AboutLos Angeles Bankruptcy Lawyer Leon D. Bayer Expertise Personal and small business bankruptcy. Mr. Bayer has successfully handled thousands of bankruptcy cases. You can view his personal web site at:
Publications Author, ?The Essentials Of Chapter 13,? Daily Journal Report, December 18, 1987.
Contributing Editor, Basic Bankruptcy, California Practice Handbook, Matthew Bender 1992, 1993.
CEB Consultant, CEB-Personal and Small Business Bankruptcy Practice in California, 2003.
Awards and Honors President, 1995-1996-Los Angeles Bankruptcy Forum; Member - Los Angeles County Bar Association Committee on Commercial Law & Bankruptcy, 1988. Law Advisory
Commission-Personal & Small Business Bankruptcy Law of the State Bar of California, 1996-2000
MR. BAYER SAYS: The big banks and credit card companys have been working overtime for many years to undermine the Consitutional right of the American people to be able to claim bankruptcy protection. In 2005 the banking lobby successfully convinced Congress and the President to make the laws and proceedures more complicated, hopeing that it will stymie legitimate people from filing bankruptcy. They succeeded in gaining these complex new legal proceedures by greasing the legislative system with hundreds of millions of dollars in "campaign contributions." The good news for the American people is that while the new laws have made the proceedures needlessly complex to the point where inexperienced people can't help but trip over the maze of new rules and regulations, the process is still doable, especially with a lawyer who is well trained and experienced in this specialty.
Question I'm the co-signer on a car lease, but my mother is the primary owner. I will most likely file for bankruptcy, but I don't want my mother's credit to be affected nor the car lease. Would my bankruptcy affected her at all? Would it affect the car lease even though I'm not the primary owner and just the co-signer? We have never missed a payment and always on time. Next year, we will renew the car lease with the same company. Would the bankruptcy affect this at all? Should I be taken off the title?
Thank you,
Answer The best I can do for you is to give you a partial answer.
There is a procedure in the bankruptcy case that may allow you to "assume" (in other words, keep) the car lease. However this requires the willingness of both you and the lender. If you are successful in assuming the lease, the lease is effectively removed from the bankruptcy. From what I have seen, this generally does not hurt the credit of the other person involved, but that is just an observation, not a guarantee.
As to your other question about renewing the lease, there is just too much up in the air to guess at what may happen. For example, suppose you and your mother are both unemployed at the time you want to renew the lease? Events like that, and the national economy in general, have a direct bearing on future events, and those are just anybody's guess.
