The signal changes in California foreclosure law in 2021 are bearing unexpected fruit: a bankruptcy filing AFTER the foreclosure auction can save the house for the homeowner. Under CC 2924m, instead of the foreclosure sale being final at the drop of the auction hammer, now the sale is not final, and the trustee’s deed not […]
Rule 41 Threatens Strike Out
I was the third attorney on this lien avoidance matter. Instead of it being “third time’s the charm”, it came close to being “three strikes and you’re out.” All because of FRBP 7041. One This was the set up: original counsel filed a number of lien avoidance actions, including the one against a landlord with […]
Today’s AI Stands To Create Work For Consumer Lawyers
Most lawyers were torn between wincing and laughing when a lawyer filed a brief packed with case authority created out of whole cloth by an AI bot. Meanwhile, a segment of the bar is fretting that we will be replaced by powerful artificial intelligence. My concern, based on a couple of casual forays into AI, […]
The Neglected Non-dischargeability Provision
Hands up, everyone who has encountered a claim that a debt is non-dischargeable by reason of ยง523(a)(14). That’s what I thought: nada, or next thing to it. That provision makes nondischargeable debts incurred to pay a tax to the United States that would be nondischargeable pursuant to paragraph (1); Despite watching for it, I hadn’t […]
Is This Corporation Really Separate From Its Owners: A Checklist
In a perfectly-executed world, clients who do business via an entity like a corporation or LLC would arrive with their business life neatly separated from their personal lives. However, that’s not the world I practice in. It’s probably not yours, either. Instead, I have to sleuth out the facts, and compare them to the individual’s […]
Are 401(k) Contributions Disposable Income Or Not?
For a system that is supposed to rehabilitate personal finances and set debtors back on their feet, Chapter 13 nationwide is schizophrenic about on- going retirement savings. We’re divided about whether post petition contributions to retirement accounts preclude confirmation of a Chapter 13 plan. Are 401(k) Contributions Disposable Income Or Not? Too many courts, in […]
Bankruptcy Law Trumps State Protection For Judgment Lien
State law insulated a recorded judgment lien from future increases in the homestead exemption. However, bankruptcy law trumps that limitation, says the 9th Circuit in Barclay v. Boskoski. [T]he Bankruptcy Code requires courts to determine the amount of the exemption to whichthe debtor would have been entitled in the absence of the lien at issue […]
