creditors from harassing and suing them. Again, the answer is yes. Once you file for bankruptcy, creditors are immediately notified through the federal court system and must immediately stop harassment, lawsuits, and any other form of collection of debts. We understand that the constant harassment can be troubling, and protecting our clients from continued harassment is a top priority for us.

Property Listing and Exemptions

As part of the bankruptcy process, you must list all of your property, both real and personal. This includes your home, vehicles, retirement accounts, and household goods and belongings. But there’s no need to worry – there are specific exemptions under state or federal law that protect your property throughout the bankruptcy process. We understand the nuances of federal bankruptcy law and will walk you through each step so that you understand how assets are protected and how a fresh start can help rebuild your life.

How to Rebuild Credit After Bankruptcy

Another question we commonly receive is whether or not filing for bankruptcy will affect future credit. While it is true that bankruptcy does affect credit scores, there are strategies we can use to mitigate any harm that may negatively impact your credit record. We can help you rebuild your credit score after bankruptcy and get back on track to a healthy financial future.

Contact Us for Help Protecting Your Assets During Bankruptcy  

The legal process of filing for bankruptcy and protecting your assets can be confusing and overwhelming, but it doesn’t have to be. At OlsenDaines, our experienced bankruptcy attorneys can help. We will provide you with the guidance you need to protect your assets and navigate through the process of filing for bankruptcy. We are here to help you receive a fresh start and rebuild your financial future. We believe that everyone deserves the chance to move past their debts and have a bright financial future.

Contact us today to schedule a free consultation and get started on the path to financial freedom.

Protecting Your Assets: What to Do When You’re Behind on Mortgage and Car Payments

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Knowing how to protect your assets can be difficult, but an experienced attorney can help. It’s never a great feeling when you’re falling behind on your mortgage or car payments. You start to feel like you’ll never catch up or get back on track. It can be an incredibly stressful situation, especially if you’re relying on that car to get to work or don’t want to lose your home. Luckily, you have options. Filing for bankruptcy can be a great solution for protecting your assets and giving you the breathing room you need to get back on your feet. In this post, we’ll go over what happens when you’re behind on mortgage and car payments and how you can protect yourself by filing for bankruptcy.

What To Expect When You’re Behind On Payments

The first thing you need to know is that when you’re behind on your mortgage or car payments, creditors have the legal right to take possession of the asset and sell it to recoup the money you owe. Foreclosure or repossession of assets can obviously be a nightmare scenario, especially when it comes to your home. The good news is that bankruptcy can stop this process, at least temporarily.

How Filing for Bankruptcy Can Help You Protect Your Assets

When you file for bankruptcy, creditors are required by law to halt any foreclosure or repossession proceedings. This break in collection efforts can give you the time you need to catch up on payments and get back on track.

Of course, filing for bankruptcy isn’t a magic wand that will make all your debts disappear. However, it does give you more options when it comes to paying back what you owe. When you file for Chapter 13 bankruptcy, for example, you can create a payment plan to pay back debts over a period of three to five years. The payment plan can include the arrears on your mortgage or car loan, which you can pay back in smaller, more manageable installments. A plan with smaller payments can be a huge relief for those who are struggling to make the full payments all at once.

One thing to keep in mind is that bankruptcy can have an impact on your credit score. is something that will need to be weighed against the benefits of getting back on track with your payments. That being said, if you’re already behind on payments, your credit score is likely already taking a hit, and bankruptcy can actually help you start to rebuild your credit over time. It’s not a decision to be taken lightly, but it can be a very viable solution for those who are struggling to keep up with debt.

How Do You Know If You’re Eligible to File for Bankruptcy?

An important note for those who are considering bankruptcy is that there are certain requirements you’ll need to meet to be eligible. For example, to file for Chapter 13 bankruptcy, you’ll need to have a reliable source of income to make the payments on your repayment plan. You’ll also need to meet certain debt limits, which can vary depending on where you live. Working with a bankruptcy attorney can help you understand your options and whether bankruptcy is the right choice for you in protecting your assets.

How Our Attorney’s Can Help You Protect Your Assets

When facing the daunting task of being several months behind on mortgage payments due to medical debt and a medical leave of absence, clients named Steven and Gloria were fortunate enough to have federal bankruptcy laws on their side. By working with OlsenDaines Law firm, their home was saved, and they were able to pay back the amount they owed over a five-year period. This payment plan allowed them to stay in their home, raising their three minor children in a stable environment. By retaining the services of OlsenDaines, all creditors were referred to the firm, and the federal bankruptcy petition was prepared accurately and thoroughly. With the guidance of an attorney, clients can rest assured that their matters will be handled carefully and with their best interest in mind.

Contact Us for Help Protecting Your Assets

If you’re falling behind on your mortgage or car payments, it can be an incredibly stressful time. However, it’s important to know that you do have options, and one of those options is bankruptcy. By filing for bankruptcy, you can protect your assets, create a payment plan to catch up on debts, and even start to rebuild your credit over time. It’s not a decision to be made lightly, but it can be a very effective way to get back on track and give yourself a fresh start. If you’re struggling with debt, contact a bankruptcy attorney to discuss your options and see if bankruptcy is the right choice for you. Contact us today to schedule your free bankruptcy consultation.

