I’m accustomed to advising those on the verge of filing bankruptcy about big ticket debts like mortgages, student loans, and back taxes. I was surprised when a client, resigned to letting her house go to foreclosure after the bankruptcy, was absolutely delighted to know that she could free herself from her unhappy relationship with Verizon Wireless […]
The Most Important Bankruptcy Decision Of 2013
A bankruptcy case nominally about travel trailers, ATV’s, and a car for a an adult child gets my vote as the most important bankruptcy decision of 2013 for Californians. When the 9th Circuit decided Welsh, it told us, and Chapter 13 trustees, that you take your Chapter 13 debtors as you find them. If you […]
The Living Trust: Can You Trust It To Protect You?
Today’s post comes from Los Angeles area bankruptcy lawyer Mark Markus. The Revocable Living Trust. Everyone’s got one, but few can tell you what it does for them. And those who can tell you, often have it wrong. People create these trusts, stick their home, bank accounts, and other assets in them and move on. […]
Bankruptcy Exemption Bill Changes More Than Dollar Amounts
An odd quirk in California’s bankruptcy exemptions was eliminated when the exclusion for pain and suffering damages was deleted by the legislature. Before January, 2013, someone filing bankruptcy could exempt money recovered for a personal injury up to $17,425. But no part of any recovery for pain and suffering associated with that injury was exempt. […]
The Reverse Side Of The Coin: In Re Welsh
Just because debtors can keep their upscale trappings and their toys bought on credit doesn’t mean they should. I share bankruptcy attorney Jon Brooks’ excitement over the 9th Circuit’s recent decision in Welsh. The appeals court held that a debtor wasn’t guilty of bad faith in proposing a Chapter 13 plan that kept and […]
Same Sex Couples No Different In Bankruptcy
Same sex couples encounter financial troubles no differently than heterosexual couples. We live in “interesting” times as bankruptcy courts feel their way through the collision between California’s state laws on domestic partnerships and married same sex couples and the federal law found (and now ignored) in DOMA. Lead by judges in the Central District […]
Means Test Not Sole Measure Of Bankruptcy Abuse
Two appeals courts hold that a bankruptcy judge may dismiss a Chapter 7 case based on ability to pay debts, even if the debtors pass the means test. Increasingly over the last 20 years, Congress has tried to put Chapter 7 off limits to debtors who can pay a meaningful portion of their debts. For […]
Lien Strips Live in Chapter 20
Twenty is my favorite number these days. The Oakland bankruptcy judges have ruled consistent with one another that homeowners can strip underwater liens from their homes in Chapter 20 bankruptcy. Before you run off to the law library looking for Chapter 20, I confess that “Chapter 20” is bankruptcy lawyer shorthand for a Chapter 13 […]
Car Crazy In Bankruptcy Court
My client wants to keep paying on his car after bankruptcy. The lender wants my client to keep paying on his car after bankruptcy. Yet it took an afternoon in court for a hearing set by the judge on approval of my client’s reaffirmation agreement with the car lender to get everyone what they wanted. What […]
Only Sex Appeal and the U.S. Congress Can Sell These Services
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 […]
