Lanigan & Lanigan, P.L.
831 W. Morse Blvd., Winter Park, Florida 32789
407-740-7379
Contact Us
Bankruptcy
The Florida bankruptcy means test is what Eric Lanigan and Roddy Lanigan will use to determine whether your income is low enough for you to file Chapter 7 bankruptcy.In Florida it varies by county, by ZIP code and is designed to keep filers with higher incomes from filing for Chapter 7 bankruptcy. Higher income filers who cannot pass the means test may have to use Chapter 13 bankruptcy to repay a portion of the debts. This means you may not be able to use Chapter 7 bankruptcy to wipe out your debts. Having to take a Chapter 7 means test doesn’t mean that you have to be broke in order file a Chapter 7 bankruptcy. It is possible that you can earn significant monthly income and still qualify for Chapter 7 bankruptcy if you have a lot of expenses, such as a high mortgage payment. Can You Pass the Florida Bankruptcy Means Test? The first step to taking the means test is knowing if your current monthly income is less than the median income for a household of your size in Florida. You can file for Chapter 7 if this is true. That’s it, you passed. How Does the Chapter 7 Means Test Work? The higher your disposable income, the more likely it is that you won’t be allowed to file a Chapter 7 bankruptcy. The means test was created to limit the use of Chapter 7 bankruptcy to those who truly cannot pay their debts. It does this by deducting specific monthly expenses from your current monthly income your average income over the six months before you file...
Bankruptcy
Holders of a Florida development’s tax-exempt “dirt bonds” are battling a court order that could make it more difficult for owners of at least $2.9 billion of defaulted debt involving Fiddler’s Creek Community Development Districts to get paid by excluding them from a Chapter 11 settlement plan. Is is one of the single biggest default events in the history of the municipal market, which is nearly $5.1 billion, or 77 percent of those issued since 2003, having taken place in Florida, according to Bloomberg reports. Creditors Frustrated With Chapter 11 Settlement Plan The owners of the $100 million of dirt bonds sold by Fiddler’s Creek Community Development Districts now know debt payments will begin after those to other creditors of Fiddler’s Creek LLC, the bankrupt builder of a 4,000-acre (1,600-hectare) community in Naples, on Florida’s west coast. Dirt bonds are sold by community development districts established by builders to pay for utility lines and roads on newly developed housing land. Florida issued almost 400 in the $7 billion outstanding. The disaster started with Florida’s economic and real estate downturn which continues. In bankruptcy restructuring, debts are let go by a court order based on a careful reorganization plan. Creditors are in line for payment by what funds are available and do not want their debts dismissed. This case, Florida’s first where a development district settled debts with a builder under Chapter 11 bankruptcy procedures over bondholders’ objections, may prompt more Chapter 11 filings by builders looking to delay bond payments. Florida has many developers filing bankruptcy or who have bankruptcies pending. It means that bondholders supposed to be first paid are now last....
Bankruptcy
When creditors start calling you at home and at work you may wonder how to stop creditor harassment and may even consider bankruptcy. It may be from a credit card that’s late. You may not have paid your car note. Maybe you can’t pay your mortgage. No matter who you owe, you should call them to arrange payment or they will call you. They shouldn’t harass you. Creditors can’t call over and over and over. But when they call, there’s things that you should do to make it stop. How to Stop Creditor Harassment Yes, creditors can be stopped. You don’t have to file bankruptcy to stop creditors from bothering you. There are laws that prohibit this. Here’s what you do: Write to each creditor and put it in writing that you do not want to be called. Verbally tell debt collectors when they call that you will not pay. BUT before you do this, know that they can make one last request for payment. THEN they can file a lawsuit against you for it If telling a creditor to stop doesn’t work send the letter. Experienced Bankruptcy Attorneys Lanigan and Lanigan You may have made the creditors stop calling, but you still have a problem and need to resolve it. Central Florida bankruptcy attorneys Eric Lanigan and Roddy Lanigan will be able to discuss the options with you to find out if you should file bankruptcy. They will find out from you what your debt it and how much you owe and to whom. Then you can decide if bankruptcy Chapter 7 or chapter 13 is right for...
