• Bankruptcy Solutions
• Foreclosure Solutions
• Modification & Negotiation
• Credit Card Debt Relief

The Law Office of Ronald D. Weiss, P.C. Helps With Consultations and Representation in the Areas of Bankruptcy Law, Foreclosure Defense, Debt Negotiations and Mortgage Modification.

We can initially engage in an initial free phone and/or office consultation as to a potential client’s legal options in dealing with their financial challenges. You can obtain a free consultation by calling us at 631-271-3737 or by emailing us at weiss@ny-bankruptcy.com or by filling out and sending via e-mail the short form, with just basic contact information (to the right) or the long form, with more information, attached to this website (see Contact Us Section). If we can potentially help you, we would be available to further consult with you for free at  our Melville, Long Island law office and further discuss with you your situation and legal options.

Our consultations are free, but our legal advice may be invaluable.

If you decide after the consultation to retain us we would schedule or proceed with an “intake” appointment in our office to review with you in detail your circumstances and the documents that apply to your situation. At the intake appointment we plan for your case and go through questions and forms and look at finances and your history with your creditor(s) to ascertain in more detail the information and/or arguments for you you matter. Based on such information we would prepare legal documents for your case for your review at a follow up visit. After your review and approval of such documents we would be able to file such documents with the court and initiate our legal representation. In most cases we represent a client throughout a matter for a reasonable flat fee that is quoted to the client prior to our representation.

The Law Office of Ronald D. Weiss, P.C. consults with and represents individuals and businesses undergoing financial hardship in the following areas:

• Bankruptcy Solutions
• Foreclosure Solutions
• Modification and Negotiation Solutions
• Landlord Tenant Defense
• Litigation Defense
• Locations Served

Bankruptcy Solutions

The “intake” in a bankruptcy matter initially assesses whether a client can proceed with a certain kind of bankruptcy case: Chapter 7, Chapter 11 and/or Chapter 13. Each case has certain income and/or debt limits and can have certain advantages and risks which need to be assessed initially at the consultation but in more detail at the intake. We fill out detailed intake forms which ask about everything you own (assets), owe (debts), earn (income), spend (expenses) and the documentation for such finances (pay stubs, tax returns, bank statements, bills, credit cards statements, mortgage/automobile statements, invoices, court/legal documents, and any other documents pertaining to your finances). At the end of the bankruptcy intake we schedule a “signing” when the client comes back to our office to review the finished court documents that we prepared for the client’s review and signing, based on the information given by the client at the intake, their documents and a credit report and/or lien search. Because federal bankruptcy laws and courts immediately protect individuals and businesses from their creditors with an automatic stay, bankruptcy options are especially advantageous in an emergency such as when a bank account is restrained or wages garnished or a foreclosure sale scheduled. If we eliminate debt in Chapter 7  or reorganize debt under either Chapter 13  (primarily used for individuals) or Chapter 11 (primarily used by businesses), we usually are advantaged by the fact that the law protects us across the board with all or most of our client’s creditors, as opposed to negotiation solutions which pertain only to creditors willing to settle their debts based on terms reached with that creditor. We often use Bankruptcy Solutions when our clients are overwhelmed by unsecured debts such as credit cards, medical bills and personal loans and/or need time to cure secured debts such as mortgage and car loan arrears. The automatic stay, which immediately stops all creditor activities goes into effect immediately upon the filing of a bankruptcy case. Bankruptcy Solutions are often the most certain and efficient method to resolve problematic debt and to eventually restore our client’s financial well-being and credit.

Foreclosure Solutions

The “intake” in Foreclosure Solutions situations focuses on the stage of the foreclosure the client is in and whether litigation, negotiation, modification and/or bankruptcy options should be considered and/or utilized to help the client’s situation.  After the client retains at the “intake” for a foreclosure solutions option, there are sometimes follow up appointments either in our office, by phone or by email review, depending on the case, to sign court documents and/or to gather the client’s information/documents. Litigation, which utilizes New York State statues and laws as to the procedure and substance of a foreclosure case, allows the borrower/defendant to engage in  Foreclosure Defense which temporarily protects a client and their home from  their mortgage holder’s effort to foreclosure by responding to the plaintiff’s efforts through answers, discovery, conferences, and opposition to motions which need to be prepared by our office with the client’s input. Depending on the foreclosure action’s history, whether it is at the beginning, middle or end, different foreclosure defense options may be applicable. In addition, depending on the stage of the foreclosure action, other options, other than foreclosure defense, like modification, negotiation and/or bankruptcy may be applicable. Modification and Negotiations as Foreclosure Solutions sought during in a foreclosure action are either retention options — such as a modification, forbearance agreement or repayment plan — or non-retention options — such as a short sale, deed in lieu, consent to judgment, and/or cash for keys.  Orders to Show Cause are expedited motions and a special litigation option to give our client’s emergency relief in the state court system usually to stop a foreclosure sale, vacate a judgment or stop other creditor activity. We also often use Bankruptcy as a Foreclosure Solution, to immediately stop foreclosure sales and other litigation against our client where our client can potentially cure their debt over time. Foreclosure Solutions are intended to provide our clients time and leverage in their foreclosure situation so as to give our clients a greater likelihood of resolving their mortgage difficulties.

