Get Out Of Debt

When you are trying to resolve your NJ divorce or family law matter, it is important to understand the basic legal issues involved in a divorce and how they can affect you. This article will answer some typical questions related to child custody, alimony, spousal support, and child support.

What is the Most Common Type of Child Custody?

There are various child custody arrangements, but the most common type is joint legal custody. Joint legal custody is often considered when there are two (2) loving parents who want to continue to be a part of the child´s life and make decisions regarding the child´s health, education, religion and general welfare. In a joint legal custody arrangement, the child lives primarily with one parent and a child visitation schedule is established for the other parent. This child visitation schedule can be set up in any number of ways to suit your personal circumstances. It is always best to discuss your specific situation with an experienced New Jersey child custody lawyer so you can better understand your rights.

When Does Alimony End?

New Jersey alimony, otherwise known as spousal support, will automatically end upon either party´s death or upon the recipient´s remarriage. However, alimony payments can be terminated for reasons other than death or remarriage. For example, in limited duration alimony cases there are a fixed number of years that alimony will be paid. This means that both parties will know the specific date that alimony will end. Some people prefer to pay alimony in one lump sum, which means that alimony will begin and end with this lump sum payment.

In permanent alimony situation, you should not be misled into believing that these spousal support payments will be made until the end of time or until the recipient is in their 90s. This is simply not the case. There are many occasions when permanent alimony can terminate upon the paying party´s retirement or the recipient´s cohabitation.

When is a Child Considered Emancipated for Child Support Purposes?

In New Jersey, emancipation of a child occurs when a child is no longer dependent upon their parent for financial and other support. Specifically, a child is considered to be emancipated when they go “beyond the sphere of influence”. In many States, emancipation of a child occurs when the child reaches the age of 18. However, in New Jersey, the age of the child is not necessarily the determining factor. More often than not, a child turning 18 years old has or will be graduating from high school. At that time, if the child continues his or her education at a university, college or trade school for instance, then the child´s emancipation date in New Jersey is generally extended. This means that both parents have on-going New Jersey child support obligations which can include contributions towards the child´s higher educational costs.

For more legal help and legal information about New Jersey (NJ) child custody, alimony, spousal and child support, family law and divorce related issues or to download a FREE copy of my divorce guide, visit my web-site at www.weinbergerlawgroup.com

If you need to get control of all the bills, paperwork and account statements that keep flooding your mailbox, you might want to consider debt consolidation. A debt consolidation lender can help you merge all those accounts into one single loan. So how do you find one? Try:

Looking online!

Do an Internet search for words like “debt consolidator,” “debt consolidation,” or “debt management.” Chances are you’ll find thousands of companies that can help you consolidate your accounts into one manageable bill. In general, these companies don’t loan you money. Instead, they work with your creditors and you to come up with a monthly payment plan. They take a lump sum payment from you each month, and then divvy it up and send out the appropriate amounts to all your creditors. Essentially, they do your bill-paying for you!

Checking regular banks!

You might also want to consider getting a debt consolidation loan from a regular bank, credit union or other traditional lender. Some will give you a Home Equity Loan or Home Equity Line of Credit, which will provide you with the cash you need to pay off your creditors. After that, you’ll only have to worry about paying off your Home Equity Loan! Others might give you a personal loan or other type of debt consolidation loan, especially if you can secure it with collateral, such as a car or stocks and bonds.

Asking friends and family!

It might seem like you’re the only person who has ever needed to consolidate debt, but chances are you’re not alone. Most folks have found themselves in a sticky financial situation at some point in time. Ask close friends and family if they have any experience with debt consolidation lenders. It’s likely that someone will be able to recommend a service or company that can meet your needs.

Try using one of ABC Loan Guide’s Recommended Debt Consolidation Companies Online.

There are lots of different options for debt consolidation loans, depending on your personal circumstances like home ownership, available collateral and your credit score. Before making a decision, be sure to explore various options so you can find the best loan for your situation.

