News Topic: BankruptcyLawNetwork

So, you’re in a Chapter 7 bankruptcy and you want to know whether you should reaffirm your car loan.  A reaffirmation agreement basically takes a secured loan, like a car loan, outside the effect of your bankruptcy discharge.  As to that one debt, it’s ... Read full article

Let’s say you file chapter 7 bankruptcy, and you want to keep paying your vehicle loan and thereby keep your vehicle.  The bank sends your bankruptcy lawyer a “reaffirmation agreement,” which is a pre-printed official form issued by the bankruptcy courts.  ... Read full article

If you’re a bankruptcy lawyer, would you like to master the essential skills every bankruptcy attorney must have … all by Labor Day? Most outsiders think the practice of consumer bankruptcy law is nothing more than filling in a bunch of forms and ... Read full article

My clients had owned a small company for 40 years. They had amassed a half-dozen properties, owned a very valuable home, an expensive recreational vehicle, and of course, a big party boat. But when their company began to falter due to the economy, the ... Read full article

Yes, you read it right.  This is about giving creditors advice about reaffirmation agreements.  It just might be a first here at Bankruptcy Law Network.  But it’s occurred to me that creditors deserve some help from time to time.  So why not? The ... Read full article

This week’s Forbes magazine contains an editorial by tax lawyer Steven J. Dunn entitled “Consumer Bankruptcies do More Harm than Good.”   Mr. Dunn acknowledges that he is not a bankruptcy lawyer (although he knows a few bankruptcy lawyers – including his ... Read full article

    Leases are their own animal under the bankruptcy code. They are neither secured debt, nor unsecured debt. They get their very own schedule, schedule G. And the Bankruptcy Code provides that leases can be assumed or rejected. Rejection, as you might ... Read full article

An article in this past week’s issue of the online publication Collection & Credit Risk raises the question of whether the spread of sub-prime loans in industries other than mortgages could prompt a replay of the Great Recession of 2009. According to ... Read full article

Much has been written about what potential debtors should look for in a bankruptcy lawyer.  Well, it is a two-way street and bankruptcy lawyers will also be sizing you up to determine if you will be a good bankruptcy client.  Remember, both the lawyer and ... Read full article

The powers-that-be over in Cupertino announced the iPad 2 today, and consumers around the country are sure to line up as soon as pre-ordered begin on March 11. As with just about every product put out by Apple, the iPad 2 is just about guaranteed to blow ... Read full article

What is cross collateralization and how can it affect your Bankruptcy? When a loan is cross-collateralized it means that you have made an unsecured creditor into a secured creditor. How does this happen? When you purchase a car, it is common for the ... Read full article

Bankruptcy is in the Bible.  In fact, there are plenty of blog posts here on Bankruptcy Law Network about what the Bible says about debt.  Kurt O’Keefe’s “Is Filing Bankruptcy a Sin?” is just one of many posts.  Most of these posts discuss the Bible and ... Read full article

As a Consumer Bankruptcy Attorney, I meet quite a few people who are investigating what bankruptcy can do for them.  Often the question will arise:  How Can Bankruptcy Help Me?  I think it is a great question, and it is one that I try to answer for each ... Read full article

You’ve made your mortgage or car payments after bankruptcy.  Your credit report says “zero payments made”.  That’s as it should be, and it’s for your benefit.  (Your credit will rebuild anyway.  Here’s more, and here’s even more.  But it’s not all roses.)  ... Read full article

Lawyers who represent consumers in foreclosures, collection abuse or civil lawsuit defense matters often refer to attorneys on the other side as “mills.”  In my experience, that’s not too far off the mark; when law firms file huge numbers of lawsuits at a ... Read full article

Many landowners, particularly struggling farmers in Upstate New York, are trying to get out of gas leases they signed several years ago and replace them with new gas leases. It could make a difference of over $1,000,000 to the landowner. Filing bankruptcy ... Read full article

The Bankruptcy Means Test figures are changing again on March 14, 2011 and I am once again reminded of how absurd the means test is.  When the US Trustee posts new means test figures, I alway take a careful look at the numbers and compare them to  ... Read full article

The recent Supreme Court decision of Schwab v. Reilly dealt with a rather technical question of just what are debtors protecting when they claim an exemption in their bankruptcy? The Court said that a debtor must indicate that they are claiming an ... Read full article