Are you being contacted by collection agencies, constantly harassing you about paying old debts? Are you being hauled into court and being served with summons on a regular basis?

I wanted to write this article to help debtors understand that they have recourse against their creditors. I constantly encounter people who are in debt and are frustrated by the humiliating process many firms and agencies use to collect their debts. Often times, the person (or sometimes machine) on the other end of the line is not even the original creditor who signed the agreement in the first place.

Do you have an old Indiana conviction that you dread revealing to potential employers? Under Indiana’s new “Second Chance Act”, you may no longer have to tell anyone and employers may not be allowed to find out!

In an August article, we discussed how Indiana’s new expungement statute could help criminal defense attorneys plan ahead and negotiate for your conviction to be vacated. However, that doesn’t help those who have old convictions. The better news for those individuals is that a new “Second Chance Act” allows records of nonviolent, non-sexual misdemeanors and Class D felonies older than eight years to be hidden from all but criminal justice agencies.

IC 35-38-8-4 allows sealing of records so long as the following four conditions are met:

An intriguing paper from Brookings relays how America’s voting population is skewing older. This is the first time in history (or at least the first census) in which people 45 and older made up the majority of the voting population.

These trends have combined today to yield an older nation. Median U.S. age is 37.2—up from 32.6 in 1990. Now nearly four in ten Americans (39 percent) are over age 45, up from 34 percent in 2000 and 31 percent in 1990…

Training provided online through the IRS "Link and Learn" program for becoming a certified tax preparer to aid elderly and low-to-moderate-income taxpayers

For the second year, the United Way Regional Volunteer Center is looking for volunteers to prepare taxes for elderly and low-to-moderate-income taxpayers. Training will be available online by the Internal Revenue Service beginning Nov. 14 for the 2011 Tax season, said George Kuebler, VITA facilitator for Porter County, with the United Way Regional Volunteer Center.

"Key to the success of the program is having volunteer tax preparers to accommodate the increasing number of people who need no-cost tax preparation," added Kuebler. "Last year the VITA volunteers prepared taxes for more than 200 tax clients," he said. "In addition to welcoming those volunteers back, additional volunteers are desired so the service can be offered to more people who need it."