Modification & Negotiation Solutions

Modification & Negotiation Solutions “intakes” require us to get the pertinent information about our clients finances and history in order to assess and then maximize the likelihood of success of direct negotiations with a client’s creditors to reduce and extend debts such as mortgage debt, credit card debt and tax debt. As with other intakes we need to review and gather basic financial documents such as paystubs, tax returns, bank statements, mortgage statements, bills in order to allow us to assess the client’s situation and find ways to proceed to modify and/or negotiate to resolve or reduce/reorganize the client’s debt situation.  Mortgage Modifications allow us to resolve our client’s mortgage loan arrears while seeking to restructure the note to allow for improved payment terms. Other methods of mortgage negotiations involve Short Sales and Voluntary Sales and Refinancing to Stop Foreclosure, which usually aim to allow a homeowner to engage in an agreed upon “short payoff” to the lender. Credit Card Settlements are negotiated agreements with the client’s unsecured creditors to give a drastically reduced lump sum to settle past due credit card debt.  Modification and Negotiation Solutions are intended to give our clients a negotiating advantage which drastically improves their chances of obtaining a satisfactory modification agreement or other negotiated settlement with their creditors.

Landlord-Tenant Defense

Landlord-Tenant Defense intakes assess at what stage procedurally is a possible eviction matter, whether it is in the beginning, middle or end and the client’s goals in terms of a resolution. Litigation options are used for buying time, which is less than time then is typically available in a foreclosure. Often together with the landlord-tenant litigation, negotiations proceed at the same time to obtain a compromise in terms of time/payments that both sides find advantageous. Usually the litigation in Landlord Tenant matters is in the local Landlord-Tenant Courts, but may be in the Supreme Court where the amounts owed are high. Litigation in Landlord Tenant Court is often necessary if a house is lost to foreclosure and more time is needed by the former homeowner before they need to vacate the house. Also, where there is a dispute between the landlord and tenant, or non-payment, litigation combined with negotiation is often necessary. Residential and commercial rental tenants and cooperative apartment/home share owners often are in need of representation in Landlord-Tenant Court where they are struggling to avoid eviction.

Litigation Defense

Litigation Defense, like Foreclosure Defense, requires an “intake” that assess the action, the stage its at and our client’s possible litigation defenses and other options. Because Litigation Defense is more general defense of our clients in the state court system against various collection actions, including litigation over credit cards, personal loans, business loans and other obligations, we need to look at all applicable agreements between the parties, the history of the relationship, communications to try to resolve, and the obligations and payments between the parties to be able to determine what defenses are available and how to best proceed procedurally to assert them. Every action is different but most are essentially breach of contract actions where our client is usually defending what is allegedly a breached contract and need to either deny, mitigate or excuse the alleged breach or show that the other party breached as well and/or breached first.

Locations Served

In Suffolk County, NY our attorneys represent residents of the following towns with foreclosure, modification, negotiation and bankruptcy services: Huntington, Islip, Smithtown, Brookhaven, Babylon, East Hampton, Southampton, Southold, Riverhead, and Shelter Island. In Nassau County, NY our lawyers help clients living in the following towns with foreclosure, modification, negotiation and bankruptcy representation : Oyster Bay, Glen Cove, Hempstead, North Hempstead, and Long Beach. Our main office is located in Melville New York; we have several branch offices in Nassau and Suffolk Counties which are by appointment only.

For a free consultation to discuss your legal options and to schedule an appointment, you can either:

1. use our short Email Form OR
2. if you want to provide more information the long email form at the Contact Us Section of this Website, OR
3. email us at weiss@ny-bankruptcy.com, OR
4. Simply call us at (631) 271-3737.