If I’ve used credit cards before filing bankruptcy, do I have to wait? Too many people considering filing think there is some sort of waiting period between financial activity and filing bankruptcy. So, let’s look at the issues in play surrounding recent credit card charges and seeking bankruptcy relief. There’s no 90 day rule Everyone […]
What looks bad to the trustee in prebankruptcy conduct
Worried that a bankruptcy trustee will examine your sitution and somehow disqualify you from bankruptcy because of something you did (or didn’t do) right before you filed? Not to worry. Your bankruptcy discharge does not depend on the trustee’s approval of your money choices in the run-up to bankruptcy. There is no subjective do-we-approve-of-the-debtors-money-management test to get […]
Take Credit For The Tax Deductions That Hide In Chapter 13
It’s tax time: don’t overlook tax deductions in Chapter 13 bankruptcy case. Tax deductions lurk in the most unlikely places. If your Chapter 13 plan is catching up home loan arrears, there’s a deduction hiding in the trustee’s disbursement records. Most likely, the lender’s filed proof of claim in the bankruptcy case is full of […]
4 Compelling Reasons To File The Tax Return Even If You Can’t Pay
Should you file the tax return if you can’t pay the tax? You got to the bottom of your tax return and the amount you owe is bigger than your checkbook balance. Nope. It doesn’t work that way. The IRS does not start harassing nonpayers for money immediately after a return is filed. Or even […]
What The Fool Got Wrong About Filing Bankruptcy
The famous poem begins, “how do I love thee? let me count the ways”. But what if it’s not love that we are counting, but loathing? Let me count the ways I loathe the Motley Fool’s article asking should I file bankruptcy? The Fool’s underlying assumption is that people in debt flock to bankruptcy as […]
Inclusion in Bankruptcy Doesn’t Equal “Discharged”
Convincing clients that all of their debts must be included in bankruptcy is one of the hardest parts of being a bankruptcy lawyer. The struggle often seems Herculean. Sometimes, they will tell me they don’t want to include their car loan in the case because they “need the car”. Sometimes I find the student loan payment […]
The Tortoise Is The Mascot Of Retirement Savings
Every campaign needs a logo. Make the logo of your retirement planning a turtle, rampant. Rampant, you say? Turtle? In the Middle Ages, knights put their ID’s on their shields in elaborate heraldry that told bystanders who he was, what his birth order was, and which side of the blanket he was born on. Heraldry featured animals, […]
How the bankruptcy liquidation tests really works
Is the Chapter 7 trustee going to sell your house when there’s $5000 in non exempt equity? Do you have to pay the total of the equity in your assets to creditors in Chapter 13 under the liquidation test? Far from it. Just because you have equity on paper does not mean a bankruptcy trustee […]
Time Runs Out For Claiming A Tax Refund
Did you know there’s a deadline for claiming a tax refund. If you are entitled to a tax refund for an old tax year but haven’t filed the return yet, time’s running out. If you are more than three years late in filing your tax return, you forfeit any tax refund that you would otherwise […]
- 1
- 2
- 3
- …
- 15
- Next Page »