You are legally required to have $10,000 in personal injury protection (PIP) benefits to drive a car in Florida. This coverage is meant to pay for your medical expenses if you have been involved in an automobile accident. The law requires you to seek treatment within 14 days, otherwise you forfeit your coverage even though your have paid your policy premium on time. Even if you receive treatment within 14 days, you may be limited to only $2,500 of your $10,000 in coverage if you do not get an opinion from a medical doctor that you have sustained a serious injury or “emergency medical condition”. Now it is more important than ever to consult with an attorney after an accident to protect your benefits.
If you have a debt that has been “charged off” this means that your original creditor has written your debt off their books. However, this DOES NOT mean that you are not responsible for the payment of the debt. Creditors often sell individual debts to third party collection companies whose business is debt collection. The collection company will first contact you in an attempt to collect the debt and if unsuccessful will take further actions such as filing a lawsuit and obtaining a judgment. After a judgment is entered, the creditor has the power to garnish wages, seize assets, or assert a lien against your property.
If you are uncertain whether or not an “old debt” is still valid, you should pull a credit report to obtain the date of your last payment to each creditor to determine whether the time has expired for the creditor to collect against the debt. If you are dealing with a creditor pursuing a debt that has been “charged off” or old debt and want to evaluate whether or not the debt is valid feel free to contact me to discuss your options.
Many people are confused about what insurance coverage they carry. I have heard time and time again that people believe they have “full coverage” after being involved in an automobile accident when they have minimal coverage. The Florida Responsibility Law does require each driver to have minimum limits of bodily injury liability of $10,000 per person, $20,000 per crash, $10,000 in property liability per crash and personal injury protection benefits of $10,000 per person per crash. Often times, these minimum requirements are not enough coverage if you are involved in a serious accident.
There are multiple types of coverage you can elect to buy when you renew your insurance policy. Here are a few:
Bodily Injury Coverage: This is protection offered if you or the driver of your vehicle injures another person while driving your car.
Personal Injury Protection Coverage: This will pay medical expenses and/or lost wages for you and your passengers, if injured in an accident. The typical amount of coverage is $10,000. The amount of the deductible varies with each policy. Florida Law requires that you go to the doctor within 14 days from the date of accident otherwise you can lose the ability to collect any of your PIP coverage. In order to receive the full amount ($10,000) in coverage, you must be diagnosed with an emergency medical condition, otherwise you maybe limited to collecting a maximum of $2,500 in benefits.
Property Damage Coverage: This is the amount that the insurance company will pay to repair vehicles involved in the accident.
Uninsured/Underinsured Motorist (UM) Coverage: This type of insurance will cover you if you have been injured and the at-fault party has no insurance or inadequate insurance to compensate you for your injuries.
Should you have any questions regarding automobile coverage, contact my law firm to discuss your options.
This is the most common question I get during an initial phone call. There are three components to look at to determine the total cost of your bankruptcy:
Credit Counseling
Court Costs mandated by the Middle District (Federal Bankruptcy Court)
Attorneys Fees
Credit Counseling is a pre-requisite to filing your case. This means every person who files a case must complete a credit-counseling course. The good news is its inexpensive and costs about $20-45 and can be done at home on-line. It takes about an hour and many clients actually find it informative. The court costs to file a Chapter 7 bankruptcy are: $338 dollars and $313 dollars to file a Chapter 13 case. The court not the attorney sets these mandatory court filing fees.
The Middle District Court (Federal Bankruptcy Court) actually mandates how much an attorney can charge for Chapter 7 cases, Chapter 13 cases, motions and attendance at hearings. For this reason, there is generally not a huge variation on what attorneys charge their clients. In fact, every attorney is required to file a fee disclosure with the court on every single case to make sure you are being charged a fair attorney fee.
My fee will vary slightly depending on the complexity of the case. I do not advertise for $300 bankruptcy as a tactic to upsell you when you get into my office for the initial consult. I am completely upfront with you on a total price during the initial consult. I will handle every aspect of your case thoroughly from beginning to end to make sure the outcome is successful and stress free for you. With that being said, if you make this a priority and its important to you to get your bankruptcy filed, I will absolutely work with you to make an arrangement that meets you budget. We offer affordable monthly payment plans to fit your budget. Do not let that be an obstacle to getting the help you need.
Making the wrong choice on an attorney can be a very costly mistake. If the proper exemptions are not claimed and the attorney has not thoroughly reviewed all of your documents – you may end up paying a lot more to the trustee than to your lawyer if the paperwork is not filed correctly. Especially when its unexpected and you cannot afford it. While the costs and fees are several hundred dollars – many people discharge tens of thousands of dollars in debt so the benefit is huge relative to the cost. If you have any questions regarding the cost to file your bankruptcy please contact me.