For many people, overwhelming credit card debt is not the thing that they fear having happen to them the most financially. When a wave of credit card debt crashes on you, though, you are sure to feel a distinct sinking feeling.

Take heart, though, because they are lots of ways to deal with credit card debt effectively. One option is credit card debt negotiation. This method reduces the total amount of debt that you owe or at least helps you to discover a payment plan that is easier for you to carry out.

Credit card negotiation plans can be employed once the account has been passed on by the credit card company to a third-party collection agency. You very well may be able to negotiate a four thousand dollar outstanding balance into two thousand dollars if you are willing to pay a lump sum.

The company’s ultimate goal is receiving some kind of money from you. For that reason, it is actually more advantageous for them to accept your lump sum payment. It also works out great for the person that owes the money since their debt goes away.

Both parties involved, lender and debtor, receive benefits from credit card debt negotiation plans. Filing for bankruptcy or ignoring your debt will cause much more damaging effects to your credit than debt negotiation ever will.

How to Do It

The most effective way to negotiate your credit card debt is also the cheapest; calling the creditors whom you owe money to and letting them know about your situation. This will not work out perfectly in every situation, but it is likely that at least one or even several may be willing to work with you.

In the perfect and thus unrealistic situation that we all dream of, all the debt collectors you call would be happy to reduce you debt. This is not the case, but if you manage to find even just one company willing to cut you debt in half, your credit card negotiation plans will have been completely successful.

Do you have several credit cards that have reached their limits and you find that paying the minimum monthly requirement is getting difficult? If you add the expenses of car payments, insurance, and mortgages on top of your mounting debt this can lead to a feeling of being financially overwhelmed. The way a debt reduction service operates is when you owe a particular balance to a creditor and negotiate to pay a lower balance. This differs from debt consolidation in that when you consolidate you pay a lump sum to an agency that then disperses the monies to the creditors that you owe. Creditors will agree to debt reduction if they believe that it is in their best interest.

Typically, those who request debt reduction services are individuals who are considering the option of bankruptcy as a form of clearing out their debt. Certain situations affect the pay off amount that creditors will offer. They will look at your credit report to see how you are paying your other debts. If it appears, you are paying everyone else in a timely fashion and neglecting them, they will most likely offer a high settlement based on the fact you appear to have the finances to be faithful to your other obligations. On the other hand, if they notice that your credit report shows you are not paying anyone they may offer a lower settlement. If their offer is in your opinion to high, then you can gather your financial information, including all incomes received and outgoing expenses to negotiate for a lower settlement offer.

When you have received a settlement offer either through a company you have hired or through negotiating yourself the creditor expects you to pay off the settlement with a one-time lump sum payment. There are exceptions to this rule such as if your debt is significantly high the creditor may consider payment arrangements over a short period. Usually they will offer up to six months. Another option is in using a debt reduction service that can negotiate for the settlement payments to stretch over a period up to four years.

The idea of using debt reduction services as a form of reducing your debt in and of itself sounds like a great idea. There are some points to consider if you are an individual who has good credit and has found himself or herself in a difficult spot financially, consider carefully before engaging in a debt reduction service. Once you do use this method, it will significantly lower your credit score, making obtaining credit more difficult. If you, on the other hand, are someone who has had a history of poor credit actually using a debt reduction service can change your bad credit rating from poor to good thus enhancing your credit status.

If you’re thinking about using a debt consolidation or debt settlement service to help you get out of debt faster and save money on your monthly payments, make sure you do your homework before choosing a company. There are definitely shams and scams out there.

First let me say that debt consolidation is *not* the same as debt settlement/negotiation, which most people don’t realize.

Debt settlement companies charge hundreds of dollars as an initial “admin fee” to set up your account, plus a monthly service fee. The fees vary depending on the company and the amount of your debts.

Such companies take your money every month, but don’t make monthly payments to your creditors! Instead, they put it in a trust account, negotiate your debts with your creditors, then make a lump-sum payment when there’s enough in your account to pay a creditor in full.

