Orlando Bankruptcy Law Blog

Following a national trend, personal bankruptcy filings were down for the first four months of the year. Of course, while some are pointing to this as a sign of the downward economic trend finally starting to turn around, others are staying cautious as extended unemployment benefits are expected to be phased out and banks are once again initiating foreclosures.

When looking strictly at the changes in percentages of consumer bankruptcy filings, nationwide there was a 13 percent decrease for the first four months of 2012. Florida mirrored this statistic, also with a 13 percent decrease through April. In Orlando, there was a 10 percent drop during this same time.

However, it should be noted that Florida still ranks No. 2 in the country in terms of the sheer number of bankruptcies that are filed.

A Comfort Inn in Tampa, Florida, was recently added to a growing list of Chapter 11 bankruptcy filings by a family-owned business. In this most recent filing, the hotel lists assets between $1 million and $10 million and liabilities between $10 million and $50 million.

When looking at this recent Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing, the company, Roberts Cos., is run by two brothers. In total, the company owns 11 hotels nationwide. It appears times have also been tough for many of the hotels, as four others have filed for bankruptcy in the past five months.

A Florida business owner recently filed for bankruptcy. The news of this Chapter 7 bankruptcy filing comes less than two months after the two Subway stores he owned in Pompano Beach and Lauderdale-by-the-Sea closed.

According to the former owner's Chapter 7 bankruptcy filing, he has $889,379 in liabilities and $360,450 in assets.

In some business situations, financially it makes the most sense to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in order to reorganize.

A promising technology company in Ybor City, Florida, recently was one company to file for reorganization under the protection of Chapter 11 bankruptcy. According to the business bankruptcy filing, Savtira Corp., lists assets between $1 million and $10 million and liabilities between $10 million and $50 million.

Right now "Octomom" Nadya Suleman is in dire financial straits. She is relying on food stamps and Social Security disability, while also owing up to $1 million to creditors. And, to make matters even worse for the single mother of 14, she is $30,000 behind on rent payments on a home where the owner is also struggling. A foreclosure action on that home is scheduled for next week.

In response to her financial situation, Suleman said that in the past year she's had to make some tough decisions. Filing for Chapter 7 bankruptcy was reportedly one of those difficult decisions, yet something she said is ultimately the best for her children.

Many Florida residents have multiple credit cards. And while this is true for most Americans, it's also true that many rely on these credit cards as a way to get by and make every day purchases. This in turn can lead to serious credit card debt problems.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, there are roughly 1.4 billion credit cards currently held by consumers. This amounts to an average of 7.7 credit cards per person. These credit cards are used for more than 20 billion transactions a year totaling about $1.9 trillion in debt.

While the current economic client has been tough on many Florida residents and businesses, it turns out that there are some industries that are seeing huge decreases in revenue due to importing and technological changes. For some, this may end up leading to eventual bankruptcy.

A recent article looked at 10 of these specific industries, claiming that small business owners should take warning as these industries will end up obsolete one day.

The first one mentioned in the list is women and girl's apparel manufacturing. Due to overseas competitors, there has been an 8.2 percent annual decrease in revenue. According to one source, in the past 10 years, roughly half of all U.S. apparel manufacturers have also shut down.

One of the nation's largest home loan servicers is seeing a decline in the number of delinquent payments by homeowners in South Florida. In less than a year, those homeowners that were at least 60 days late dropped by a third, according to a spokesperson for Bank of America. The numbers show the decline from 30,000 late homeowners in June of last year to 19,000 this month. According to a federal report from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, this is a national trend as well.

According to the U.S. Treasury, more than 39,900 homeowners in 3 south Florida counties were able to receive mortgage modifications making their monthly payments more affordable. And more than 3,900 Florida families are currently on a trial modification plan. Loan modifications are helping to keep families in their homes, and helping to improve the housing crisis by reducing the number of late payments.