BankruptcyLawNetwork

An individual same-sex married person who files bankruptcy faces a choice whether to include spousal income for purposes of determining how much unsecured creditors could receive from the bankruptcy case.  This choice is not available to the heterosexual married debtor due to an intended consequence of Congressional legislation that requires the heterosexual married debtor include [...]

Bankruptcy has some of the more powerful protections for consumers around — the automatic stay and the discharge.   There’s an unfortunate secret about the law that no one wants to brag about — with the automatic stay, you can often violate it until someone tells you to stop. Debt collectors know all about the stay [...]

A New York bankruptcy court ruled that a same sex married couple can file a joint bankruptcy case, just the same as a heterosexual married couple, regardless of the existence of the federal Defense of Marriage Act.  This case, In re Somers and Caggiano, No. 10-38296 (Bky.S.D.N.Y. May 4, 2011), and the rulings in In re [...]

Tax liens usually aren’t good things. But in at least one situation, they can help someone save their home in bankruptcy. In those states, such as Maryland, that do not have unlimited homestead exemptions, bankruptcy attorneys often have to deal with clients who own real estate that has non-exempt equity. This equity can be a [...]

According to an opinion signed, extraordinarily, by 20 of the 24 judges of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Central District of California, based in Los Angeles, the Defense of Marriage Act (“DOMA”) is unconstitutional insofar as it bars same-sex couples who are legally married under state law from filing joint bankruptcy petitions.  Under the [...]