Lakes_area_lawyer's blog

Clients sometimes ask me if I am 'aggressive', or if an 'aggressive' attorney is what they need. We have all seen TV attorneys yelling, pounding tables, asking intrusive personal questions of witnesses, and sometimes getting in the witnesses face in court. It makes great TV, but, like much of what is on TV is not reality. That type of behavior is not allowed in any court I have been in, and judges, like most of us, do not like bullies and expect attorneys to act in a civil and professional manner.

A Reaffirmation Agreement is a contract signed by a person filing bankruptcy agreeing to pay back a loan that would otherwise be taken care of (discharged) in the bankruptcy. Banks and credit unions often propose that you sign reaffirmation agreements for what are called secured debts, loans attached to a piece of property such as a car or house.

Should I sign the Reaffirmation Agreement?

Seeing all the aggressive advertising about DUI defense, one could get the impression that there is an easy way for a good lawyer to beat DUI charges. The short answer, in most cases there is not. DUI in Minnesota, and most other states is primarily based on blood alcohol levels, which have become much easier to record in recent decades. .08 is the limit here, and in most other states. For most of us, three drinks will put as near or over this limit. This is less than what is commonly thought of as being drunk.

Police are probably one of the most televised occupations, many shows focus on law enforcement and almost every program seems to have at least a few police in it. Many of us think that the legal system works the way it does on tv. In some ways it does, but there are important differences. You have probably seen tv suspects being 'read their rights', usually when they are arrested. These rights, called the Miranda warnings, are required to be read by real life police in certain situations, but not just because they are arresting someone.

The short answer, no. Almost all of the debt eliminated in bankruptcy is owed to banks and credit card companies. These business have recorded record profits, in the hundreds of billions in the last few years alone. They have received additional billions of dollars in bailout funds from the government while foreclosures and aggressive debt collection have continued. If it is a choice between paying your credit card debt, and needed medical care for you or your children, car repairs, food and clothes for the kids, do not feel guilty about choosing your family over paying the bank.