Can I Sue for False Advertising and Hidden Fees?

Young woman looking in box frustrated by false adverrtising

Consumers rely on advertising to make purchasing decisions, which is why it’s important that a corporation’s products and services are marketed accurately. However, some corporations choose to distort their advertisements to manipulate consumers into buying their products or services. Not only does this waste the buyer’s money, but it can also lead to injuries and other serious problems.

Consumers also rely on corporations to advertise the true cost for goods and services. Unfortunately, some corporations use hidden fees to increase their profits by charging buyers more than the advertised price.

Thankfully, there are laws in place that can help protect consumers from false advertising and hidden fees. If you are the victim of deceptive marketing, you may be able to file a lawsuit and recover damages. However, in order to do so, you’ll need to know what these laws cover and how they work.

What Qualifies as False Advertising?

Today, it’s very common for corporations to carefully curate their marketing campaigns with the goal of maximizing sales, which is why it can be so tricky to determine whether something qualifies as false advertising. To help you out, here are a few examples of what false advertising can look like:

  • Inaccurate visual representation
  • Dishonest key terms or wording
  • Deceptive warranties or guarantees
  • Inaccurate pricing information

What Are the Legal Consequences of False Advertising?

Corporations who engage in false advertising could face a variety of legal consequences. Consumers can sue or build a class-action lawsuit to recover lost money and any damages incurred as a direct result of the deception. Additionally, the company could face civil penalties with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), which may result in large fees. And, if the false advertising constitutes fraud, the corporation could also face serious criminal penalties.

Since false advertising laws can differ from state to state, it’s best to work with an experienced consumer litigation attorney if you suspect you are the victim of deceptive marketing. A knowledgeable lawyer can help you navigate these laws to build a case and recover any compensation to which you are entitled.

How Do False Advertising Lawsuits Work?

False advertising lawsuits can help victims recover any money they’ve lost or damages they’ve incurred as a direct result of the deceptive marketing. In order to build a case, however, you may need to prove various things:

  • The product was misrepresented.
  • The consumer relied on the misleading information when making the purchase.
  • The consumer lost money or property due to a hidden fee or false advertisement.

Your Local Consumer Law Attorneys

If you believe you have fallen victim to false advertising or hidden fees, you can count on the experienced consumer law attorneys at OlsenDaines to help you build a claim. We have proudly served Oregon and Washington since 1978, so we are very familiar with the ins and outs of local consumer laws. Our team is also committed to providing you with candid, transparent, and affordable legal assistance. Just give us a call to schedule your free legal consultation.

What You Should Know About First Party Benefits

 

No one likes to think about car accidents. Or car insurance. But while it might not be sexy, car insurance is critical. And knowing what “First Party Benefits” are and how they can protect you and your loved ones, can be immeasurably valuable.

What Are First Party Benefits?

In Oregon, all drivers are required to carry car insurance. Drivers are required to purchase minimum insurance coverage (limits) that includes: bodily injury (“BI”), property damage, personal injury protection (“PIP”), and uninsured motorist / underinsured motorist  (“UM/UIM”) coverage.

The State of Oregon requires all drivers to carry car insurance that complies with the amount mandated by the Financial Responsibility Law. That means you must purchase liability and UM/UIM coverage of at least  $25,000/$50,000.  It also means that you must purchase “no-fault” PIP insurance of at least $15,000.00.

No-fault insurance means that, regardless of who was to blame for the accident, each driver’s insurer pays their own medical expenses, lost wages and other costs.

“First Party Benefits” is another term used to describe insurance coverages that are provided to you and your family regardless of fault in an accident. These benefits are frequently referred to either as “First Party Benefits” or “no-fault” benefits. PIP is a “no-fault” or “First Party” benefit. In the event of an accident, PIP pays for your medical expenses, regardless of fault. PIP coverage will pay for all reasonably related medical treatment required, up to one year or $15,000.00—whichever comes first. You can, of course, increase the amount of your PIP coverage by paying for more than the minimum of $15,000.00.

The minimum PIP coverage not only pays for your medical bills, but it will pay for other things like loss of income, household services (to replace things you can no longer do at home), and funeral benefits as well.

It is important that you read your policy and understand what it covers.

Oregon is Not a No-Fault State.

Even though you are required to carry no-fault insurance in Oregon, Oregon is not a no-fault state. What that means is that, unlike other states that are “no-fault” states, in Oregon, you retain your right to sue the at-fault driver to recover the cost of your medical expenses, lost income, and even pain and suffering. It’s important that you understand not only your responsibilities when it comes to car insurance, but the law and your options. That’s why, if you are in a car accident, you should hire an attorney as soon as possible. At OlsenDaines, we handle car accidents and personal injury claims. We offer free consultations, and we can help.

