New Office Location!

A  new month brings new opportunities for The Carroll Law Firm. October 3, 2011 marks the first day The Carroll Law Firm will open their doors to the new office location. Since Jim Carroll first opened The Carroll Law Firm, the practice has grown from a single attorney to five, and is now in need for a larger office space. Our new office is still located in the Gateway Office Park, but will now be in Suite E-101. The new location is about double in size of the old offices and offers more convenient parking for our clients. We will be holding an open house on October 21, 2011 from 4pm to 8pm. We invite everyone to come see our new office location and enjoy food and drinks to celebrate the expansion of The Carroll Law Firm.

New Address:
The Carroll Law Firm PLC
42104 N. Venture Drive, Suite E-101
Anthem, AZ 85086

Why You May Wish to Change or Update your Estate Planning Documents

At the Carroll Law Firm, we help clients plan their estate by preparing documents including Simple Wills, Durable General Powers of Attorney (AKA Business Powers of Attorney), Healthcare Power of Attorney, Living Wills, Beneficiary Deeds and even Trusts.

Every time you move to a new state, you should prepare a new will. Each state has different laws for probating an estate, and if you do not have a new will prepared, you could leave your beneficiaries liable for problems that you could have helped them avoid such as inheritance taxes, real estate complications and more. The only way to ensure that your true wishes will be carried out upon death is to have a will prepared in accordance with state laws of your primary residence.

In addition to a new will, you also should make sure your Trust adheres to local laws. If you already have a trust, an attorney can prepare an amendment to that trust to make sure that the trust is interpreted according to Arizona law.

The Working Man’s Bailout: Chapter Seven Bankruptcy

The Carroll Law Firm is not “a Bankruptcy Law Firm”, and it never was our intention or expectation that we would be filing as many Bankruptcy Petitions on behalf of so many individuals, families and businesses.  In fact, in 2007 when the Arizona office was first opened, if you needed representation in a Bankruptcy Proceeding, we would have referred you to another lawyer.  Needless to say, as our Arizona office started to grow, we received more and more calls and consultations where it became obvious that for many of our clients a Bankruptcy filing made a lot of sense.  So, we purchased the latest software, expanded the firm, and offered to represent people who needed to file Bankruptcy Proceedings.

Although most people have been able to survive the recession and still have their jobs and are able to pay their bills, many of their neighbors are not so fortunate.    Their homes are underwater, they can no longer keep up with the minimum payments on their credit cards, which are now “tapped out,” and their income is shrinking.  For years, most Americans lived “within their means” and many more lived beyond them.  Based on past performance of real estate, there was a realistic expectation that they would continue to build equity in their homes.  So what difference did it make if you ran up $10,000 in credit card debt if your home appreciated $20,000 last year.  And when you reached your credit card limit you merely took an equity line against your home to pay off your credit card, and then started the “cycle” of debt building all over again.  But then came the recession, and the cash cow that was our homes no longer had any equity, and when the borrowers reached their credit card limits they “hit the wall.” If they happened to be late on their credit card payments their minimum payments increased dramatically as the interest on the card adjusted to the “default rate”, which often was as much as 30%. They could no longer keep up with huge car payments and many had their vehicles repossessed resulting in thousands of dollars in deficiencies.  Ultimately, their creditors levy their bank accounts sweeping away their small remaining savings balances and they find their wages are being garnished.  What was once the American Dream has now become their worst nightmare, and they feel they are unable to control their lives.

Should I Max out my Credit Cards before Filing Bankruptcy?

We have heard of attorneys encouraging people to max out their credit cards before filing bankruptcy.  Our attorneys strongly disagree with this advice for several reasons.  First it is dishonest.  Some people would say that  filing bankruptcy is dishonest in itself, so why not get as much out of it as you can.  Filing bankruptcy is not dishonest.  Our attorneys help clients who have come to the realization that paying all of their creditors is either not possible, or puts such a burden on them and their family that it is necessary to file bankruptcy to obtain peace in their home.  This action is not dishonest, it is honestly evaluating options to get out of a bad situation, and bankruptcy is one of those options.

What is dishonest is making a promise to repay money when you do not intend to repay it.  We advise clients to first decide which option they think is best to get out of their current debt situation.  If they plan to file bankruptcy, then they need to stop borrowing money, unless there is a plan and an intention to repay the debt even after bankruptcy.  One example is borrowing money to buy a car, when you intend to keep the car and pay the debt after a bankruptcy.  When someone borrows money with a promise to pay it back, but at the time they borrow it they have no intention of paying it back, this action is fraud.  Our attorneys do not advise our clients to commit fraud, or assist them in doing so.

Exemptions in Bankruptcy

What are the exemptions in Arizona, and what can I keep if I file bankruptcy?

Each state chooses exemptions that apply in filing bankruptcy, and can either choose to allow use of the federal exemptions, or not.  In Arizona the federal exemptions are NOT available, a debtor must use the state exemptions.

In Arizona, the list of exemptions state the items that a creditor cannot take when enforcing a debt obligation.  These exemptions apply whether or not someone files for bankruptcy.  One reason that many people choose to file for bankruptcy (besides the harassment they receive from creditors) is that wages only have a 75% exemption, meaning that once a creditor has a judgement they can take 25% of a paycheck on an ongoing basis, until the debt is paid in full with all of the interest, late fees, attorney fees, penalties and such.