Fort Worth, TX – Imagine being a mother of two barely getting by on your paycheck when a slight setback puts you behind on your mortgage payments. That is what happened to Yvonne, who asked that we not use her last name.
After having already been through a Chapter 7 Bankruptcy when she was separated from her husband, Yvonne went looking for help to save her home for her children. She found Robert A Higgins, a bankruptcy attorney and founder of Robert A. Higgins & Associates.
Higgins helped Yvonne file Chapter 13 bankruptcy in order to reorganize her debt and keep her family in the house that they have called home for the past 13 years.
“I only fell behind by a couple of months. I was trying to work with them. Then in June I just couldn’t keep up, and they told me that they were ready to start foreclosure proceedings at the beginning of August,” she said. “I had to do something to protect my home.”
Yvonne and her family are not alone. In North Texas, over 2,500 homes a month are scheduled for foreclosure.
It may not seem like the best option to file bankruptcy, but Chapter 13 protections in Texas can save a home from foreclosure and allow homeowners who may have fallen behind some time to catch up with their obligations.
State bankruptcy exemptions in Texas include the person’s homestead, up to 10 acres, in a city or town and up to 100 acres in rural areas (200 acres for a family farm).
“The law was created to protect home and hearth,” said Higgins. “As a bankruptcy attorney the most satisfying part of my job is helping hard working people keep their homes.”
Higgins and his firm represent hundreds of bankruptcy clients each year.
“Even in good economic times, a family illness or dispute can force people into a financial crisis,” Higgins explained. “Bankruptcy law is there to help someone who is at risk of further victimization from their situation.”
And Yvonne appreciates the help.
“I had tried to file with another attorney before I contacted Higgins & Associates,” she said. “The case was dismissed and I never heard from them again. Higgins & Associates has been a lifesaver for me.”
In the 12-month period ending in June, 934,009 personal bankruptcies were filed in the United States. Of those, 8,585 were filed in the Northern District of Texas, which includes Fort Worth and Tarrant County.
The number of bankruptcy filings in Texas’ Northern District was up 6.1 percent in that 12-month period, according to information released by the courts.
“It seems like more and more people are getting in over their heads,” Higgins said. “I see several things that are to blame, divorce, loss of job, medical bills, loose lending standards, predatory lenders or the borrower that didn’t really know how far in debt that they were getting are some of the more common situations. What matters is that there is a way to get out of this mess.”
Robert A. Higgins is a leading bankruptcy attorney in Fort Worth and founding partner of Higgins & Associates, a firm that has helped thousands of clients protect their assets through personal bankruptcy filings.
