Legal Question in Bankruptcy in California

Re: Bankrupcy and Student loans

Prior to the new law taking effect, private student loans COULD be discharged in bankruptcy. Now they canNOT be discharged. That (I think) is why the first 2 responses here disagree with each other.

I do not understand the facts that occurred after the bankruptcy. Either the debt was private and discharged or something else happened.

You probably need to collect as much of the paperwork as you can from both the bankruptcy and the renegotiation and everything else and take it to a consumer attorney, preferable one who specializes in student loans.

Best of luck to you and your son.

-- Amy Kleinpeter

http://www.amykleinpeter.com

Re: Bankrupcy and Student loans

Your contention is that AFTER your son went bankrupt, the attorney said he was "released." Thus, your son did not file BECAUSE of the attorney's representation, because the attoreny made that representation afterwards. You say you would not have let him file had you known that the loans would not be discharged, but if he is old enough to file BK, then you have no control over what he does and does not do, as he is an adult. Student loans are backed by government funds and true student loans are never discharged. The attorney did not "ruin" your son, he did that all by himself; he should never have taken out loans or enter into obligations he cannot pay for. If he is old enough to run up debts he should be mature enough to accept responsibility for his own conduct intead of trying to blame others,

Re: Bankrupcy and Student loans

Student loans never get discharged through bankruptcy. Your attorney should have known that. You can always negotiate.... whether they will waive the interest and late charges that's their discretion.

Re: Bankrupcy and Student loans

Purely private student loans can be discharged in bankruptcy. I have had clients have their student loans discharged. However, if you only knew how extraordinarily complex this issue is, you would realize that it would be almost impossible to determing if your son's student loan should be discharged or not. It turns out that most, if not all student loans are tied in some way or another to a government program, which makes the loans non-dischargeable. The law on this issue is literally all over the board and appears to be contradictory. You could bring a motion in bankruptcy court to determine the dischargeability of the debt. However, if you rely on the law, even if you win, your case will be subject to an appeal--i.e., be prepared to pay in excess of $40,000 in attorney fees. It would be better for you to base the motion on the factual representations of the lender, i.e., telling you the debt was private--even if it is not, the fact your son relied upon those representations to his detriment might be enough to cause the court to determine the loan to be dischargeable. As far as the attorney representations go, it sounds like you have no case unless the attorney made you a guaranty the student loans would be discharged.