Bankruptcy is the only out - Murray Morrison, Paul Swingle, David Bellamy - Divorce - Brain Fixing -

David

I have reached my wits end.  After a divorce, job downsizing loss ($200,000 down to $70,000) and remortgaging my house two times, I am tied into a 10% mortgage with payments that are as much as I am earning in my new job.  I have about $70,000 equity in the house and over $80,000 in credit card debt and $82,000 owing to the CRA from when I was doing well as a Realtor and then just lost it and had to get a salaried job.

Oh yes, my wife got fed up and has left with our one year old daughter and 5 year old son.  They are living at her parents.  She wants support for herself and our daughter and son.  She wants support for  herself until our daughter is in grade one.   AND, she wants me to pay for her tuition to go back to school and finish a degree she stopped when she became pregnant with our son.  She has never had a real job.  What do I do.

What do you suggest.
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david ingram replies:

Well, unless there is something you have not told me, you are likely a prime candidate for bankruptcy, but not necessarily.

Obviously, the house has to go and you all have to pull in your horns. However, if you move quickly and the marriage is already on the rocks, the house should be put up for sale right away.  Your wife should sue you for divorce and support 'right away'.

She should take the equity in the house as an advanced Lump sum payment in lieu of support for her the next five years.

You need to consult with a 'good' BANKRUPTCY LAWYER before much time has passed.  Because she has already left, there is nothing phony or untoward about her suing you for divorce, child support and a property settlement for her years as your wife.   Helping her get her degree so that she has the skill set  for a better job is the smartest thing you can do. 

One well known Vancouver client of mine paid his wife $800 a month support while she went back to University and got a PHd in Psychology.  She is now a Psych Professor at a major University.
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Speaking of  psychologists, you also owe it to yourself to go an see Dr Paul Swingle  who uses  neurobiofeedback and other amazing drug free techniques to  cure ADD, ADHD, Dyslexia closed Head Brain Injuries and DEPRESSION.  I interviewed him last Sunday on CFUN and he will be on again on April 13th. 

See more at www.drswingle.com -  his phone number is (604) 608-0444.  I personally consulted with him three times with great success.  1.    When shaw canceled my television program
2.    When the CRA put 'me' into bankruptcy and
3.    When my wife rode away on the back of a motorcycle with one of the fellows she had hired to repair the sun-deck.

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I expect that your real estate career's decline was the result of an unhappy marriage and being demoralized by an unhappy wife when you came home at night.  It is impossible to go out and be a great or even a mediocre Realtor when living with a person who runs you down or demoralizes you every time you come home. (And ladies I had a lady Realtor here in the last week who had the same thing happen with her husband running her down and her income went  from $200,000 a year down to nothing)  You are working your tail end off and your spouse starts the nightly demoralizing as you walk in the door. 

So you need a good, nay a great divorce lawyer to represent you but you do not want a big fight.  David Bellamy looked after my divorce when I was in the middle of a bankruptcy, etc.  You can find him at http://www.bellamy.bc.ca/ or just call him at (604) 662-8900.

If your wife is a co-signer on all these debts, my next advice and the property settlement is not going to do a lot of good because your wife will owe her share as well, but i expect that they are all your debts because you said she never worked.  Hopefully the debts are for your credit cards and not on ones that she has signed for.

Now you need to think about bankruptcy.  You do NOT look in the Yellow Pages for a trustee and you do not even  talk to a trustee until you have talked to a  bankruptcy lawyer.  Why?  Because the trustee does NOT really work for you no matter how nice they are.  The bankruptcy trustee works for the creditors as soon as you sign that paper.  His or her job is to get the most for the creditors and only give you the amounts proscribed by the BC Bankruptcy ACT.

I have lectured on bankruptcy, written about bankruptcy and counseled bankrupts on their finances.  I 'thought' i understood it until i fell into the clutches of Deloitte And Company who behaved (in my opinion) in an unacceptable manner to me.  The trustees first words to me when he walked into the boardroom where I was sitting was 'Mr Ingram, aren't you ashamed to be here?'' I can only say that it got worse from there. 