Mortgage Workout
Five banks accused of faulty foreclosures have had their fiscal hands slapped over faulty foreclosure procedures and poor treatment of homeowners. Bank of America, JP Morgan Chase, Ally Financial, Wells Fargo and Citigroup have to pay in excess of $20 billion according to Bloomberg. State and federal funds to resolve claims and provide relief to borrowers will be paid to resolve problems that occurred as banks treated borrowers poorly during a surge in mortgage defaults. This agreement will set standards for servicing loans and processing foreclosures and serve as a template for claims against the rest of the industry. BofA and Chase Banks Accused of Faulty Foreclosures The Treasury Department said that the two largest, Bank of America and JPMorgan Chase & Co. are not doing enough to help Americans avoid foreclosure and have done a poor job helping people permanently lower their mortgage payments as part of the government’s foreclosure prevention program. The lenders have rejected people who were eligible for mortgage modifications the Treasury said. Florida Attorneys Lanigan and Lanigan Lawyers Eric Lanigan and Roddy Lanigan many years practicing business and civil litigation, securities and investment losses, bankruptcy, foreclosure and mortgage workout (renegotiations/refinances) in Metro Orlando. If you have to make a decision and want financial insights and options talk with an attorney. Lanigan and Lanigan. Experienced attorneys, aggressive representation with a personal...
Bankruptcy
Winter Park, Fla. (Sept 19, 2011) – The housing market and unemployment nominates the state economy as one of the nation’s worst for bankruptcy and foreclosure in Florida. Lanigan and Lanigan, a law firm with 39 years of bankruptcy and foreclosure and mortgage workout practice offers panicked Central Florida businesses and individuals home and business-saving solutions. “Calm down, there are causes, there are remedies, and no matter how stressed out you are, it’s never as bad as you think it is,” said partner Eric A. Lanigan. “Your case is unique and not like any other business, friend or family member’s situation. There are options based on what you want to do and your finances which tell you what you need to do.” Bankruptcy and Foreclosure in Florida Lanigan and Lanigan is a business and civil litigation, bankruptcy, foreclosure, mortgage workout and securities and investment losses law practice. Eric and Roddy Lanigan review and consult with small and large businesses in multiple industries, from CEOs with hundreds of employees to two-person shops. Families, married, divorced, single, all income levels have filed bankruptcy, had foreclosure suits filed against them, and have found ways out of or resolution to manage overwhelming debt through Lanigan and Lanigan. “From teachers to airline pilots, builders, small business owners, heads of families to single people…the one thing that they all have in common: it’s the economy,” said partner Roddy Lanigan who holds a master’s in economics history from the University of Cambridgee and a Fellow of the Cambridge Overseas Society, a scholarship sponsored by the Prince of Wales. “The bad economy has spared no industry and no demographic group,” Roddy said. “As a result of the...
The Law
Immigration authorities say the number of applications for special visas for crime victims and trafficking victims to stay in the country have increased with the outreach by federal officials’ to local law enforcement. U.S. law provides several protections for legal and undocumented immigrants who have been victims of a crime. Special Visas for Crime Victims Provide Legal Protection Often victims are unaware of such protections, thus frontline workers serve as a critical link for immigrant victims. There are specific protections for victims of domestic violence, victims of certain crimes, and victims of human trafficking. Community advocates in Florida and across the U.S. are concerned that law enforcement officials are consistently providing paperwork required for victims to apply for crime visas. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services officials say more than 13,000 crime victims have applied for the visas so far in 2011, a 28 percent increase from 2010. Among trafficking victims there is a 51 percent increase. Florida Trafficking Victims Florida crime and trafficking victims should be informed of the ability to receive visas from local law enforcement officials who have been trained in cities across the country to do do. Community advocates have found that sometimes law enforcement officials have not always provided paperwork required for victims to apply for crime...
