Friday, October 23, 2009

Been Sued By a Debt Collector?

Jason Barnette of Barnette Law Offices, LLC located in Nashville, Tennessee represents Defendant’s sued by debt collectors in the General Sessions Court of Tennessee.  The FDCPA, TCPA, and FCRA are powerful tools which allow Barnette Law Offices to typically negate debts and obtain compensation for their clients by virtue of counter-claims.

If you live in Tennessee and have been sued by a debt collector, contact Attorney Jason Barnette at Barnette Law Offices. 

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Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Jason Barnette – Tennessee Divorce Attorney

Divorce

Jason Barnette – Tennessee Divorce Lawyer

Divorce is one of life's most painful experiences,and your emotions will be on a roller coaster during the process. As your divorce lawyer, Barnette Law Offices has the experience to understand the difficulties that arise and the ability to help you deal with those difficulties during this stressful time.

Some of the various issues that may be involved in a divorce in any part of Tennessee include grounds for divorce, property division, alimony, child custody and child support.

1) Grounds for Divorce

A divorce proceeding usually starts with grounds for the divorce. Twenty years ago, if you didn't prove grounds for divorce, you couldn't get divorced in Tennessee. Grounds for divorce are still litigated and are important to some people; specifically, in cases of adultery and abuse.

The most common grounds for divorce is irreconcilable differences, which is Tennessee's version of a no-fault divorce, or misappropriate maritial conduct. If the couple can't reach an agreement to file for divorce on the grounds of irreconcilable differences, one of the parties must allege one of the classic grounds, such as inappropriate marital conduct, adultery, bigamy, habitual drug use, habitual drunkenness, or a felony which was not disclosed prior to the marriage.

2) Property Division

Some assets are separate property which include those things belonging to a person before he or she gets married,or received as a gift or inherited during the marriage (so long as their partner didn’t improve its value). For the most part, everything else will be considered marital property, which is subject to division between the parties. Everything else is marital property which needs to be divided.

Many people who have significant assets such as businesses are often concerned about how those assets will be treated. If one spouse owns and runs the business he or she will probably get to keep it in addition to its future earnings. However, keeping a business often comes at a hefty price. The business will typically have to be valued using one or more approaches: according to its market value, the value of its assets, or the value of its income stream. In a typical situation, the three approaches are blended to arrive at a 'fair market value' and the spouse keeping the business is required to 'buy out' the other spouse's interest in cash or other assets.

3) Alimony

Tennessee has four kinds of alimony:

  • a) Alimony in futuro, which is traditional or permanent alimony. Alimony in futuro payments continue each month until they die or remarry.
  • b) Rehabilitative alimony, in which a spouse receives payments until they can become self sufficient.
  • c) Transitional alimony, which are payments designed to transition one spouse from being married to being single.
  • d) Alimony in solido, which is alimony designed to make property division more fair.

In Tennessee, alimony is primarily based on the need of the person receiving it, the ability of the other person to pay it, the length of marriage and the fault involved in the grounds for divorce (not the sole determinative factor although).

4) Child Custody

Child custody in Tennessee can be a highly contested issue in divorce. While the legislature has tried to move toward shared parenting, the courts know that shared parenting won't work if the parents don’t get along. For this reason, it's common for children to live with one parent and to visit the other parent every other weekend.

In Tennessee, child custody is determined by factors such as the age, mental health, education and job commitment of the parties, love and affection shown toward the child, and who has been primary care giver.  However, the standard is the best interest of the child and accordingly, Barnette Law Offices encourages mediation to quickly come up with a solid and amicable co-parenting plan.

5) Child Support

Child support is how much money the non-custodial parent will have to pay the parent with custody. In Tennessee, child support is determined using a formula that considers such factors as the incomes of both parties and the amount of residential time the child spends with each parent.  It is a fairly simple process but, one which can be negotiated with the opposing party.

6) More Information about Divorce

If you are currently going through a divorce or contemplating the first step, please schedule a consultation with Jason Barnette, Esq. of Barnette Law Offices, LLC. We can be reached at http://www.barnettelawoffices.com or 615-585-2245.

Tennessee Family Law Attorney Jason Barnette of Barnette Law Offices, LLC, serves clients throughout Tennessee, including Davidson County, Maury County, Robertson County, Rutherford County, Sumner County, Putnam County, Knox County, Williamson County, and Wilson County just to name a few.

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Monday, October 19, 2009

Tennessee Consumer Lawyers

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Your credit report contains key information that identifies you and how you’ve paid your bills. Whenever you make a credit-based application, your credit report is viewed to help make a decision. That’s one of the reasons that it’s so important for you to check your credit report. If, for some reason, your information is reported incorrectly, it could cause you to be denied for services for which you would otherwise would have been approved.

The Fair Credit Reporting Act (”FCRA”), gives you the right to dispute credit report information that is not correct or complete.

Review Your Credit Report

To find out if there is any incorrect information on your credit report, you need a copy of the report. Under federal law, you have the right to one free copy of your credit report from each of the credit bureaus annually. See http://www.annualcreditreport.com

Review your report thoroughly to make sure the information reported is correct. If your credit report has incorrect information, the Fair Credit Reporting Act (”FCRA”) gives you the right to dispute the information.

File A Credit Report Dispute

When you find something incorrect in your credit report, you should alert, in writing, both the credit bureau who provided the report and the information provider. This is the process to dispute credit report information.

If you have statements or cancelled checks that support your claim, include copies of them with your statement(keep the originals for records). In your statement, include your name, complete address, the information you are disputing, and the reason the information is not accurate. It will be helpful to include a copy of your credit report with the disputed information highlighted.

Send your credit report dispute via certified mail with return receipt requested. This way you not only have proof that you sent the dispute, but also that the credit bureau received your dispute. Keep a copy of the letter along with any enclosures you sent.

The Credit Bureau Responds To Your Dispute

The credit bureau has 30 days to investigate your dispute and respond to you, in writing, with the results of the investigation. Any data you provided about the inaccuracy of the information will be forwarded to the original information provider. The information provider is then required to investigate and respond back to the credit bureau.

Once the investigation is complete, the credit bureau will provide you with the results, along with a free copy of your credit report if the dispute resulted in a change. You can request that the credit bureau send a correction notice to any company that accessed your credit report within the past six months.

If there is inaccurate information in one credit bureau’s version of your credit report, it’s likely that the information will be inaccurate on the other two bureaus’ reports as well. You should check all three credit reports to be sure that the information in each is complete and accurate.

Resources:

Dispute Addresses for the Three Major Credit Reporting Agencies

Equifax
P.O. Box 7404256
Atlanta, GA 30374

Experian
P.O. Box 2002
Allen, TX 75013

TransUnion
P.O. Box 390
Springfield, PA 19064