And their work was not up to snuff.  They tried to take the whole house and then had to give half of it back to my wife.  In their initial report, they missed an $80,.000 mortgage on the house even though it was prominently displayed on my original statement. He actually accused me of lying about it at our first creditors meeting even though it was declared and registered against the house.

So, I know whereof  I speak.  I finally asked another bankruptcy trustee for the name of a bankruptcy lawyer and he sent me away out to Surrey (where i think you might be living) and I consulted with Murray Morrison, a marvelous lawyer who specializes in bankruptcy.  The situation changed almost immediately and even though I had originally offered $1,000 a month for ten years as a settlement  before the actual receivership (thankfully it was turned down by the Tax department) , Murray Morrison negotiated a settlement of $800  a month for 3 years and gave me my life back.

See Murray at http://morrocolaw.ca/, call him at (604) 930-9013 or write him at [email protected].  Remember that anything you tell a bankruptcy trustee can and WILL be used against you for the benefit of your creditors.  Your lawyer has privileged communication and can give you an honest answer without it affecting the relationship you have with the receiver.

Even if you have a lawyer has worked with you over a dozen property transfers, DO NOT USE A LAWYER who specializes in anything but bankruptcy.

Above all, remember that 'nobody wins' in these matters.  Do your best to straighten up with Dr Swingle first.  If your debts are from when you were a Realtor, paying them off will be a tax deduction against other income and only cost you half as much. Get your psyche again and $200,000 or $300,000 again for three years and you can get out of it.

Good luck
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You can read an article I wrote about my own travails in the Western Investor at  -

 http://centapede.centa.com/Week-of-Mon-20041220/001489.html
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On Mar 14, 2008, David Ingram wrote:

It is very unlikely that blind or unexpected email to me will be answered.  I receive anywhere from 100 to 700  unsolicited emails a day and usually answer anywhere from 2 to 20 if they are not from existing clients.  Existing clients are advised to put their 'name and PAYING CUSTOMER' in the subject line and get answered first.  I also refuse to be a slave to email and do not look at it every day and have never ever looked at it when I am out of town. 
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However, I regularly search for the words"PAYING CUSTOMER" and always answer them first if they did not get spammed out. For the last two weeks, I have just found out that my own email notes to myself have been spammed out and as an example, as I wrote this on Dec 25, 2007 since June 16th, my 'spammed out' box has 47,941 unread messages, my deleted box has 16645 I have actually looked at and deleted and I have actually answered 1234 email questions for clients and strangers without sending a bill.  I have also put aside 847 messages that I am maybe going to try and answer because they look interesting. -e bankruptcy expert  US Canada Canadian American  Mexican Income Tax service and  help
Therefore, if an email is not answered in 24 to 48 hours, it is likely lost in space.  You can try and resend it but if important AND YOU TRULY WANT OR NEED AN ANSWER from 'me', you will have to phone to make an appointment.  Gillian Bryan generally accepts appointment requests for me between 10:30 AM and 4:00 PM Monday to Friday VANCOUVER (Seattle, Portland, Los Angeles) time at (604) 980-0321.  david ingram expert  US Canada Canadian American  Mexican Income Tax  service and help.
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My Home office is at:
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Disclaimer:  This question has been answered without detailed information or consultation and is to be regarded only as general comment.   Nothing in this message is or should be construed as advice in any particular circumstances. No contract exists between the reader and the author and any and all non-contractual duties are expressly denied. All readers should obtain formal advice from a competent and appropriately qualified legal practitioner or tax specialist for expert help, assistance, preparation, or consultation  in connection with personal or business affairs such as at www.centa.com. If you forward this message, this disclaimer must be included." e bankruptcy expert  US Canada Canadian American  Mexican Income Tax  service and help.
David Ingram gives expert income tax service & immigration help to non-resident Americans & Canadians from New York to California to Mexico  family, estate, income trust trusts Cross border, dual citizen - out of country investments are all handled with competence & authority.
 
