In my bankruptcy alphabet, L is for the Life you can get back when you get rid of your debts. My bankruptcy clients are often simply consumed by managing their debts. There is no room for rest, savings, dreaming. Life has become the struggle to make the next round of payments. L could also be […]
Forgiveness Starts At Home
Kansas City bankruptcy lawyer Rachel Foley wrote about forgiveness in the bankruptcy context. She wasn’t talking about the forgiveness of debt, but about the negative emotions that can eat you up. Shed the anger at others who threaten your family’s well being, she counseled, and look forward. I don’t often see clients who need to […]
Last Call For Loan Modifications Under HAMP
If your house is teetering on the edge of foreclosure, the time to act has a deadline. HAMP, the government program incentivizing home loan modifications, ends in 2016. To qualify for HAMP, you must submit a complete Initial Application Package by December 30, 2016. That package must include: A RMA form which includes a required hardship […]
Staying Out Of Bankruptcy Trustee’s Crosshairs
Clients who want the benefits of bankruptcy without any change in the way they want to live life have been the theme of my practice lately. This seems to come out when we do a Schedule J budget in a Chapter 13: they want $300/month in recreation, $1400 in food, and $300 in clothing. While […]
Your Rights When Your Home Is Foreclosed
The foreclosure sale is over and the bank now owns the home. You’re now living in someone else’s property. What next? If you were the homeowner in California, here are your choices after the foreclosure: Your rights before the foreclosure sale
The Tortoise Is The Mascot Of Retirement Savings
Every campaign needs a logo. Make the logo of your financial 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, […]
Dividing Debts At Divorce: What You Need To Know
The division of the debts of a failed marriage, however carefully crafted at divorce, can be utterly destroyed if one of the former spouses files a Chapter 13 bankruptcy. A Chapter 13 discharge is double barreled. It will eliminate the debts that the filing spouse owes to creditors. It also wipes out any obligation to the […]
Social Security Safe In Bankruptcy
The Chapter 13 trustee objected to the debtors’ repayment plan because they did not plan to devote their Social Security income to repaying creditors. And, he complained, they proposed to keep and pay for vehicles that are luxury items. The plan is not proposed in good faith, he claimed, as required by the Bankruptcy Code. The […]
Melania Trump Sold The American Dream Short
The infamous Melania Trump speech at the Republican convention shared more than a paragraph or so with Michelle Obama. It shared Michelle’s aspirational thought that in America, any child with hard work and perseverance can succeed. “The only limit to your achievements is the strength of your dreams and your willingness to work hard for […]
File Bankruptcy All Alone: No Spouse Required
We’re so used to thinking about married folk as a couple, rather than as two individuals: George and Gracie; Bill and Hillary; John and Abigail. The Bankruptcy Code feeds that perception when it allows a married couple to file a joint case. Two people, one set of papers, one filing fee. But while filing together […]
