The bankruptcy petition came to my desk for review with no entry for “clothing and wearing apparel”. Funny, I think I’d remember if I’d interviewed any naked people lately. My new assistant has simply transcribed what the client reported on the questionnaire, and when questioned, the client shrugged that his clothing had no value, so […]
Business Partners: Another Phantom Creditor
After the discharge, the debtor wondered how her agreement with a former business partner to pay the former partner was affected by the bankruptcy, since the partner wasn’t listed in the schedules. After wondering how the client hadn’t mentioned it and I hadn’t flushed it out, I said a prayer to St. Beezley for the […]
Case Closed: Too Soon
Do I have to wait til the bankruptcy discharge is entered to avoid a lien under §522(f)? It might be logical but do so at your peril, I replied. Actually “peril” is an overstatement, but in this date of electronic dockets, most clerk’s offices are closing no asset Chapter 7 cases just as soon as […]
Writer’s Block And The Bankruptcy Schedules
Comes the plaintive call on the phone: how do I list this? Faced with a blank schedule and a house, located in another state, titled to an estranged non filing spouse, in which the debtor may have a claim under the marital property laws of California, the rookie bankruptcy lawyer froze. I’m flattered to be […]
What Goes In The Chapter 13 Pot
The rookie bankruptcy lawyer called up to ask if the Chapter 13 plan had to provide the DMI amount in addition to the liquidation amount. Whoa! That’s taking good faith to an extreme. These are two different measures of what unsecured creditors are entitled to under Chapter 13. Section 1325(a)(4) requires that creditors get at […]
Small Business Can Be Big Trouble
The newbies in my neighborhood have had a vigorous online debate about the risks in filing Chapter 7 bankruptcy for a debtor with a proprietorship business. One faction simply refused to believe that a bankruptcy trustee could or would shut down an operating business upon filing. But real estate lawyers deemed it true. Believe it. […]
Welcome New Year
It’s 6:30 am and I’m anxious to get to my office to implement the improvements in my practice that I’ve been considering as we approach January, 2011. Isn’t one of Poor Richard’s aphorisms, “well begun is half done”? Don’t miss my friend Wendell Sherk’s piece, A Christmas Cheer for Consumer Lawyers. He captures the trials […]
