Family Law

• Child Support
  1. Category 1. Debts that are simply defined by the bankruptcy code as “non-dischargeable” will survive bankruptcy. Examples of non-dischargeable debts are child support obligations and (with rare exceptions) student loans. You simply cannot escape these. The creditors on these obligations need take no action to protect their rights to come at you for collection.
• Spousal Support
  Past six completed months (you never count the month you are in, because it is not complete). Do not count Social Security payments (the law is unsettled as to whether we count Unemployment Compensation), but do count Child support and Alimony and any other income. Now take that six-month figure and double it. Now you have an annual income figure using the last six months as a current rate of income. Congress could have said just add up the gross income for the past 1 full year, but Congress felt the most recent 6 months was more predictive of your future income than the entire last year, so we use the last 6 completed months as a guiding rate of income to make an annual figure.

Business and Corporate Law

• Business Disputes
  The lawyers at Ruff & Cohen, P.A have 60 years of combined legal experience. Their attorneys have written and delivered analytical presentations on bankruptcy law to other bankruptcy attorneys at the Bankruptcy Bar Association for the Northern District of Florida, the Jacksonville Bankruptcy Bar Association, and to the Bankruptcy/UCC Committee of the Business Law Section at the statewide Florida Bar Convention.
• Construction Contracts

Employment Law

• Workers Compensation
  Review exemptions laws that apply to you with the help of the Gainesville bankruptcy attorneys at Ruff & Cohen. The team at our firm ensures that all your property is carefully surveyed and accounted for to determine what can be exempted and what may be used to pay back your debts during the bankruptcy process.

Property Law

• Construction Litigation
  Henderson, 455 So.2d 417 (Fla. 2d DCA 1984) (construction contracts - obligation to pay for extras and prejudgment interest; reversal in part and affirmance in part, both in client's favor), and

Health Law

• Medical Malpractice
  The change in the bankruptcy law was labeled a "reform," but that is a slippery word. "Reform" intimates that something is being "improved" and that what existed before was "inferior." You see this "reform" mumbo jumbo anytime someone wants to change the balance of rights under an existing law. You see it in the phrase "tort reform" which actually means taking away individuals' consumer rights to be made whole while giving those rights to some other group, usually a group with the money to "convince" legislators that "reform" is needed. We saw this in medical malpractice "reform" that puts a cap on a patient's right to recover for damages from real, actual medical malpractice, but nothing in the new law placed any limits on the severity of the actual malpractice performed by the offending doctor. I am not talking about imaginary, manufactured malpractice. I am talking about real, proven-in-court, permanent damages to the unfortunate patient. There is a cap on what the patient can collect. This is not a slam on doctors but on the phrase "reform," which is tossed around and used to mislead people into rallying behind changes in the law that actually hurt them. This is the kind of "reform" the new bankruptcy changes brought. Good for the rich companies; not so good for the ordinary guy.

Finance Law

• Bankruptcy
  There are many Gainesville bankruptcy lawyers who advertise that they can handle your bankruptcy case. Some are new at bankruptcy law and some have a fair amount of experience, a few even have a great deal of experience. Let us tell you exactly what we offer.
• Foreclosure
  The Gainesville bankruptcy attorneys at Ruff & Cohen offer clear and honest counsel to help you decide on the course of action you need to take in the face of foreclosure. We can help you weigh your options and work to achieve an optimal outcome.