News Topic: Court Decisions

Another bankruptcy court decision on reaffirmation of mortgage loans. Bankruptcy debtors have always understood that they had to reaffirm their liability for car loans if they wanted to keep the car through bankruptcy. Many debtors over the years believed ... Read full article

If the debtor and his attorney screw up the debtor’s exemption on his bankruptcy schedules the attorney usually can fix the problem by amending schedules. A bankruptcy court found that the right to amend can expire at some point in the bankruptcy case ... Read full article

Chapter 13 debtors can cram-down the value of mortgages on properties other than their principal residence. The debtor initiates the process by filing a motion to value the underlying property. If the property is under water the court will modify the ... Read full article

I have previously written posts on the subject of bankruptcy and employment. How bankruptcy can effect your employment depends upon whether you are concerned about a current employer or employment. The bankruptcy code clearly prohibits your present ... Read full article

I wrote a blog post a couple weeks ago about Chapter 7 trustees who try to force debtors to pay money or give up title to their upside-down homestead properties which the debtors do not claim as exempt. ... Read full article

How to mess up a bankruptcy exemption. I happened upon a Florida bankruptcy case decided in 2010 wherein a court held that a debtor’s self-directed IRA was not exempt. The debtor’s had a securities account that clearly was titled as an IRA account. The ... Read full article

Kaufman, Englett and Lynd, PLLC (“KEL”) is a law firm that advertises mortgage foreclosure defense work, among other things. KEL decided to get into the bankruptcy business and is one of the largest volume filers of bankruptcy petitions in the Middle ... Read full article

Some bankruptcy trustees have been trying to force  debtors’ to turn over possession of  real property even when the property appears to be under water. It seems that these bankruptcy trustees want to see if they can find a buyer and/or negotiate ... Read full article

From time to time I receive inquiries from people seeking to discharge a student loan in Chapter 7 bankruptcy. Student loans can only be discharged for “undue hardship.” Undue hardship in this context means things are really, really bad. ... Read full article

Many people who wanted to file Chapter 13 found that they were ineligible because their debts exceeded the Chapter 13 debt limits of approximately $1 million of secured debt or approximately $360,000 of unsecured debt. The debt limits have affected more ... Read full article

I have rarely discussed bankruptcy attorneys fees in this blog even though I know that fees are an important consideration for readers who are considering filing bankruptcy. I do not want this blog to be interpreted as an advertisement for my own fees in ... Read full article