David Ostrander - Massachusetts Secured Debt and Mortgage Lawyer

We've represented many clients who filed for bankruptcy in order to keep their houses out of foreclosure due to mortgage payment defaults. If your mortgage is in serious default, or if your lender has begun to foreclose on your home, contact the Hampshire County home mortgage bankruptcy attorneys at the Ostrander Law Office in Northampton.

If you're concerned about an upcoming mortgage foreclosure sale, call us, attorneys David Ostrander and Denise Shear, without delay. Once the foreclosure sale has taken place, there's very little we can do to help you keep your house.

Secured claims - whether residential or commercial mortgages, auto loans, or any other debt secured by collateral - are generally not dischargeable in bankruptcy, except when defects in the mortgage or security agreement are identified during the bankruptcy case. That doesn't happen too often.

While the automatic stay of bankruptcy prevents the secured creditor or mortgage holder from taking immediate action on its claim, the creditor can apply for bankruptcy court permission to repossess or foreclose on the collateral. More often, however, especially in a Chapter 13 bankruptcy case, we can negotiate with your mortgage company to keep you in your house, and pay off the defaulted amounts over three to five years in the Chapter 13 plan. Even in a Chapter 7 case, if you have a regular income, we can arrange for a reaffirmation agreement with the mortgage holder to avoid the loss of your home.

Secured creditors are only secured to the extent of the value of the collateral. If the debt is $10,000, and the fair market value of the collateral -an automobile, for example - is only $8,000, then the creditor has a secured claim for most of the debt, and an unsecured claim subject to discharge for the remaining $2,000. In cases like this, Chapter 13 gives you the chance to resume your normal car payments, spread defaulted payments out over your Chapter 13 plan, and, in some situations, discharge that part of the claim that exceeds the value of the car.

Bankruptcy issues concerning secured claims, collateral values, and even disputes between secured creditors competing over the same collateral can get very complicated. For reliable advice about your particular circumstances, contact the western Massachusetts home mortgage foreclosure lawyers at Ostrander Law Office.

Western Massachusetts secured debt adjustment lawyers at the Ostrander Law Office advise individuals, families, and small businesses about home mortgages and car loans in Chapter 7 Chapter 13 bankruptcy cases. Northampton mortgage reaffirmation attorneys David Ostrander and Denise Shear represent bankruptcy clients in Hampshire County, Franklin County, Hampden County, Berkshire County, and Worcester County, including Springfield, Pittsfield, Chicopee, Amherst, Holyoke, Easthampton, Greenfield, Westfield, North Adams, Deerfield, Great Barrington, South Hadley, and Longmeadow MA.