Jointly signed car loan in bankruptcy

https://www.avvo.com/legal-answers/authorized/what-does-flagged-your-account-chapter-7-bankruptc-4940672.html#answer_10061593

What does flagged your account chapter 7 bankruptcy petition?  I filed chapter 7 and am waiting for my discharge which should be in about 3 weeks. But my auto lender just reported this and my auto loan was not included in my chapter 7. To my knowledge I am supposed to keep paying this payment and it shouldn’t be included. Mainly because my fiancé is cosigned on this account and I didn’t want it to affect her credit. What does this mean?

Answer by Jay K. Nixon, bankruptcy atty. in Kenosha & Janesville, WI:

I am guessing that you don't have a lawyer, which is a horrible mistake in anything as complex as a modern day bankruptcy. Atty. Bunce lists only a few of the bad things that can happen, but the real list is much longer and includes bankruptcy fraud investigations by the FBI, any time that you lie on your bankruptcy schedules by knowingly leaving a debt or asset off your paperwork. What your lawyer would have told you instead is "list and reaffirm the car loan," assuming that the loan to value ratio on the car was not upside down, and that it was still running well. That makes it perfectly legal to "not include" in the bankruptcy, and is even better for both your fiancé and the creditor, due to producing a federal court order that the lender can continue to do business with you, and collect from you if necessary, in the future, all with no adverse impact on your fiancé’s credit. And, an added benefit for you of reaffirming is that if you pay on time during and after bankruptcy; that creditor can then report your good payment history to the credit bureaus, putting you on the road to credit score which might actually be better than before the bankruptcy. As usual, there are also a few other options for either keeping the car, or getting rid of it, but attempting them on your own would probably only get you in worse trouble. You should therefore get a lawyer now, before your discharge is issued, while he or she can still undo some of the damage you have done to yourself with a misguided pro se filing attempt.

Ex Spouse Blackmail Using Ten Year Old Child Sexual Assault Allegation

https://www.avvo.com/legal-answers/authorized/can-i-access-the-investigators-notes-in-a-case-aga-4939826.html?utm_campaign=question_notify_immediate_pro&utm_content=answer_jd&utm_medium=email&utm_source=notification

Jay K. Nixon

10 reviews, Licensed for 40 years, Criminal Defense Attorney in Kenosha & Janesville, WI

You have a correct answer from Atty. Harkness already; open investigation files are not subject to the open records laws. The question here would be whether the ten year old investigation is indeed still open, as opposed to having been exceptionally cleared or determined unfounded. In child sexual abuse cases, the police often adopt the findings of the CPS (Child Protective Services) agency which handled the complaint, so if you must ask the question, that might be a better place to start than with the police. Either way, the question is, do you really want to ask? You would then risk drawing attention tan otherwise "lost" file, which could result in its re-activation. Instead, I would recommend hiring private civil counsel to threaten a lawsuit for an injunction, and/or harassment restraining order and prosecute it if necessary. A well worded cease and desist letter from accomplished local litigator will hopefully be enough, but you should also be ready to follow through in court if it it isn't. And, that type of litigation is so common that it would be less likely to draw attention to the case than going directly to law enforcement. In fact, officers are understandably loath to get involved in civil litigation, particularly this type, when the civil lawyers seem to be doing the job on their own, and this might even help to get the investigation closed as a "civil matter," if it is indeed still open.

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https://www.avvo.com/legal-answers/authorized/is-there-any-way-to-get-phone-records-of-a-decease-4927423.html?answered=true                      Is there any way to get phone records of a deceased loved one?      My brother recently took his own life. His wife and him were legally married but had not been together for months and he was there visiting his kids. We suspect foul play that she antagonized him to do it as she has mentally and emotionally been abusing him for many years. The small town police department refuse to look into it further claiming they could not get into his phone and just recently released it to her. Is there any way with a private investigator or an attorney to subpoena his records since the police have not?

1 attorney answer, Jay K. Nixon, 10 reviews, Licensed for 40 years, Avvo Rating: 10, Criminal Defense Attorney in Kenosha & Janesville, WI            

I am sorry for your loss. If you can get yourself appointed as personal representative of your deceased brother's estate, you should be able to get any records you need. I'm not sure that I'd believe that the police would have trouble getting phone records in a homicide investigation, but either way, a court appointed estate representative and the estate's agents, such as a private investigator, would certainly be able to get them. If you really suspect foul play in a so called suicide, the first step would be an autopsy, and I'm not sure that postmortems are automatically done in all of them, so you might want to check. As estate representative, you would also be able to pay for a private autopsy, either way, if it is not too late. In this scenario, there could well have already been one, finding nothing suspicious, and this is the reason the police have so little interest in follow-up. If there were highly suspicious circumstances suggesting a motive to kill him, such as the spouse purchasing life insurance on him shortly before the death, the police probably would probably have gone further on their own. Either way, on its own, emotional abuse probably would not rise to the level of "suspicious," however, since that is a common element of many estranged relationships.

https://www.avvo.com/attorney-answers/53548-wi-jay-nixon-1529181/answers.html

https://www.avvo.com/legal-answers/authorized/is-there-any-way-to-get-phone-records-of-a-decease-4927423.html?answered=true                      Is there any way to get phone records of a deceased loved one?      My brother recently took his own life. His wife and him were legally married but had not been together for months and he was there visiting his kids. We suspect foul play that she antagonized him to do it as she has mentally and emotionally been abusing him for many years. The small town police department refuse to look into it further claiming they could not get into his phone and just recently released it to her. Is there any way with a private investigator or an attorney to subpoena his records since the police have not?

1 attorney answer, Jay K. Nixon, 10 reviews, Licensed for 40 years, Avvo Rating: 10, Criminal Defense Attorney in Kenosha & Janesville, WI            

I am sorry for your loss. If you can get yourself appointed as personal representative of your deceased brother's estate, you should be able to get any records you need. I'm not sure that I'd believe that the police would have trouble getting phone records in a homicide investigation, but either way, a court appointed estate representative and the estate's agents, such as a private investigator, would certainly be able to get them. If you really suspect foul play in a so called suicide, the first step would be an autopsy, and I'm not sure that postmortems are automatically done in all of them, so you might want to check. As estate representative, you would also be able to pay for a private autopsy, either way, if it is not too late. In this scenario, there could well have already been one, finding nothing suspicious, and this is the reason the police have so little interest in follow-up. If there were highly suspicious circumstances suggesting a motive to kill him, such as the spouse purchasing life insurance on him shortly before the death, the police probably would probably have gone further on their own. Either way, on its own, emotional abuse probably would not rise to the level of "suspicious," however, since that is a common element of many estranged relationships.