The Law
A former employee of Borders filed a class-action employment lawsuit against the bookseller claiming a required 60-day notice not given before layoff. The lawsuit was filed in New York by former employee Jared Pinsker on behalf of a class of 300 other ex-Borders employees from Ann Arbor, Michigan. The lawsuit claims Borders didn’t follow federal guidelines during layoffs of the Michigan headquarter employees in July 2011. The suit also alleges that Borders was a company required by the federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act to give employees 60 days’ notice before conducting mass layoffs of at least 33 percent of a given facility’s workforce. The complaint alleges that Pinsker and his colleagues received no notice when let go between July 23 and August 23, 2011. Borders filed bankruptcy in February and announced in July it would go out of business and lay off its roughly 11,000 employees. What Are My Options If Notice Not Given Before Layoff Winter Park Florida lawyers Eric Lanigan and Roddy Lanigan have 38 years and seven years of experience in employment law and in class-action lawsuits representing individuals or groups in business and civil litigation. Employment laws vary by state. Finding out whether an employee or employer has violated a law, a contract, or agreement requires careful review and understanding. You’ll want an attorney familiar with the constantly changing employment regulations and with an ability to discern quickly the ability to litigate or to negotiate before a case would ever get into a courtroom. If you have an employment law issue in the state of Florida, or in another state, consult with an attorney to review...
Bankruptcy
The New York High Court rules on Chapter 11 law clarifying the business exemption law issues over a Liquidating Trust that filed suit against Deloitte, LLP., for accounting fraud in New York State Supreme Court. Deloitte, an audit, financial advisory, tax and consulting firm, moved to dismiss the suit arguing the Trust represented more than 50 claimants, thereby making its claim subject to dismissal under the Securities Litigation Uniform Standards Act of 1998 (SLUSA). The SLUSA sought to prevent abuses in private securities fraud lawsuits. However, The Trust countered it qualified for the single-entity exemption because the Trust was a single entity within the meaning of SLUSA. The New York Court of Appeals held that a liquidating trust established pursuant to a bankruptcy reorganization plan was a single “person” within the meaning of the “single-entity exemption” because the primary purpose of the trust was not to pursue the litigation. Business Reorganization Clarified When Court Rules on Chapter 11 Law Business reorganization is a complex process. Circumventing litigation through careful planning, and in-depth financial review with clients can prepare for any legal situation involved in a bankruptcy. Winter Park Florida bankruptcy lawyers Eric Lanigan and Roddy Lanigan, of Lanigan and Lanigan, P.L., have 36 years and five years experience respectively of discerning complex business and civil litigation and bankruptcy laws for clients. Determining bankruptcy law application and challenges that large and small businesses face while going through a business reorganization or a Chapter 11 bankruptcy is important to how a case will ultimately be litigated in court. Work with attorneys who have familiarity with a range of bankruptcy and business reorganization cases and...
The Law
Winter Park attorneys Eric Lanigan and Roddy Lanigan handle all legal cases personally and work with each client who comes into their office. They manage every aspect of your case. Eric Lanigan and Roddy Lanigan work for you from the first meeting to the final decision to the follow-up. Why the Lanigans Handle All Legal Cases Quality control is why the Lanigans handle all legal cases personally. Winter Park attorneys Eric Lanigan and Roddy Lanigan work for all clients and keep business in the Lanigan family. When business owners meet with an attorney it’s a private matter. You want to be heard and understood clearly in a one-on-one discussion to clarify all the issues you’re dealing with. It’s not easy to tell someone who you’ve just met about your business problems. But the Lanigans will put you at ease. They’re experienced and they know that when businesses come to an attorney it’s often because they need help or an answer quickly. You’re Paying for Their Services The Lanigans assure you that you will be taken care of and receive the legal guidance and support from them: Eric A. Lanigan or Roddy B. Lanigan. You can ask anything you want and only they will work with you. There are no surprises where someone else will show up in court or in the office to handle your case. Realize that every e-mail, phone call, meeting may be billed. You should organize your questions carefully and stick to the facts and the more important information to maximize your time with the attorneys. You’ll work only withEric Lanigan or Roddy Lanigan, not a paralegal, not an associate. You’ll work with...
