Creditors' Corner LEGAL TALK Smith Debnam Narron Drake Saintsing & Myers, LLP

If you practice in North Carolina or are involved in our court systems, you probably know that five counties have made the transition to e-filing. Those counties include Harnett, Johnston, Lee Mecklenburg, and Wake counties. In today's episode, we discuss what you need to know as we transition to E-Filing across the state.

Rachel Rogers is an associate attorney within the Consumer Collections group at Smith Debnam. Her practice experience includes Construction Law, Creditors’ Rights & Collections, Corporate & Business Law, and Business Litigation.
Melissa Tulis is an associate in the firm’s Creditors’ Rights and Collections practice group, representing a broad range of businesses in North and South Carolina through all stages of the collection litigation process, including pre-suit collection efforts, lawsuits, judgments, and executions.

Today's topic is Family law, when to lawyer up, and why.
We talk about why an attorney can be beneficial in a number of different family law situations, when you should consider getting an attorney involved, and why hiring a family law attorney from a firm with a multidisciplinary practice is a smart move.

Landon Van Winkle is an associate within the firm's Construction Litigation practice group where he assists clients with pre-suit negotiations and litigation in matters involving construction, equipment leasing and financing, and bankruptcy. His areas of practice are Bankruptcy, Business Litigation, Appellate Law, Construction Law, and Equipment Leasing & Finance.

Michael Denning is an accomplished jurist and former District Court Judge for Judicial District 10 in Wake County, North Carolina. In his capacity as Of Counsel in Smith Debnam's Mediation and Arbitration Practice Group, he focuses his mediation practice in the areas of Business Litigation, Corporate and Business Law, and Family Law. Michael is a certified family financial mediator through the North Carolina Dispute Resolution Commission and a North Carolina State Bar and Wake County Bar member. He is admitted to practice in all North Carolina State Courts and U.S. District Court in all North Carolina Districts.

Attorneys Christina McAlpin Taylor, Melissa Tulis, and Rachel Rogers discuss dealing with debt management companies - the risks and challenges they pose from the point of view of a collections attorney.

Christina McAlpin Taylor is a partner at the Raleigh-based law firm of Smith Debnam and a member of the firm’s Creditors’ Rights and Collections practice group. An accomplished attorney known for handling a large volume of cases with precision and grace, she represents a wide range of businesses through all stages of creditor representation, including pre-suit collection efforts, lawsuits, judgments, and executions. In her practice group, she actively leads approximately 75 employees, including two attorney associates, in addition to managing the leadership development of five direct reports. In 2016, she was named to the 25 Most Influential Women in Collections by Collection Advisor Magazine. Christina was named to the 2020 class of East Carolina University’s 40 Under Forty Leadership Awards. In 2021, she was appointed to serve a four-year term on the East Carolina University (ECU) Women’s Roundtable Board of Directors.

Rachel Rogers is an associate attorney within the Consumer Collections group at Smith Debnam. Her practice experience includes Construction Law, Creditors’ Rights & Collections, Corporate & Business Law, and Business Litigation.
Melissa Tulis is an associate in the firm’s Creditors’ Rights and Collections practice group, representing a broad range of businesses in North and South Carolina through all stages of the collection litigation process, including pre-suit collection efforts, lawsuits, judgments, and executions.

In this episode, Smith Debnam attorneys Christina McAlpin Taylor and Melissa Tulis discuss how Post Judgment Collections work in North Carolina.

Christina McAlpin Taylor is a partner at the Raleigh-based law firm of Smith Debnam and a member of the firm’s Creditors’ Rights and Collections practice group. An accomplished attorney known for handling a large volume of cases with precision and grace, she represents a wide range of businesses through all stages of creditor representation, including pre-suit collection efforts, lawsuits, judgments, and executions. In her practice group, she actively leads approximately 75 employees, including two attorney associates, in addition to managing the leadership development of five direct reports. In 2016, she was named to the 25 Most Influential Women in Collections by Collection Advisor Magazine. Christina was named to the 2020 class of East Carolina University’s 40 Under Forty Leadership Awards. In 2021, she was appointed to serve a four-year term on the East Carolina University (ECU) Women’s Roundtable Board of Directors.

Melissa Tulis is an associate in the firm’s Creditors’ Rights and Collections practice group, representing a broad range of businesses in North and South Carolina through all stages of the collection litigation process, including pre-suit collection efforts, lawsuits, judgments, and executions.

In today's episode, Smith Debnam attorneys Landon Van Winkle and Garret Kirkpatrick discuss the growing issue of student loans in the U.S., including how those loans are treated in bankruptcy, and how recent regulatory and legislative developments may provide relief to student borrowers in the future.

Landon Van Winkle is an associate within the firm's Consumer Financial Services Compliance & Litigation practice group where he assists clients with pre-suit negotiations and litigation in matters involving consumer financial services litigation and compliance and bankruptcy. His areas of practice are Consumer Financial Services Litigation & Compliance, Commercial Creditor Bankruptcy, and Commercial Litigation.

Garret Kirkpatrick is a member of the firm's Consumer Financial Services Litigation and Compliance group. In his role, Garret focuses on assisting clients with pre-suit negotiations, litigation, and advocacy in matters involving consumer financial services litigation and compliance, bankruptcy, and commercial litigation.

A new regulation has gone into effect this year that has altered the itemization and disclosures to consumers that banks, financial service providers, and creditors have to provide. In this podcast, we'll discuss those changes. Specifically - we discuss what type of itemization credit card providers are required to disclose to the consumer periodically, how much transaction history a credit card provider is required to retain, and for how long.We’ll also get into what type of itemization debt buyers are required to disclose to consumers. In particular, we discuss why debt buyers need to pay attention to the North Carolina statute related to debt buyers. We also talk about the type of itemization debt collectors are required to disclose to consumers. At the conclusion of this podcast, you'll have a better understanding of what itemization is and how it's defined by Reg F, and how it's defined by the North Carolina Debt Buyer Statute.

Christina McAlpin Taylor is a partner at the Raleigh-based law firm of Smith Debnam and a member of the firm’s Creditors’ Rights and Collections practice group. An accomplished attorney known for handling a large volume of cases with precision and grace, she represents a wide range of businesses through all stages of creditor representation, including pre-suit collection efforts, lawsuits, judgments, and executions. In her practice group, she actively leads approximately 75 employees, including two attorney associates, in addition to managing the leadership development of five direct reports. In 2016, she was named to the 25 Most Influential Women in Collections by Collection Advisor Magazine. Christina was named to the 2020 class of East Carolina University’s 40 Under Forty Leadership Awards. In 2021, she was appointed to serve a four-year term on the East Carolina University (ECU) Women’s Roundtable Board of Directors.

Melissa Tulis is an associate in the firm’s Creditors’ Rights and Collections practice group, representing a broad range of businesses in North and South Carolina through all stages of the collection litigation process, including pre-suit collection efforts, lawsuits, judgments, and executions.