Phone consultations are $450 for 15 minutes to 50 minutes (professional hour). Please note that GST is added if product remains in Canada or is to be returned to Canada or a phone consultation is in Canada. ($472.50 with GST if in Canada) expert  US Canada Canadian American  Mexican Income Tax  service and help.
This is not intended to be definitive but in general I am quoting $900 to $3,000 for a dual country tax return.
$900 would be one T4 slip one W2 slip one or two interest slips and you lived in one country only (but were filing both countries) - no self employment or rentals or capital gains - you did not move into or out of the country in this year.
 
$1,200 would be the same with one rental
 
$1,300 would be the same with one business no rental
 
$1,300 would be the minimum with a move in or out of the country. These are complicated because of the back and forth foreign tax credits. - The IRS says a foreign tax credit takes 1 hour and 53 minutes.
 
$1,600 would be the minimum with a rental or two in the country you do not live in or a rental and a business and foreign tax credits  no move in or out

$1,700 would be for two people with income from two countries

$3,000 would be all of the above and you moved in and out of the country.
 
This is just a guideline for US / Canadian returns
 
We will still prepare Canadian only (lives in Canada, no US connection period) with two or three slips and no capital gains, etc. for $200.00 up.
 
With a Rental for $400, two or three rentals for $550 to $700 (i.e. $150 per rental) First year Rental - plus $250.
 
A Business for $400 - Rental and business likely $550 to $700
 
And an American only (lives in the US with no Canadian income or filing period) with about the same things in the same range with a little bit more if there is a state return.
 
Moving in or out of the country or part year earnings in the US will ALWAYS be $900 and up.
 
TDF 90-22.1 forms are $50 for the first and $25.00 each after that when part of a tax return.
 
8891 forms are generally $50.00 to $100.00 each.
 
18 RRSPs would be $900.00 - (maybe amalgamate a couple)
 
Capital gains *sales)  are likely $50.00 for the first and $20.00 each after that.

Catch - up returns for the US where we use the Canadian return as a guide for seven years at a time will be from $150 to $600.00 per year depending upon numbers of bank accounts, RRSP's, existence of rental houses, self employment, etc. Note that these returns tend to be informational rather than taxable.  In fact, if there are children involved, we usually get refunds of $1,000 per child per year for 3 years.  We have done several catch-ups where the client has received as much as $6,000 back for an $1,800 bill and one recently with 6 children is resulting in over $12,000 refund. 

This is a guideline not etched in stone.  If you do your own TDF-90 forms, it is to your advantage. However, if we put them in the first year, the computer carries them forward beautifully.
 
This from "ask an income trusts tax service and immigration expert" from www.centa.com or www.jurock.com or www.featureweb.com. David Ingram deals on a daily basis with expatriate tax returns with multi jurisdictional cross and trans border expatriate problems  for the United States, Canada, Mexico, Great Britain, United Kingdom, Kuwait, Dubai, Saudi Arabia, Thailand, Indonesia, Japan, China, New Zealand, France, Germany, Spain, Italy, Russia, Georgia, Brazil, Peru, Ecuador, Bolivia, Scotland, Ireland, Hawaii, Florida, Montana, Morocco, Israel, Iraq, Iran, India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Mali, Bangkok, Greenland, Iceland, Cuba, Bahamas, Bermuda, Barbados, St Vincent, Grenada,, Virgin Islands, US, UK, GB, and any of the 43 states with state tax returns, etc. Rockwall, Dallas, San Antonio Houston, Denmark, Finland, Sweden Norway Bulgaria Croatia Income Tax and Immigration Tips, Income Tax  Immigration Wizard Antarctica Rwanda Guru  Consultant Specialist Section 216(4) 216(1) NR6 NR-6 NR 6 Non-Resident Real Estate tax specialist expert preparer expatriate anti money laundering money seasoning FINTRAC E677 E667 105 106 TDF-90 Reporting $10,000 cross border transactions Grand Cayman Aruba Zimbabwe South Africa Namibia help USA US Income Tax Convention. Advice on bankruptcy  e bankruptcy expert  US Canada Canadian American  Mexican Income Tax service and help .

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