When credit is a commodity, family are friends, and creditors are not, strange things happen. Trouble is, our clients don’t think the happenings are strange. Bankruptcy lawyers end up moving lots of “stuff” to get to the real story. Street law Arkansas bankruptcy lawyer Kathy Cruz uses the marvelous phrase “generally accepted people practices” […]
Four Ways Around The Chapter 13 Debt Limit
Bankruptcy needs a higher debt limit, too. My topic at the Bar Association of San Francisco in late July was all of a piece with the national problems: our debt ceiling was too low. Of course, I was addressing the debt limits in Chapter 13. An increase of a few hundred thousand would have solved […]
Bankruptcy Relief And Something For Nothing
This rant is for clients, and for bankruptcy lawyers who have to “adjust” the expectations of clients. The trigger was an attorney who asked if he could file a Chapter 13, strip a lien, and then convert the case to Chapter 7, preserving the lien strip. No, I said, why do you ask? The client […]
A Bankruptcy Lawyer’s Work Is Never Done
Your job isn’t done at confirmation of a Chapter 13 plan. Our clients’ lives keep changing, and if you keep thinking, there are on going chances to further improve their lives. Too often the changes in our clients’ circumstances are negative and we are looking at cratered cases, conversions or hardship discharges. But this week, […]
Good Bankruptcy Lawyers Let It All Hang Out
Which bankruptcy schedule does this go on? Can’t tell you how many questions I field about where on the official bankruptcy forms to schedule some asset. Is the timeshare real property or personal property? What do you do with the claim, the chose in action, the car titled to debtor but paid for by someone […]
Lien Stripping And Dueling Appraisers
When the appraisals clash, and the fate of a junior lien of thousands of dollars is at stake, what’s a judge to do? Crunch the numbers himself is how one judge came to a decision when the experts didn’t agree. In Duarte, the debtor’s appraiser testified that the house was worth $370,000 based on comparables […]
Is There A Shortcut To Learning Bankruptcy Law?
Got a shingle and a hankering to be a bankruptcy lawyer? Need to eat regularly? How does a rookie bankruptcy practitioner get off the bench and into the regular lineup? Go with the experienced lawyer, says my Bankruptcy Law Network colleague Dana Wilkinson, in a piece for consumers who need a bankruptcy lawyer. Good advice, […]
