Do you know which ignored prefiling issue triggers the most reopened bankruptcy cases? I’ve got no data but my money’s on avoidable judicial liens. We as bankruptcy attorneys have gotten so caught up in avoiding consensual mortgages where they are totally unsecured that we forget to look for the easy stuff. Stuff that is available […]
Here Are 3 Ways To Cram Down A Car In Spite Of The Hanging Paragraph
There are three labeled exits from the 910 freeway. Find one and you save your client thousands of dollars. Miss them all and you do your client a disservice. The infamous hanging paragraph in §1325(a) prohibits bifurcation of a creditor’s claim secured by a vehicle into a secured claim and an unsecured claim. Specifically: section […]
Top Ten Takeaways From NACBA Convention
A week after the NACBA convention, I’ve almost caught up on practice paperwork, continuing education reporting, and sleep. Now’s the time for some reflection on the experience as a whole. Here’s my list of big-picture ideas and to-do’s . How about you? What stood out for you at NACBA if you were lucky enough to […]
What I Learned In San Antonio, And What We Missed
After a long weekend with 900 bankruptcy colleagues, I’ve been thoroughly reminded about all that remains to be learned about this marvelous profession. What did I learn, and what was missing? I took my first bankruptcy case 32 years ago, and looking back, I blanch at what I didn’t know then. Even now, I see […]
NACBA San Antonio: Marketing A Bankruptcy Practice
Our presenter was Larry DePalma, an affable guy who identified himself as a marketing expert. He mentioned a number of times that he works with a bankruptcy lawyer in Tennessee. [I checked his LinkedIn profile which claims that he is a “Treasury management and payments industry professional with extensive experience in product and marketing management.” […]
Evidence Rules In Mortgage Litigation
Judge Pamela Pepper convened a “hearing” on related disputes involving a debtor’s mortgage, the creditor’s standing, and the payment history on the loan. The various parties to the dispute sought to obtain, introduce and exclude evidence at the mock hearing. The comments are almost exclusively hers as she analyzed what we’d just seen. This is […]
Remember the Big Stuff: Protecting Retirement and Business Assets
Hon. Susan Kelley, U.S. Bankruptcy Court (Milwaukee, WI) Behrooz Vida, Esq. (Bedford, TX) Retirements asset issue that can be calculated by using equity interest rate release calculator. ERISA qualified plans excluded from bankruptcy estate. Nobody knew what was ERISA-qualified and not. IRAs may not have been qualified under Patterson but SUpreme Court came along and […]
