What New Bankruptcy Lawyers Need To Know: Beyond The Code

Chapter 13 Trustee Makes A Christmas List

By Cathy Moran, Esq. Filed Under: Bankruptcy Practice

OK, so I'm behind. Christmas was three weeks ago. I'm just getting around to sharing with you my Chapter 13 trustee's Wish List for 2012, which she announced at our bankruptcy bar's Christmas party. The fact that she has to "ask" us to do what the Code says we must speaks volumes about the attention to detail (or lack thereof) in the bar. And I would contend that we in the Northern … [Continue reading...]

Do You Know Bankruptcy’s Three Little Words?

By Cathy Moran, Esq. Filed Under: Bankruptcy Practice

Bankruptcy's Three Very Important Little Words

They're not "I love you" or even "I am sorry". They're bequest, devise, and inheritance from §541(a)(5)(A). Any interest in property that would have been property of the estate if such interest had been an interest of the debtor on the date of the filing of the petition, and that the debtor acquires or becomes entitled to acquire within 180 days after such date— (A) by bequest, … [Continue reading...]

Name That Exemption

By Cathy Moran, Esq. Filed Under: Exemptions

OK, readers. It's time for a pop quiz. How many non bankruptcy, federal exemptions can you name? 1. 2. 3. If you didn't get past the exemption for Social Security, read on. Section 522 (b)(3)(a) provides that a debtor who elects the applicable state law exemptions can also exempt property under federal, non bankruptcy exemptions. Inconveniently, those exemptions … [Continue reading...]

New Year’s Resolutions: What Challenges Me

By Cathy Moran, Esq. Filed Under: Bankruptcy Practice

I asked you last week to identify the challenges in your practice. I heard cries for more clients, for mentors, for new skill sets. Turning the focus around, I thought about what I wanted to do differently or better this year in my practice. Here's my list. Communicate the bankruptcy grounds rules to clients more effectively. Improve my work product retrieval system Pay better … [Continue reading...]

What Did The Lawyer Miss?

By Cathy Moran, Esq. Filed Under: Bankruptcy Practice

Something was missing: the brief on behalf of a creditor with a lien argued vigorously that the lien couldn't be stripped in a Chapter 13 in which no discharge was available. Silence as to the other side of the argument. The one sided brief resulted in not only a loss on the client's issue, but a stripe of skin off the law firm's symbolic back for an attempt to mislead the judge. Worse, … [Continue reading...]

What’s Your Next Challenge?

By Cathy Moran, Esq. Filed Under: Bankruptcy Practice

Ever feel like the practice of consumer bankruptcy law resembles crossing the chasm on a rope bridge? In the dark? I assure you, you are not alone. In one of my first contested matters in bankruptcy, probably within 18 months of passing the bar, and the same distance from adoption of the Bankruptcy Code, I must have set a record for the number of times I continued a hearing, because I … [Continue reading...]

Friday Freebie

By Cathy Moran, Esq. Filed Under: Bankruptcy Practice

Budget flat? Business slow? How about a federal practice manual, on line, for free? Check out the Federal Practice Manual for Legal Aid Attorneys. It's not shopworn: we don't have enough of those legal aid heroes to smudge the pages. To expand your bankruptcy practice beyond drafting schedules, you need litigation skills. Here's a resource, right in your browser. Hat tip to … [Continue reading...]

Avoid Probate: Lose The Property In Bankruptcy Instead

By Cathy Moran, Esq. Filed Under: Bankruptcy Practice

DIY probate avoidance and bankruptcy don't mix

Whether it's fear of the cost of lawyers or joinder in probate-phobia, the public's do-it-yourself testamentary substitutes can have ugly consequences when bankruptcy looms. "When the individual who is supposed to benefit from a parent's accumulations files bankruptcy, the cheapo alternative to a will or trust can cost the players the property", said probate lawyers based in Raleigh area. Do it … [Continue reading...]

When The Means Test Is Not So Mean

By Cathy Moran, Esq. Filed Under: Means test

It isn't often that the newspaper provides ideas for this site, whose focus is polishing new bankruptcy lawyers. But a story on the surge in cost for health insurance based on a study by the Commonwealth Fund reminded me to remind you: the means test allows deduction for the cost of health insurance, even if the debtor doesn't have health insurance! The opportunity to deduct … [Continue reading...]

Wait, Wait, Don’t File

By Cathy Moran, Esq. Filed Under: Bankruptcy Practice

Three weeks til the New Year and I'm starting to look at each Chapter 13 filing in my shop and ask whether we should file this case. It's not that the calendar has much influence on whether clients need a bankruptcy. It's "Will these folks owe taxes for 2011?" For the case I reviewed yesterday, the clients expect to owe $11,000 in income taxes for 2011. If we file this week, as the client … [Continue reading...]

Bankruptcy Advice Lost In Translation

By Cathy Moran, Esq. Filed Under: Bankruptcy Practice

How do you misunderstand me...let me count the ways. A year into a confirmed Chapter 13 plan, I learned about my client's hitherto unscheduled car loan when the creditor called up about missed payments. Huh? There was no car loan in the schedules. This was a loan in the debtor's name, secured by a car titled to his significant other and paid, or in this case, not paid, by the … [Continue reading...]

Two Free Treasures For Bankruptcy Lawyers

By Cathy Moran, Esq. Filed Under: Bankruptcy Practice

Howdy, nice of you to drop in. Now, I've got two reasons for you to skedaddle out of here. Bankruptcy Rule Changes New bankruptcy rules took effect December 1. If you can't recite them in your sleep, the National Consumer Law Center has generously made their otherwise subscription only newsletter available for free. Click on www.nclc.org/form10 to download. NCLC's John Rao (he's the … [Continue reading...]

Finding Exemption Gold In The Probate Code

By Cathy Moran, Esq. Filed Under: Bankruptcy Practice

Would you expect to find an exemption applicable in bankruptcy in the probate code? But that's where I found one yesterday. And if it exists under California law, it may exist where you practice as well. A testamentary trust paying some current income to a prospective client sent me to the cases. I needed to know did the trust have a spendthrift clause if so, was the income stream … [Continue reading...]

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