That can take *years* depending on the amount of debt you have with each creditor. Meanwhile, you can be sued by your creditors and your wages can be garnished! (Or just don’t make payments to your creditors. You’ll end up in the same spot without paying someone to help you get there!)

Settlement companies don’t ask your creditors to stop all interest, late fees and overlimit fees from accruing. That means while the negotiations are ongoing, your bills will continue to grow! So if you’re sued and a judgement is brought against you, you’ll owe more money than before!

And shoddy companies, which there are alot of, don’t tell you *any* of this up front. I call it “getting permission by omission” because they simply don’t tell you how their program works *before* you sign an agreement with them. Or after, for that matter. But if you ask the right questions, eventually you’ll figure it out. (Or when the crap hits the fan. Whichever comes first.)

Let me give you an example of how debt settlement works.

Let’s say you have $20,000 in unsecured credit card debt. You owe $10,000 to one credit card company, $6,000 to another and $4,000 to a third. You agree to a 5 year plan where you pay $250 a month to the settlement company. (After all, $250 a month for 60 months is only $15,000, so you’re saving $5,000 and you’ll be debt-free in 5 years, right?)

The admin fee will cost you $750. Your first 3 monthly payments go towards that and nothing gets put into your trust account until your 4th month.

The settlement company keeps $50 of your $250 payment each month for the service fee. That means $200 a month is being added to your trust account.

Most debt settlement companies claim to be able to negotiate your debt for about 50% of what you owe. So let’s use the lowest credit card debt as an example.

If you owe $4,000 and your creditor agrees to accept $2,000 as payment in full, it will take 10 months at $200 per month to have enough in your trust account to pay off just that one credit card.

But remember, your first 3 payments to the settlement company only paid the admin fee. That means your first credit card settlement is 14 months *after* you started sending them money.

So what’s the problem? It’s simple. Your creditor won’t agree to accept half of your actual debt unless, or until, it can be paid in full. Otherwise, you’re expected to make your normal monthly payments.

Since you don’t have $2,000 in your trust account, and you won’t have it until more than a year after you stopped paying your creditor directly, they’ll probably take you to court and request that your wages be garnished long before you have that $2,000 built up.

And what about your other creditors? Well, they’ll be waiting even longer to get their money from the settlement company. The $6,000 debt will take 15 *more* months to pay off, assuming your creditor waits that long and agrees to 50%. And that $10,000 bill? You do the math.

On the other hand, if you signed up for a 3 year plan with the settlement company, your debts would be paid off sooner. But, the question is, will your creditors wait that long? Probably not.

The facts are, you can negotiate with your creditors yourself. Most will agree to take a smaller monthly payment from you and stop all interest and fees from accruing. And, of course, you’ll save thousands of dollars in fees to a settlement company.

Before signing up for any service, please be sure you check out the company thoroughly. And don’t let the words “non-profit” fool you either. Alot of debt settlement companies claim to be non-profit.

Going back to the example above, if you pay them $15,000 over a 5 year time frame and they settle your debts at half of what you owed, they’ll make $5,000 from you. I’d call that a profit, especially since they might not have actually helped you in any way.

Most companies will allow you to cancel your account and get a refund of what you’ve paid, less the non-refundable admin fee and the monthly service fees. If you feel you’ve been mislead about their program, don’t hesitate to argue til the cows come home. File a complaint with the Better Business Bureau or hire an attorney if you feel you’re getting nowhere.

You can visit the Better Business Bureau’s website ( http://www.bbb.org ) and find reports on hundreds of companies. Here’s a small listing of companies that have poor reputations with the BBB:

National Consumer Debt Council LLC – Irvine, CA (A.K.A. NCDC, United Consumer Law Group)

Financial Rescue Services – Burbank, CA

Debt Legal Services – Anaheim, CA

American Debt Relief – Los Angeles, CA (A.K.A. A M Debt, American Debts Relief, Debt Relief)

Please be very cautious when choosing a debt help company and ask lots of questions before agreeing to anything. If you find they’re evading your questions, run fast and run far. There are reputable companies out there, so keep looking until you find one.