The Sexner Law Group LLC
There Is a Way Out. Usually More Than One
Whether the problem is your mortgage, a garnishment, or a balance that has not moved in years, you have legal options. You also have deadlines that matter. Speak directly with an attorney who has been representing clients in Illinois since 1994.
Thousands of cases filed. Hundreds of millions in debts discharged.
Free consultation • Evening and Sunday appointments
What brings you here today?
MY HOME IS AT RISK
Behind on the mortgage, served with a foreclosure complaint, or a sale date has been set.
Start here →THE DEBT ITSELF IS THE PROBLEM
Credit cards, medical bills, personal loans. Balances that never go down no matter what you pay.
Start here →I AM BEING SUED OR GARNISHED
A lawsuit, a judgment, a wage garnishment, a bank levy, or a repossession.
Start here →Is your situation too complicated for a short answer? Most are. Sorting it out is exactly what the free consultation is for. Call (888) 899-9919
When the debt itself is the problem
If your debt never goes down, budgeting is not the problem.
If you make every payment on time and the balances look the same as they did a year ago, the issue is not discipline. It is arithmetic. Minimum payments on high interest debt are designed to be survivable. They are also designed to be endless.
At some point the useful question stops being How do I pay this off? and becomes Which legal tool ends it?
How can Chapter 7 help you?
It erases qualifying debt. The court wipes the balance to zero. You do not pay it back.
Typically erased:
Typically not erased:
A judgment recorded as a lien against your home can survive the discharge unless it is removed through a separate step in the case. Tell us early if a creditor has already sued you.
Chapter 13 can still help with these. It can restructure what you owe into a plan you pay over three to five years, and in some cases the amount can be reduced.
Do not rule yourself out. Qualifying is based on a formula called the means test. It starts by comparing your household income to the Illinois median for your household size. If you are above that figure, a second calculation subtracts allowances and deductions set by the Bankruptcy Code, including secured payments and certain standardized living expenses.
People above the median qualify regularly, and you might too. Do not rule yourself out on a salary figure alone.
Most people who file keep everything they own, and you probably will too. Illinois exemption law protects categories including household goods, vehicles, tools of your trade, and qualified retirement accounts. Each category has its own limit. In the large majority of consumer Chapter 7 cases the filer keeps everything.
Whether that holds for you depends on what you own, and in your free consultation we will tell you exactly that.
How can Chapter 13 help you?
Chapter 13 is a court supervised repayment plan for people with regular income. It stops a foreclosure or repossession the moment the case is filed. It lets you catch up what you are behind over three to five years while you resume regular payments. You keep your property while the plan runs.
It is often the answer for people who do not qualify for Chapter 7, or who want to keep a house or car that Chapter 7 cannot protect.
Are you being sued, garnished, or levied?
The automatic stay is a federal court order that stops collection the moment your case is filed. In most cases it stops the collection calls, the wage garnishment, the bank levies, the repossession, and any pending collection lawsuits. That is federal law, not a negotiation. It is immediate.
If your wages are being garnished right now, filing can stop it, often within days. That is why calling today matters more than calling next month. How quickly that can happen in your situation is something we can tell you in the first conversation.
Have you filed bankruptcy before? Say so in the first conversation. An earlier case can change what a new filing protects, and we will tell you exactly where you stand.
What will this cost you?
The consultation is free. There is no charge to find out where you stand and no obligation afterward. If you hire us, you will know your fee before you decide.
Why waiting makes everything worse
A foreclosure, a lawsuit, or a growing debt does not get easier with time. It gets more expensive, and your list of options gets shorter.
Miss a deadline and it is gone for good
A foreclosure complaint has a date by which you must appear and answer. A collection lawsuit has one too. Miss it and a default judgment is entered. The other side never has to prove anything.
Defenses that were available the week before are simply gone. Reinstatement and redemption rights run from events in your case and then expire. Once a sale is held and confirmed by the court, almost every option you just read about stops being possible.
Your payoff amount grows every month
Missed payments, late charges, escrow advances, force-placed insurance, and the lender’s costs and fees are all added to what you would need to reinstate. A judgment keeps accruing interest. The gap you are trying to close in month two is meaningfully wider by month eight.
The bigger the number, the fewer your options
Any repayment plan, whether through the court or with your lender, has to cover what you are behind on. The larger that figure, the larger the monthly payment. At some point it stops being affordable on your income. People who could have saved the house in the spring sometimes cannot in the fall.
Not because the law changed. Because the arrearage did.
The best options take weeks. They cannot wait
A loan modification takes weeks to review. A short sale needs a buyer and lender approval. Mediation has to be scheduled. Applying for any of them the week of a sale date rarely works.
And those are frequently the options people want most.
Waiting is not free. It is just paid in a different currency
The most common thing we see is someone who spent a year handling it alone: savings drained, family borrowed from, a retirement account cashed out with taxes and penalties. Then a filing anyway.
The debt was dischargeable the whole time. The retirement account was protected the whole time. What was lost was not lost to the creditors. It was spent trying not to make a phone call.
One free conversation, early, and you know which doors are still open.
What clients say
“Mr. Sexner handled everything professionally and confidentially. He did not make us feel uncomfortable about our situation.” — Rose H.
“He was compassionate and professional. He made the whole process seem manageable. Having him help me through it was the best decision I made.” — A. Shultze
“My case was handled quickly with everything resolved exactly as he said it would be.” — M. Darlington
About Attorney Richard E. Sexner
The Experience Behind Your Case
For more than 30 years, Illinois families and businesses have trusted him with their fresh start.
Recognized by His Peers
- Published author on Chapter 13 bankruptcy
- Former Chairman, Bankruptcy Committee, DuPage County Bar Association — chosen by fellow lawyers to lead.
Court Admissions
- Supreme Court of the United States — a qualification few attorneys hold
- Supreme Court of the State of Illinois
- Federal courts across Illinois, Indiana, and Wisconsin (Northern and Central Districts of Illinois; Northern District of Indiana; Eastern and Western Districts of Wisconsin).
Education
- Northwestern University, with honors
- University of Illinois, Joint Degree: JD and Master of Labor and Industrial Relations
- Harvard Business School — Negotiations Program
The sooner you act, the more choices you have
A foreclosure complaint has a response date. A lawsuit has an answer date. A garnishment has a hearing date. Waiting almost never improves the picture, and nearly every option you have gets harder to reach the longer things run.
One conversation, no charge. Call, send a message through this site, or email. You will know where you stand.
Free consultation • Evening and Sunday appointments