Bankruptcy Mastery

The"Who's On First" problem of lien strip service haunted my weekend at the Sacramento Bankruptcy Forum and the week that has followed back in the office. As one judge so kindly pointed out, if it turns out your service of the lien strip motion was inadequate, it will be the debtor's attorney in the cross hairs. Thanks, judge. Where most bankruptcy issues are relatively small dollar value … [Continue reading...]

A really good bankruptcy law conference leaves you unable to sleep the next night. If you don't learn something that scares you sleepless about how you practice, you weren't paying attention. Service of lien strip motions tops my worry list after  last weekend's  Northern California Bankruptcy Conference in Sacramento. Lien strips may be the biggest dollar value thing we do in a Chapter … [Continue reading...]

Ms. Moran, how could this bankruptcy case have cost as much as your fee application asks? That's the harping voice in the back of my head as I write fee applications. That's the question that my written application had better answer before I step to the lectern in a courtroom. It's impolitic to say my client's an idiot or the records are a shambles,  or the law was written by random … [Continue reading...]

The reasons not to file a Chapter 7 for a failing corporation crowded my last post. My point was that just because the person in your office thinks his corporation should file bankruptcy, it may not be so. Today: the situations where it might be worth the downside risks to file a 7 for a client's corporation. Because, like most issues in advising real people, corporate and corporeal, it … [Continue reading...]

Your client's business is going under. What should I do? he asks of you. Return the favor with a question of your own, the third in my trio of gating inquiries: Would the business outlook be better if you weren’t servicing debt from the past? Fight or flee Before you can craft a plan, you need to assess the underlying problem in the business. There is no bankruptcy remedy for a poor product, an … [Continue reading...]

The tax break protecting homeowners from phantom income when their homes are foreclosed was reauthorized in the  last minute fiscal cliff bill. The problem is rooted in the tax code provision that treats debt that is cancelled as if it were income. While debt cancelled in a bankruptcy case is an exception to the rule, homeowners who lost their homes and had debt cancelled as  a result were … [Continue reading...]