Stop garnishments and lawsuits! Stop foreclosure and save your home. Stop tax levies! Keep your cars, home and property. Our attorneys have over 100 years combined experience since 1978 and have helped thousands get a fresh start through chapter 13 bankruptcy and chapter 7 bankruptcy throughout Oregon and Washington. Consultations are always FREE! We can help end the harassment. We have an office near you.

Call us at the local number for your city below or 1 (800) 682-9568 for immediate answers or to schedule a free appointment. Chat live by clicking the icon to the right or send us an email for a fast response. We help protect our clients from creditor harassment, identity theft and false credit reporting.

Chapter 7 Bankruptcy

When you file a chapter 7 bankruptcy you list all of your creditors and all of your assets. We prepare a bankruptcy petition and schedules from information you help provide for us. When we file the bankruptcy case an automatic stay is imposed stopping all collection action including garnishments. After your bankruptcy case is filed you attend a bankruptcy hearing approximately 30 days later and you receive a discharge, your debts are officially wiped out, in 60 more days. In the vast majority of chapter 7 bankruptcy cases no one loses any property. You keep your car, house, cash, and more. What you are allowed to keep is based on the exemptions for your state. Chapter 7 is the answer for most persons that need to file bankruptcy.

Our job is to see that things are in order so that you do not lose anything when you file a chapter 7 bankruptcy. We will also be there after the bankruptcy is filed. We will always be available to answer your questions even years into the future. In fact, one of our attorneys specializes in suing creditors that abuse debtors even after bankruptcy has been filed. A chapter 7 bankruptcy will not discharge taxes that are less than three years old or taxes that have not been assessed more than two years before the chapter 7 bankruptcy is filed. A chapter 7 bankruptcy will not discharge child support, student loans, withholding taxes, nor resolve a defaulted home mortgage. It will wipe out credit card and medical debts. A chapter 7 bankruptcy can be filed every eight years. If a chapter 7 bankruptcy is not an option then a chapter 13 bankruptcy can often solve your problems.

Filing a bankruptcy is not the same wherever you go. Because of the change in the laws there are many different legal options and strategies available that will either cost you money or save you money. You want an attorney with the experience and expertise to solve your problem in the best way possible for you -- not the attorney or the creditors. Our firm files well over a hundred cases each and every month. We are very busy in this field. There is a reason for that -- we are good at what we do. We have the experience that you deserve.

Chapter 13 Bankruptcy

Chapter 13 bankruptcy can resolve many issues that cannot be solved in a chapter 7 bankruptcy. For example, a chapter 13 bankruptcy will stop a foreclosure and allow you to catch up on your mortgage over three to five years. For example, perhaps you are behind $10,000 on your mortgage and in foreclosure. When you file a chapter 13 the foreclosure is stopped, you resume making your mortgage payments at the normal amount, and the amount you are behind ($10,000) can be paid over five years -- $166 per month.

Chapter 13 allows you pay taxes eliminating the penalties and stopping interest, stopping tax collections and harrassment. A chapter 13 can be filed to protect an asset that you would lose in a regular bankruptcy, for example too much equity in a home or a car that is worth too much. Chapter 13 can be filed more often than regular bankruptcy and is the answer if your income is too high to qualify for a regular bankruptcy. Depending on how long you have owned your car, in chapter 13 bankruptcy we can lower the amount you owe on the car and only pay what it is worth drastically reducing payments. Chapter 13 bankruptcy can provide for past due child support and stop garnishments. Chapter 13 will also allow you to keep your business. Chapter 13 normally will discharge all or the vast majority of your unsecured debt! When you consult with us we will go over your situation in detail and come up with a plan to resolve your problem no matter how complex it might seem to you now. Many people are pleasantly surprised when they realize the options that are available to them.

It is very important that you employ an experienced and expert attorney when you file a chapter 13. A chapter 13 case can be filed in many different ways which will save or cost you money. This is a major reason why you want a firm that are experts in this area. Our firm files many hundreds of chapter 13s every year. Our attorneys have had decades of experience in this area. Call us at our local number or 1 (800) 682-9568 to discuss your options.

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News

• June 29, 2009, House Bill 2306 was signed into law by Governor Kulongoski last Friday and becomes effective immediately. This bill raises the homestead exemption for a single person to $40,000 and a married couple to $50,000. The vehicle exemption has been raised to $3000 for an individual or $6000 for one vehicle for a couple. Attorney Keith Karnes of Olsen Olsen and Daines worked extensively with the Oregon legislature on behalf of the firm to help make this change. We express our deep appreciation to Keith for his efforts in this regard. According to managing partner Eric Olsen, "this increase in exemptions will help thousands of Oregonians preserve their homes and cars."
   
