WHAT do I mean by “very senior client”? The client is 90 years old. Is that senior or what? He qualifies as my second most senior client being 92 ten years ago.
Well, the oldest human in CA died last year at 101. That was not my client. My most senior client was 82 when we filed his Chapter 7 case to wipe out $40K of credit cards. After he got his discharge, he started fresh without debt and got a new wife who was 30 years younger. So, that’s what you get with your fresh start at the age of 82. You feel young again. That’s what he told me when he brought over his new wife to introduce to me.
I think it is good to have some tales of longevity amidst all the intense media daily minute-to-minute coverage of COVID-19. Let’s put things in perspective. The sky is not falling. This too will pass. And the world will go back to normal, except that the Ukraine war is still going on. The vaccines work. It does not matter who develops the vaccine as long as it works. The virus does not distinguish race or geography. The important thing is for all races, the whole of humanity to unite to fight it. Besides, the mortality rate is low. People over 60, and those with weaker immune systems, have a higher mortality rate of 14%. But by and large, the mortality rate is 3.5%. This means, even if you get infected, you will most likely recover from it if you are vaccinated.
My 90-year-old client has a lot more to worry about. First, who needs $34,000 of credit cards at 90? The client needs at least $1,000 a month of minimum payments to keep those current every month. His social security is $1,600. And he has a pension of $400. So he has $2,000 of monthly retirement income. Half of that goes to pay credit cards just to keep them current. Second, right after we filed his bankruptcy case, his kidney started acting up. His filtration rate drops from 40% to 15%. You would think that dialysis would solve the problem. But his doctor just discovered a mass growing in his kidney, which biopsy reveals is cancerous.
Back to my very senior client. He had a business, but it was not making money and he literally got scammed out of hundreds of thousands of dollars by one of those Nigerian scams targeting seniors. When you get an unsolicited call or contact who tells you that there is a pot of gold, a huge pot of gold, in your name worth millions of dollars and all you have to do is give him some money in advance and the pot of gold is all yours, do not believe that fairy tale. It is false. It is not true. It is a scam to get money from you. And for you senior ladies who get those calls that your Mr. Romeo that you have never met across the Atlantic Ocean, needs money from you for whatever reasons, do not believe he loves you.
I know you are tempted to take $50,000 from your credit cards to send to Mr. Romeo. Do not do it. But if you have already sent him the money and cannot pay back the $50,000 of credit cards, it is time to consider wiping out those cards with Chapter 7.
My senior client cannot do a Chapter 7 because he has a lot of non-exempt equity in his house. He can only do Chapter 13 to handle those credit cards. The plan payment in Chapter 13 will be much less than $1,000 a month but it still hurts him because what he really needs is Chapter 7 where all of the $34,000 is wiped out without any payment. In Chapter 7, the trustee would have the power to force the sale of his house and use the proceeds to pay off the $34,000, after paying client his $600,000 of exempt equity. This would be like using a sledgehammer to kill a mosquito. Of course nobody wants to lose his house for $34,000 of credit cards, right? I would not file a Chapter 7 for very senior client under any circumstance because I do not want him to lose his house. In his case, Chapter 13 is the best alternative. It would protect his house from creditor liens from the $34,000 of credit cards, and at the same time it would allow him five years to pay off the $34,000 without interest and during these five years, creditors will be prohibited from calling him, and continuing collection efforts, including lawsuits, garnishments and levies. It gives him peace of mind for the next five years while his house is protected from creditors.
The question is, will he live another five years? That is up to God really. God may still have a purpose for him to achieve in the next five years. He can always rely on Psalm 91. I use it every day. He is my God, in Him I trust. He is my rock eternal. He is my defender and protector.
If you have debt problem and need debt relief, please set an appointment to see me. I will analyze your case personally.
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Disclaimer: None of the foregoing is considered legal opinion and no attorney-client relationship is created between the reader, any third party and attorney.
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Lawrence Bautista Yang specializes in Bankruptcy, Business, Real Estate and Civil Litigation and has successfully represented more than five thousand clients in California. Please call Angie, Barbara or Jess at (626) 284-1142 for an appointment at 20274 Carrey Road, Walnut, CA 91789 or 1000 S. Fremont Ave., Mailstop 58, Building A-10 South Suite 10042, Alhambra, CA 91803.
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