Bankruptcy debtors hear something different when their lawyer asks, “What do you owe on your mortgage”. It’s as though they speak a different language, Client, while we speak Bankruptcy. As bankruptcy lawyers, we need to be bilingual. It shouldn’t be a trick question, but all too often the answer a bankruptcy lawyer gets back is […]
Bankruptcy’s 3 Year Rule for Taxes
Taxes are dischargeable in bankruptcy once they meet the 3 year rule. Don’t get swept away on April 16th and file a bankruptcy designed to discharge taxes without knowing whether the client got an extension to file for the year on the bubble. The three year rule, found in §507(a)(8), starts counting from the day the […]
Learn the Bankruptcy Lingo: Pots & Percentages
While we’re learning to “walk the walk”, we might as well learn to “talk the (bankruptcy) talk”. Each profession has its shorthand for concepts that are encountered repeatedly. For bankruptcy lawyers, that includes the distinction between Chapter 13 “percentage plans” vs. “pot plans“. These terms are alternative ways that the dividend to unsecured creditors in […]
New Bankruptcy Lawyers Targeted by Trustee
Chapter 7 trustees plan to sue debtor’s lawyers for undisclosed assets, I was told yesterday. In the course of discussing the flood of rookie bankruptcy lawyers into local court rooms, this veteran trustee’s counsel was licking his chops at the opportunity to make creditors whole at the expense of the debtor’s attorney. The stories of […]
Bankruptcy Contested Matters: Won by Showing Up
Sometimes bankruptcy litigation is won by simple persistence. As Woody Allen says “80% of success is showing up”. Two instances this week where being ready and willing to have a hearing on a disputed issue resulted in victory before the hearing. In my case, I had a marginal set of facts in a […]
Assets in Bankruptcy Pose Valuation Issues
A bankruptcy lawyer seems to often have the unpleasant task of telling a debtor that their possessions have little value. I don’t know whether it’s a defense mechanism or just ingrained thinking, but I have clients tell me all the time that their assets have values far beyond what seems likely in the current market. […]
Bankruptcy Procedure Question? Ask a Clerk
The bankruptcy judge ordered me to get the signature of an absent party on the written version of the order just made from the bench. So, what to do when that party was unwilling to sign? When the judge signed the order anyway, opposing counsel complemented me on knowing how to deal with the problem. […]
