BankruptcyLawNetwork

Bankruptcy Is NOT a Dirty Word

12/05/11

The headline caught my eye: “Is Bankruptcy ‘Business as Usual’ for Airlines.’ ”  On NPR, no less.  Reporting on the Chapter 11 filed by American Airlines, the article goes on to note: You might say it’s almost business as usual for the airline industry. United, Northwest and Delta have all taxied down the Chapter 11 [...]

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Debtor Education Course: Are Joe and Sally to Blame?

12/03/11

The debtor education course. It’s the second course required by the Bankruptcy Code–the ticket out of bankruptcy, at least if the debtor wants his discharge. I confess I’ve always wondered what my clients thought of the course. Calling it a “course” is a bit much.  It only takes an hour or two, and there’s not [...]

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Bankruptcy is the Best Way to Save Your Home

11/29/11

Loan mods. Workouts. Bankruptcy. Which is the best way to save your home? A recent article, “The Homeownership Experience of Households in Bankruptcy” by Professor Sarah W. Carroll, of the University of Pennsylvania Law School and Wenli Li, of the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia, provided the first in-depth analysis of the homeownership experience of homeowners [...]

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Life Lessons in Losing a House

11/28/11

Socrates said that the unexamined life is not worth living, and George Santayana is attributed with having said that those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it. The New York Times Bucks blogging columnist Carl Richards, a certified financial planner, wrote two weeks ago about how things went very badly for him [...]

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Bankruptcy And Mortgage Mediation/Modification

11/28/11

The words Mortgage Modification and/or Mediation and Bankruptcy were never used in the same sentence because we all know that a debtor in Chapter 13 cannot use the Bankruptcy Code to modify a primary mortgage on their residence.  However, in the wake of this economic challenge, the winds of change are blowing, and we are [...]

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Elderly Parents, Life Estates, Remainder Interests, and Bankruptcy

11/27/11

Bankruptcy trustees in California and elsewhere were notorious for holding a Chapter 7 case open while real estate prices rose (hah!  remember those days?) above the protected values.  The trustee would then sell the home, forcing a debtor to move – and spend the protected part of the sale proceeds to do so -  while recovering money for [...]

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Will The Chapter 7 Bankruptcy Trustee Take My Tax Refund?

11/26/11

Whether a tax refund will be taken by the Trustee in a Chapter 7 bankruptcy will depend on several factors. As a general rule, the amount of taxes withheld from your pay are prorated over the entire year.  This means that the portion of the tax refund for the time before the bankruptcy filing is property of [...]

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Bankruptcy Exemptions: The Injuries of Benn (Part IV)

11/25/11

Getting compensated for injuries is personal.  It’s meant to replace a loss to you as a person.  Missouri exemption law recognizes that.  Yet the recent evolution of those exemptions in bankruptcy (here, here, and here) has set up an unusual conflict between state and federal law. Until the Benn decision discussed previously, Missouri cases were [...]

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What is Credit Bidding in Bankruptcy?

11/23/11

Credit bidding is a right that secured creditors have in bankruptcy sales allowing them to control the sale of their collateral. When collateral that secures a lien is proposed to be sold at a bankruptcy auction, a secured creditor is allowed to bid the amount of its debt as a credit bid, i.e. not a [...]

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Retain Complete Bankruptcy Originals, Not Just Signature Pages, When Going Paperless

11/20/11

It seemed like a dream to paper-burdened bankruptcy lawyers, this electronic filing stuff for bankruptcy courts.  Go paperless!  Save only signature pages.  Prepare your schedules, have the client make the necessary changes and sign where needed, then prepare the PDF documents, use the /s/ digital signature, and file away.  Sure, you keep the original “wet” signature [...]

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