What New Bankruptcy Lawyers Need To Know: Beyond The Code

Lien Stripping And Dueling Appraisers

By Cathy Moran, Esq. Filed Under: Bankruptcy Practice

When the appraisals clash, and the fate of a junior lien of thousands of dollars is at stake, what's a judge to do? Crunch the numbers himself is how one judge came to a decision when the experts didn't agree. In Duarte, the debtor's appraiser testified that the house was worth $370,000 based on comparables including three bank-owned sales. The junior lien holder's appraiser came in at … [Continue reading...]

Is There A Shortcut To Learning Bankruptcy Law?

By Cathy Moran, Esq. Filed Under: Bankruptcy Practice

Got a shingle and a hankering to be a bankruptcy lawyer? Need to eat regularly? How does a rookie bankruptcy practitioner get off the bench and into the regular lineup? Go with the experienced lawyer, says my Bankruptcy Law Network colleague Dana Wilkinson, in a piece for consumers who need a bankruptcy lawyer. Good advice, unless you are the bankruptcy lawyer without experience. Time … [Continue reading...]

Why Choose Bankruptcy For a Judgment Proof Elder?

By Cathy Moran, Esq. Filed Under: Bankruptcy Practice

Preserving exempt property for the next generation may justify a bankruptcy filing for a judgment proof elder. California exemptions protected a generous homestead for my friend's frail client; her pension and social security income also enjoyed an exemption. I was about to question why the woman needed a bankruptcy at this stage of her life despite the credit card judgments, when the … [Continue reading...]

Bankruptcy Attorney’s Guide To Post Dated Checks

By Cathy Moran, Esq. Filed Under: Bankruptcy Practice

Remember the medieval maps that warned "there be dragons"? In the bankruptcy world, those dragons are post dated checks from your debtor client. Stay away. Post dated checks in payment of the debtor's attorneys fees create a prepetition claim, subject to the automatic stay and the bankruptcy discharge, held the court inWalton v. Clark & Washington (Bnkr. MD FL 2011). The opinion rejects … [Continue reading...]

Lessons For Bankruptcy Lawyers In Casey Anthony Trial

By Cathy Moran, Esq. Filed Under: Bankruptcy Practice

There's only one lesson here: it all turns on the evidence. It is widely believed that Casey Anthony was responsible for her daughter's death, but she was acquitted in a court of law because the prosecution didn't present evidence that proved culpability beyond a reasonable doubt. Supposition, inference, and logic won't cut it; it required evidence. Evidence? I'm a bankruptcy lawyer, … [Continue reading...]

Are You A Potted Plant?

By Cathy Moran, Esq. Filed Under: Bankruptcy Practice

Brendan Sullivan famously explained his role as an attorney in the Iran-Contra hearings by declaring that he was "not a potted plant", but the witness' attorney. "I'm the lawyer. That's my job." Sullivan was defending his repeated objections to questions asked of his client: that was his job. I, similarly, see my job as a bankruptcy attorney as pushing my clients to reexamine … [Continue reading...]

Eyes and Ears In The Courtroom

By Cathy Moran, Esq. Filed Under: Bankruptcy Practice

His matter had been called and disposed of earlier in the Chapter 13 calendar. Yet the young lawyer continued to sit in the courtroom, listening, watching and making notes. Finally I leaned over and asked if he had another matter on the calendar. No, he replied, I'm just taking it all in. That attitude, coupled with common sense and energy, will make him a sterling bankruptcy lawyer, very … [Continue reading...]

Can The McCourts Dodge A Bullet In Dodger Bankruptcy?

By Cathy Moran, Esq. Filed Under: Bankruptcy Practice

The Dodgers' bankruptcy filing is titillating, involving big time sports, a feud between team owner McCourt and baseball commissioner Selig, and the messy divorce centered around the Dodgers as marital property. We'll all get a primer on Chapter 11's as we watch the first day motions and the motions to incur enough additional debt to make payroll this week. But the issue that has me … [Continue reading...]

Cash Collateral Can Crater Bankruptcy Cases And Careers

By Cathy Moran, Esq. Filed Under: Bankruptcy Practice

Want to make a bankruptcy judge go ballistic? It's easy: demonstrate ignorance or indifference to cash collateral. If you are saying, what's cash collateral, you need to read further or learn to walk over molten lava. Cash collateral is essentially the output of property subject to the security interest of a creditor: rents, offspring, dividends, etc. The Code (you knew I'd get to the … [Continue reading...]

Ring Around Bankruptcy Law: Don’t Fall Down

By Cathy Moran, Esq. Filed Under: Bankruptcy Practice

I read it on the Internet: it must be so. Or not. I found another Victoria Ring blooper this week, thanks to a friend on her email list. Ms. Ring, a paralegal who trains other paralegals (and lawyers, I fear) delightedly tells her LinkedIn group that debtors in California can not only cram down the mortgages on their homes, but they can reduce the monthly payments consistent with the altered … [Continue reading...]

Watch Out For The Ripple Effects of Bankruptcy

By Cathy Moran, Esq. Filed Under: Before filing

No man, and the rare bankruptcy debtor, is an island. He or she comes with financial connections to family, former spouses, and partners of various sorts. The challenge for bankruptcy counsel is to identify those interconnected others and to advise the debtor of the consequences of the filing on those he cares about. Real estate The trustee's power to sell co owned property found in … [Continue reading...]

Beware Predatory Lenders In Sheep’s Clothing

By Cathy Moran, Esq. Filed Under: Bankruptcy Practice

Just when you thought mortgage lender behavior couldn't get more odious or indifferent, they prove you wrong. Yesterday a mortgage modification for clients currently in a confirmed Chapter 13 plan appeared on my desk. The plan is several years old and the mortgage arrears were about $5000. The lender sought relief from stay over what turned out to be a one payment delinquency and the bank's … [Continue reading...]

Get The Tools You Need

By Cathy Moran, Esq. Filed Under: Bankruptcy Practice

You filed the case. If you're asking, " Now, what do I do?", join me for a lunch and learn series this summer. We'll pack your tool kit with ten essential skills a newish bankruptcy practitioner needs to have to survive clients, creditors and judges. All before Labor Day. The sessions are going to be presented by webinar, each Tuesday at 1 pm PDT starting June 28th. They'll be recorded … [Continue reading...]

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