What New Bankruptcy Lawyers Need To Know: Beyond The Code

A Call To Action To All Bankruptcy Lawyers

By Cathy Moran, Esq. Filed Under: Bankruptcy Practice

Push back to call to improve bankruptcy bar

My call to the inept bankruptcy practitioners to get better or get out spawned some surprising push back. I spoke bluntly about what I saw as harm to the public from less than competent or committed bankruptcy attorneys. Most reaction was supportive: A trustee wanted to use the piece for a presentation he was making; another lawyer asked to reprint it. Many simply added … [Continue reading...]

How Can I Help?

By Cathy Moran, Esq. Filed Under: Bankruptcy Practice

After I unloaded on the incompetence I saw in the courtroom last week, it's only fair to ask: what are you struggling with? Is there something I can do to help? I'm here to share what I know, with an emphasis on fitting together the pieces of what you can learn from books or traditional CLE courses into a scheme for actual practice of bankruptcy law. I raise the issues I either see around … [Continue reading...]

Get Better Or Get Out

By Cathy Moran, Esq. Filed Under: Bankruptcy Practice

Become better bankruptcy attorney or get out

I spent a painful day in court watching two contested Chapter 13 confirmation calendars. It wasn't just my fanny that hurt by the end of the day, it was my head. Actually, I was sick to my stomach. The number of Chapter 13 cases dismissed because the lawyer had apparently done nothing, done it late, or done it wrong was nauseating. The parade of lame excuses for inaction went on and on. … [Continue reading...]

Battling Uncle Sam In The Bankruptcy Court

By Cathy Moran, Esq. Filed Under: Bankruptcy Practice

It's rare when you can get Uncle Sam to funnel clients in your door of your bankruptcy practice. And at no cost to you. But that's the situation if you know how to handle tax issues in bankruptcy. The IRS threatens, or even worse, levies, and the client is frantic for help. You, armed as a bankruptcy lawyer, can fight off the feds, and usually lessen the panic. … [Continue reading...]

The Lift Stay Motion And The Accidental Litigator

By Cathy Moran, Esq. Filed Under: Bankruptcy Practice

It's ironic that lots of us chose bankruptcy as a specialty because we didn't want to litigate. Bankruptcy looked easy, the recession creates clients and the practice is centered around official forms. Then one day you realize that bankruptcy is full of motion practice. And nothing is more important than dealing with relief from stay motions. … [Continue reading...]

The Chapter 13 Arsenal Is Incomplete Without This Unsung Hero

By Cathy Moran, Esq. Filed Under: Chapter 13

Chapter 13 hardship discharge: when the plan is derailed

I beat the Chapter 13 trustee on what's necessary to get a hardship discharge the other day. The contested issue was essentially whether the general rotten state of the economy was a circumstance beyond the debtor's control, justifying a hardship discharge. Over the years of a Chapter 13 plan, lots of life events can threaten the plan. Our clients usually aren't in the best of shape, … [Continue reading...]

Why You Need To Know The Three Musketeers Of Bankruptcy

By Cathy Moran, Esq. Filed Under: Bankruptcy Practice

In literature, the three musketeers answered to Athos, Porthos, and Aramis. In the world of bankruptcy, they live on yet with different names. That doesn't make them any less effective or, in the wrong hands, less lethal. The Code accords better treatment to creditors holding liens. Therefore, it is often our sworn duty as fighters for our clients to tackle those liens, whittle them down, … [Continue reading...]

Need A Bankruptcy Form or Local Rule For A Mortgage Case?

By Cathy Moran, Esq. Filed Under: Bankruptcy Practice

The National Consumer Law Center once again takes on a gargantuan task at the Bankruptcy Mortgage Project website. The site gathers documents, rules, procedures and forms touching mortgage issues in bankruptcy cases, organized by state. Within the site, it addresses Loss Mitigation Chapter 13 Plan Cure Requirements Stay Relief Lien Stripping Chapter 13 Plans To top … [Continue reading...]

Divorce and Bankruptcy: Frequent & Discordant Pairing

By Cathy Moran, Esq. Filed Under: Family Law in Bankruptcy

Incendiary combination: family law and bankruptcy

I hadn't hit the steps of my office on the way back from a speaking engagement before the phone rang with a resulting referral. My speech addressed the intersection of bankruptcy and family law. What a fruitful pairing. While my presentation to a bar section of family lawyers was entitled When Worlds Collide, it could have been Vinegar & Soda, or … [Continue reading...]

Go Back, Says Mortgage Law Expert

By Cathy Moran, Esq. Filed Under: Bankruptcy Practice

Pamela Simmons is one of the towering figures in the field of mortgage law, Truth in Lending and the mortgage meltdown. She and her partner Bill Purdy are my go-to lawyers for anything related to mortgage loans gone bad. I count her a friend as well. Below is an open letter she wrote to attorneys struggling to help clients whose homes were at risk. As you read it, consider … [Continue reading...]

Get Your Client Out Of The Means Test Jail

By Cathy Moran, Esq. Filed Under: Means test

Get bankruptcy debtors out of means test jail

As much as the means test is a pain in the neck, why don't more bankruptcy attorneys skip it? Finding that your client's debts are not "primarily consumer" is an instant, get-out-of-jail-free card. If you can check the B-22A box that the debts are not primarily consumer debts, you get to skip the rest of the miserable form. Let's revisit the statute: §707(b)(1) starts out providing … [Continue reading...]

You Can’t Tell The Players Without A Scorecard

By Cathy Moran, Esq. Filed Under: Bankruptcy Practice

The business bankruptcy version of "who's on first" is the inquiry: who is liable for this debt? Get a clear answer or get ready for trouble. A small business owner and his business are often indivisible in his mind. When a bankruptcy lawyer doesn't work to pull them apart, analytically, he should be charged with an error. Seen at the courthouse The debtor had … [Continue reading...]

Humpty Dumpty and Statutory Interpretation

By Cathy Moran, Esq. Filed Under: Bankruptcy Practice

After all the time I spend cajoling, suggesting, demanding that bankruptcy lawyer READ THE CODE, I was bitten by my own advice recently. The youngish bankruptcy lawyer had read § 109, and leapt to a conclusion 180 degrees from correct. He was utterly right that the words of the statute talk about debts the debtor owes. Only an individual with regular income that owes, on the date … [Continue reading...]

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