Washington allows drivers to elect not to purchase PIP coverage. However, if you do not have PIP coverage as part of your policy and if you do not have health insurance, you will need to pay for medical treatment up-front and you will probably need to find a doctor or medical provider who will allow you to make payments for your health care for the time it takes to resolve your personal injury case.

We Handle Car Accidents.

Insurance coverage that protects you and your family is important. Filing a personal injury lawsuit to recover for your losses after a car accident is never easy. We are here to help. If you are in Portland, Eugene, Coos Bay, Medford, or any other city in Oregon, we have an office near you. We also have offices in Washington, and we provide free initial case consultations. To schedule an appointment, give us a call or send us an email.

Plaintiff’s Duty To Mitigate

Personal injury cases can get complicated pretty quick. Not only do they involve a lot of factors that can be difficult to prove —like a defendant’s duty, breach, causation and damages—but even when those hurdles have been met, a plaintiff, has obligations of his (or her) own that must be met. Even an innocent plaintiff who has been injured by someone else’s negligence must mitigate—or reduce— as much as possible, his damages.

The Duty to Mitigate.

The “duty to mitigate” (or “mitigation”) refers to the legal concept that requires a plaintiff who has been injured to reduce the damage that has been inflicted on him.

What?

Does that mean that someone who has been injured through no fault of his own has a duty to reduce the damage the other person caused him to suffer?

Yes, it does.

Every plaintiff has the obligation to take reasonable steps to avoid further loss and to minimize the consequences of the injury. In the context of a personal injury case, that means, for example, that you (as a plaintiff) have an obligation to seek medical attention, undergo surgery if recommended, or to seek other employment or re-train if necessary, or undertake any other reasonable steps necessary to mitigate as much as possible, the damage that was caused to you.

Why?

Because if you do not, the rule of mitigation of damages allows the judge or jury to reduce your right to recover that portion of your damages which the judge or jury finds you could have reasonably avoided.

How the Duty to Mitigate Works

It may be easiest to understand the way the duty to mitigate works by looking at an example. Let’s say that you are in a car accident and you break your leg. If your doctor recommends surgery as the only way to repair the break, and says you must stay off the leg for 6 months, and you refuse to have surgery and don’t stay off the leg for 6 months, you cannot later claim damages for the conditions that resulted from your refusal to have surgery and stay off the leg. If a reasonably prudent person would have followed the doctor’s advice, your damages will be reduced by the amount your failure to follow the doctor’s advice resulted in a lack of improvement in your leg, or aggravation of the break.

We Are Personal Injury Attorneys.

If you have been injured, we can help. We are personal injury attorneys with offices throughout Oregon. We have offices in Salem, Medford, Bend, Portland, Eugene, Albany, Grants Pass, Klamath Falls, and several other cities in Oregon. We also have offices in Vancouver and Tri-Cities in Washington. You can call us toll free at: 1-800-682.9568.To set up an appointment, contact us here.

Libel and Personal Injury

Great place, America. It’s the land of the free and home of the brave. We’ve got the right to bear arms, and to say anything we want to.

Well, almost.

While we do have a Constitutional right to free speech, others have personal rights too. And it’s not unusual for one person’s free speech rights to run up against another person’s right to protect his reputation. You take your speech too far, and you just might run into the laws of defamation.

Defamation: Libel and Slander.

“Defamation” is the broad term that covers the civil tort of making statements that injure another’s business or personal reputation. Written statements that damage another’s reputation are called “libel.” Spoken statements are called “slander.”  A person who has suffered (or thinks he has suffered) a defamatory statement can sue the person who made the statement.

To prove either type of defamation, a plaintiff must prove 4 elements:

  1. a false statement purporting to be fact
  2. publication or communication of that statement to a third person
  3. fault amounting to at least negligence, and
  4. damages orsome harm caused to the person or entity who is the subject of the statement.

Libel and Social Media

The prevalence of access to the internet, and social media in particular, has made it easier than ever to make defamatory statements about people or their companies. For example, internet services like Yelp! are specifically designed to allow people to review and comment on other people’s businesses. With social media services (Twitter, Facebook, YouTube) you can instantly publish comments and it’s not unusual for people to publish disparaging comments. Yet a false and damaging Yelp! review, tweet, YouTube video, or Facebook update can become a defamatory statement (libel) that is actionable by the person or company you are writing about. And that means that you could very well end up defending yourself in a defamation lawsuit.

Defenses and Privileges.

Not every statement that is injurious to a person’s or company’s reputation is actionable, however. State laws vary, but there are defenses and privileges that prevent a statement from being actionable as libel or slander. For example, “truth” is an absolute defense to all defamation claims. To prove defamation, a plaintiff must prove that the statement was false, and must show that the defendant was at fault. There are also absolute and qualified privileges that serve as defenses against libel or slander claims.

Know Your Rights!

If you are facing a defamation lawsuit or believe you have been defamed, contact us. We have offices in Tigard, Salem, Albany, Grants Pass, Klamath Falls, Bend, and several other cities in Oregon. We also have offices in Vancouver and Tri-Cities in Washington. You can call us toll free at: 1-800-682.9568.