ACleanSlateTheBankruptcyLawBlog

The CBS news show 60 Minutes produced a show on fraudulent mortgage documents. The show touches on a lot of the issues we have been discussing here on A Clean Slate.

There are two segments worth watching. This is the link to the main show on YouTube. And here is a link to a second online piece that follows up on some of the issues in the main piece.

The rock classic “American Pie” was inspired by the tragic death of three rock-n-roll greats, Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and Big Bopper Richardson, in a plane crash on February 3, 1959. Don McLean famously coined the term “The Day the Music Died” to describe the event.

I was thinking about the phrase recently because there are dates and memories that get stuck in history. We remember where we were when heard that something happened. And to me a couple completely unrelated events are stuck together.

Because I am a nerdy restructuring and bankruptcy attorney, I am on a fair number of email listervs with colleagues. One recurring item in our discussions is what legendary bankruptcy attorney Max Gardner calls the “Alphabet Problem.” If you click on that link, you get a wonderful, in-depth explanation of the Alphabet Problem that Max wrote. If you are like me, though, and have a short attention span, you need a simpler explanation if you want to understand the Alphabet Problem.

“Zombie Debt” is a term that people in my business use for debt that is not legally enforceable. The debt generally has been either paid, settled, or discharged in a bankruptcy.

So how does it happen?