Manassas Consumer Protection and Family Law Blog

Financial difficulties are often part of divorce, even to the extent that one or both parties are considering filing for bankruptcy. The timing of both legal proceedings - the divorce in Virginia state court and the federal bankruptcy - can impact the financial circumstances of both parties when the dust has finally settled.

The unique financial situation and personal goals of a Virginian facing divorce and potentially bankruptcy will drive which proceeding to file first. Overlap of the two proceedings is complex because each judge is dealing with the couple's property and debts. 

It can be confusing – even threatening – when a student loan borrower gets a collection notice that their wages will be garnished to repay the educational loan. Anyone who receives such a garnishment notice – which would mean their employer might be required to send part of the borrower’s earnings to pay the student loan balance – should know that these notices are not always accurate, may misstate the law and are sometimes misleading.

It is common knowledge that many people face insurmountable hospital and medical bills. Even with the Affordable Care Act and expanded Medicaid, health insurance policies often include high deductibles and restrictive networks. Some families still cannot afford insurance and others face unexpected emergencies.

Readers may have seen Kaiser Health News’ recent investigative journalism into the collection practices of the University of Virginia Health System, referred to as UVA. KHN found that the health care provider has sued “thousands of patients” and engages regularly in collection activities like garnishing wages, seizing state tax refunds and placing liens on homes and other properties.

We posted a blog previously about an important consumer protection case pending before the U.S. Supreme Court. We explained that the issue was whether the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act — the main federal law extending legal protections against abusive debt collectors to consumers — applied to a Colorado law firm that had initiated a nonjudicial foreclosure.

In that post, we covered the issues in Obduskey v. McCarthy & Holthus LLP in detail as related to the FDCPA and whether a party is a debt collector that is governed by the Act’s provisions, including being subject to a suit for money damages by a consumer who was the victim of illegal collection practices.