News Topic: Bankruptcy News

Lien Stripping in Bankruptcy is Court Ordered Mortgage Modification One of the advantages to filing chapter 13 bankruptcy is the ability to strip an “under secured” junior mortgage lien. When a homeowner owes more on their first mortgage than their home is ... Read full article

The right to a bankruptcy discharge is not absolute The right to a bankruptcy discharge is not absolute. For example, debtors who fail to keep adequate records, hide assets, incurred debt based on false pretenses, rack up credit card debt in bad faith or ... Read full article

Meeting with an attorney does not mean that you’re obligated to file for bankruptcy Meeting with a bankruptcy attorney means that you are interested in exploring your options for dealing with debt. It does not mean that you are going to file bankruptcy or ... Read full article

Lien Stripping in Bankruptcy is Court Ordered Mortgage Modification One of the advantages to filing chapter 13 bankruptcy is the ability to strip an “under secured” junior mortgage lien. When a homeowner owes more on their first mortgage than their home is ... Read full article

The right to a bankruptcy discharge is not absolute The right to a bankruptcy discharge is not absolute. For example, debtors who fail to keep adequate records, hide assets, incurred debt based on false pretenses, rack up credit card debt in bad faith or ... Read full article

Meeting with an attorney does not mean that you’re obligated to file for bankruptcy Meeting with a bankruptcy attorney means that you are interested in exploring your options for dealing with debt. It does not mean that you are going to file bankruptcy or ... Read full article

It can be frustrating for bankruptcy debtors who want to access and copy documents filed in their own case. Currently, the only document access is through the government PACER  system. (Public Access to Court Electronic Records) You have to sign up, get a ... Read full article

Problems With Reaffirmation Agreements of HSBC Subsidiary A couple months ago, I got a call from a prospective client (who we’ll call Jim). At the time he called, Jim was involved in a pro se adversary case involving a dispute over the terms of a ... Read full article

In a high-profile example of the bankruptcy court’s discretion over your bankruptcy case, former TLC member T-Boz, whose real name is Tionne Watkins, was thrown out of bankruptcy court.  Can this happen to you? T-Boz had filed a personal Chapter 13 ... Read full article

Why Not Student Loans? In the famous decision, Local Loan Co. vs. Hunt, the Supreme Court summed up the relatively simple policy behind our bankruptcy laws: the ”honest but unfortunate” debtor is given the opportunity to start over, “unhampered by the ... Read full article

Too Much Debt Forces Trader Out of Chapter 13 It’s never a good thing when you owe money to the federal government. While that doesn’t come as a big surprise to most of us, the story of a Michigan stock broker reminds us yet again that Uncle Sam can and ... Read full article

Surrendering Property Usually Allows the Debtor to Walk Away From Underwater Property. What Happens When the Bank Refuses to Take Ownership? One of the big advantages for consumers filing bankruptcy is the ability to surrender property they can no longer ... Read full article

I have been asked by legal malpractice attorneys occasionally to review cases they are considering for legal malpractice claims against bankruptcy lawyers. This week a south Florida attorney asked me to look at  a bankruptcy case filed by an Orlando, ... Read full article

Reaffirmation Agreements in Bankruptcy Although most consumers file bankruptcy, eliminate their debts and don’t look back, some find it more convenient to keep paying on loans that were in place prior to their bankruptcy. Some go as far as to renew their ... Read full article

Previously, I discussed the bankruptcy rule that employers cannot fire or otherwise discriminate against employees because they filed for bankruptcy.  However, I also mentioned the difficulty in sometimes proving the causation element between the filing ... Read full article

Are Consumer Bankruptcy Attorneys Biased? In my experience, absolutely not. In fact, consumer bankruptcy attorneys are among the most dedicated the legal profession has to offer, performing what is sometimes a thankless job for people who are under ... Read full article

Wells Fargo Freezing Accounts of Bankruptcy Debtors For years, Wells Fargo has taken an unusual and sometimes unpopular stance with regard to the bank account funds that bankruptcy filers have at their branches.  Every evening, Wells Fargo checks the ... Read full article

How Donald Trump Uses Bankruptcy to Become More Successful It is not uncommon for a client to ask about Donald Trump and other famous large-scale bankruptcies.  How can a rich person like Donald Trump file for bankruptcy, and how does he seem to come out ... Read full article