Professionally, what am I thankful for? I’m thankful for experience and a skill set useful in terrible economic times. I’m thankful for bankruptcy laws, flawed as they are, that allow people to escape debt and focus on the future. I’m thankful for an honest judiciary and panel trustee system that give the system integrity. On […]
Consumer Debt Label Matters in 13
Consumer debt? Non consumer debt? Have mostly non consumer debt and you get a pass on the means test. Where else does the consumer/non consumer characterization matter: in Section 1301, where co debtors on a consumer debt are protected by the automatic stay. Section 1301 limits the scope of the co debtor stay to consumer […]
What’s Hardest Part Of Being New To Bankruptcy?
How about we reverse the flow of information here and you tell me what the most difficult aspect of being an inexperienced bankruptcy lawyer is? What kinds of issues are hardest to get help with? What facts have eluded you in interviewing clients? What is the biggest challenge in your practice today?
Number One Reason to Avoid Taking a Chapter 11
Put aside inexperience: the most important reason not to take on a Chapter 11 is that it can kill your practice. The rules and procedures for Chapter 11 were created for the debtor “big boys”, the corporations that hire tall-building lawyers by the score. There are innumerable hoops to jump through, even if you were […]
Really Subtle Trick For Discharging Taxes
While the IRS shows the early withdrawal penalty for taking money from an IRA as tax, several cases uphold treating it as a penalty, therefore, dischargeable in Chapter 13. No matter how often I go to NACBA events, I always end up with a couple of dynamite ideas that justify the time and expense. This […]
Meet Me in Puerto Rico
Dateline: San Francisco International Airport I’m leaving on a jet plane, to coin a phrase<g>, for NACBA’s Fall Workshop in Puerto Rico. Nothing that all day on a plane can’t accomplish. If you’re attending, please look me up and introduce yourself. I’d love to have faces attached to names, in the ever optimistic thought that […]
Twelve Ways to Tweak Schedule J
When the debtor’s Schedules J shows a significant number on the bottom line, that “excess income” may suggest the case is an abuse. The first question should always be: “How real are the projected Schedule J expenses”? In districts where the difference between I and J retains some significance in Chapter 7, bankruptcy attorneys need to […]