• June 6, 2009, Olsen, Olsen & Daines proudly announces the opening of its new Tacoma office located at 15 Oregon Avenue, suite 107E in Tacoma. This location offers greater convenience for our clients with its central location and friendly staff.
   
• May 2, 2009, Olsen, Olsen & Daines attorney Keith Karnes will be speaking at a Home Ownership Preservation Event (HOPE) event at the Memorial Coliseum. This is an important event intended to assist homeowners at risk of foreclosure. The event is open to the general public and the main purpose is to provide information and possible options specific to at risk homeowners, particularly to those who occupy their homes as a primary residence, one-to-four unit properties. Mr. Karnes will be speaking from 12:30 to 1:15 on "Foreclosure – how lawyers can help". Click here to download the flier.
   
• March 18, 2009, Olsen, Olsen & Daines attorney Lars Olsen appears on Eugene local NBC affiliate KMTR. He explains that bankruptcy filing rates have soared in conjunction with the plummeting economy.See the full broadcast here.
   
• March 9, 2009, Debt-strapped homeowners unable to afford their mortgages could get their monthly payments lowered in bankruptcy court under President Obama's housing rescue plan. The legislation is part of a broader housing package scheduled for a House vote on Thursday. Read the Full Article.
   
• February 24, 2009, Eric Olsen was interviewed about bankruptcy on the Bill Meyer Talk Show on KMED Radio in Medford, Oregon. Eric discussed current legislation before Congress that would allow mortgage balances to be lowered to their market values, eliminating second mortgages under current law and the fraudulent practices of credit rehabilitation companies. Listen to the interview here.
   
• Fernando Velez of the State of Oregon Department of Consumer and Business Services has asked us to notify our clients of an increase of in-state and out of state con artists. Read his full letter here.
   
• Attorney Matthew A. Casper has joined the firm. Matthew Casper received a JD from Lewis and Clark Law School and a BA in Philosophy from Brigham Young University. He is admitted to practice before the United States District Court for the District of Oregon and the State Courts of Oregon. Mr. Casper focuses his practice on bankruptcy and brings his experience to the firm to head up the Portland offices. Matt has been married for 8 years and has three beautiful children. When he is not at work, Matt likes to spend time with his family, especially working in the garden and camping. On any given weekend you will find his family sitting around a campfire.
   
• Business Week magazine reports that "banks are worsening the foreclosure crisis." Read the Full Article.
   
• KATU Channel 2 news reports that nasty debt collectors are "one the top 10 consumer complaints in Oregon but while the state has a very specific law telling debt collectors what they can and cannot say to consumers, there is no state agency assigned to enforce the law." See the full story .
   
• Keith Karnes spoke to the Multnomah County Bar Association on Jan 22, 2009 on "Representing Clients in Foreclosure" on a panel that included an attorney for the FDIC and an attorney for the Oregon Division of Consumer and Business Services.
   
• Phoenix Business Journal Jan 6, 2009: Arizona is joining other states asking Congress to liberalize bankruptcy rules so judges can modify home loans to help reduce foreclosures. Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard has joined the attorneys general from 21 other states in the effort. Current federal law allows bankruptcy courts to adjust other debts and loans, but not home mortgages. Goddard and other state AGs contend the courts could make the change immediately, which would help reduce foreclosures and generate new loan terms that could help borrowers and lenders. California Attorney General Jerry Brown also is among those making the written push to congressional leaders. A similar effort was launched in 2008 but failed to gain approval, but the odds could improve with Democrats gaining seats in Congress and the latest news.
   
• Olsen Olsen and Daines was listed in the December 2008 issue of Oregon Business Magazine's Power Book 2009 as the 15th largest law firm in the Willamette Valley.
   
• Olsen Olsen and Daines was reported in the November 26, 2008 issue of Willamette Week as recently filing a lawsuit against a collection agency for harassing an Oregon soldier. "In June 2008, the lawsuit says, the Phoenix based company called to say they could contact [the debtor soldier's] commanding officer who would 'rough him up, since soldiers are not to leave on deployment in debt' The suit, filed by Salem lawyer Keith Karnes, seeks unspecified damages for alleged violations of state and federal debt-collection laws." The article went on to say, "Major Michael Braibish, spokesman for the Oregon National Guard, says many combat troops are in debt and it's not against any rules. He adds that soldiers are often the victims of predatory debt collectors. 'A commanding officer is not gonna rough up his troops over financial issues,' Braibish says. 'They want that troop focused on the mission.'" Read the full article.
   
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