The sixtyish client sitting in my office had assets worth 10 times his credit card debt. What could bankruptcy possibly do for someone who was solvent? His problem was liquidity and an income that was certain to decline. The disability income would end at 65, leaving him with only Social Security and the income from…
I’ll miss Maurice Sendak, the author of children’s books who died this week. The last image in his signature book, Where The Wild Things Are, is my touchpiece for clients afraid to file bankruptcy. Do you remember it? What does a book about a naughty child who adventures in a nighttime land of monsters have…
The newest specialty for bankruptcy lawyers is mucked-up cases from other bankruptcy lawyers. My firm is hip deep in bankruptcy cases we’ve taken on after the first attorney screwed things up. Most of the problems seem fixable, some may resist rescue. But the clients will end up paying twice; the cost will undoubtedly be greater…
After meeting with a prospective bankruptcy client who was in a heap of litigation trouble, I coined a new rule about asset protection schemes. If it is too complicated for the owner to explain to another, it probably represents a voidable fraudulent transfer. This man had paid an attorney a fistful of money to create…
The tax extension in the mail and you don’t have to think about income taxes til October 15th approaches. Right? Not in my book, if you are self employed. The self employed don’t have their estimated income taxes withheld from their paychecks. There aren’t any paychecks if you are among that resolute band of entrepreneurs,…
Strip away the mystery on where Chapter 13 plan numbers come from and avoid trustee objections that your plan is defective. Master a universal system for crafting Chapter 13 plans that meet the confirmation tests, provide enough (and only enough) money to fund the plan, and deal correctly with issues of adequate protection. Wearing my…
Russell A. DeMott is a friend of mine and a Charleston, South Carolina bankruptcy and foreclosure defense lawyer . He likes hot women; don’t ask why he wrote this piece for me at the Soapbox. Hot Women and Bankruptcy? What do hot women have to do with bankruptcy? Selling credit counseling and debtor…
T-Boz Watkins got her Chapter 13 case tossed out of court for not following the rules of Chapter 13 bankruptcy. While Jay Fleischman at ConsumerHelpCentral laid down the law, so to speak, in listing the rules, he didn’t remind us why they are worth following. Chapter 13 bankruptcy: better than sliced bread…
The word grubstake never appears in the bankruptcy code or the California Code of Civil Procedure where the exemptions available in bankruptcy cases filed in California are found. Yet every bankruptcy lawyer uses the phrase; and seemingly, every bankruptcy debtor struggles to understand it. Here’s the standard English definition of…
It’s tax season and tax myths are everywhere. Know what the most dangerous one is? If you can’t pay the tax on the return, you’ll escape collection action if you keep a low profile by not filing the return. I hear it repeatedly, each year, year after year. And it’s wrong, over and over. Wrong…
