Bankruptcy Mastery

Becoming a better bankruptcy lawyer

First Principles For First Meetings

By Filed Under: Bankruptcy Practice

Once again, I sat in a 341 meeting where the trustee purported to deliver vital information to the assembled debtors. She had a captive audience of anxious listeners.  She had ostensible power of life and death over their financial future. They needed to know what she had to say. But as communication, it failed.  Badly.  For utterly avoidable reasons. The delivery was … [Continue reading...]

When Worlds of Bankruptcy & Family Law Collide

By Filed Under: Family Law in Bankruptcy

bankruptcy family law

Bankruptcy, actual or threatened, can cause a genuine disruption in the force when divorce is on the table. That collision can be liberating or disruptive, depending on the timing of a bankruptcy filing and the goals of your client. Because the fallout from a bankruptcy case can be overwhelming, family lawyers need a working knowledge of how federal bankruptcy law can impact the financial … [Continue reading...]

When The Means Test Is Meaningless

By Filed Under: Means test

bankruptcy means test

A local bankruptcy attorney stumbled over the most basic part of the  means test. Just this week...  nearly 15 years after the bankruptcy "reform" act of 2005. I thought we were several years past bankruptcy attorneys  clueless about the means test. But apparently not. When the means test doesn't apply This fine fellow told a couple that they couldn't file Chapter 7 … [Continue reading...]

Win Now, Wreck Later: A Tale of Bankruptcy and Mortgage Servicing

By Filed Under: Bankruptcy Practice

My Google Alert popped up a lovely win for a Chapter 13 homeowner , but all I could see was the train wreck that lies ahead. The bankruptcy court ruled that the confirmed (and completed) plan trumped a late-filed mortgage proof of claim. Payment of the amount provided in the plan cured the prepetition arrearage. I'm on board so far. But I doubt this resolution will be the last dispute on … [Continue reading...]

Secrets To Home Loans For Chapter 13 Debtors

By Filed Under: Bankruptcy Practice

Every bankruptcy debtor yearns to rebuild their credit.  Whatever drove them to bankruptcy did no favors to their creditworthiness. The need for a new loan can be imperative to a homeowner in Chapter 13 who needs a better interest rate, a recomputed loan term, or just needs out of Chapter 13 with a discharge. Here's what it takes to get a home loan after filing bankruptcy, from California … [Continue reading...]

By Filed Under: Opinionated

become bankruptcy lawyer?

Amid the comfortable camaraderie of the Chapter 13 bar's holiday gathering, the trustee and I were struck by the paucity of young, or even youngish, faces in the group. The stout, dedicated lawyers who've toiled in the ND CA bankruptcy courts (rather magnificently, if you ask me) are growing old. And neither the trustee nor I could formulate an honest reason why a capable young lawyer should … [Continue reading...]

Rule 3002.1 And The Tangled Web of HOA Assessments

By Filed Under: Real property, Rule 3002.1

The Hadfeg decision  was delivered to me in response to a standing search for bankruptcy decisions involving FRBP 3002.1. But multi strands of legal theories run through this one.  The questions, answered and unanswered, are tantalizing. The facts are thus: Prepetition HOA dues scheduled for $5000, while HOA later claimed it was $33,000.No proof of claim  filed by HOAPost … [Continue reading...]

Start with problem, not procedure

By Filed Under: lawyer skills

where to start

The new bankruptcy lawyer sent me an email. What do I file when there's an objection to my client's amended Chapter 13 plan:  notice a hearing? file a demurer? In her case, the form of the "objection" suggested the opposing counsel was as new to bankruptcy as the debtor's lawyer. My advice? First:  figure out whether there's a lawyer-to-lawyer solution before figuring out how … [Continue reading...]

What Debts to Include in Bankruptcy

By Filed Under: Before filing

exclude debts

Bankruptcy lawyers know that all debts need to be scheduled.  Clients think or hope that they get to pick and choose. Every effective bankruptcy lawyer needs a line, a phrase, or a story to squelch the client's instinct to exclude things from their bankruptcy filing. The instinct to omit Often the client's desire to be less than forthcoming is born of fear or ignorance. The job of a … [Continue reading...]

Filing Bankruptcy Petitions: Playing Connect the Dots

By Filed Under: Before filing, Start Here

I almost took the client at her word and filed schedules that told half the story. Well, maybe it was 3/4 of the story, but the client who, to my consternation, seemed to enjoy nit picking the draft schedules, told me about the cabin on the lake that they rent out, but omitted from the questionnaire the rental income, the management fee, the utilities and any provision for maintenance on the … [Continue reading...]

Find Solution That Works, Bankruptcy or No

By Filed Under: Bankruptcy Practice

Procrutes assaulting his guest upon the bed

Good income, substantial priority tax debt, other debt within the limits:  sounds like a Chapter 13 bankruptcy, doesn't it? Yet the clients were in my office for a second opinion, convinced they couldn't sustain over five years the payments their attorney provided in their Chapter 13 plan. Their attorney's approach reminded me of the Greek story of the brigand Procrustes, who waylaid … [Continue reading...]

Prompt Full Disclosure from Bankruptcy Clients

By Filed Under: Before filing, lawyer skills, Start Here

interview trick

If the price of a bankruptcy discharge is full disclosure, some clients still want to underpay. No matter how carefully you script your initial interview with a client in quest of everything you need to know to advise them on bankruptcy, there will be some tidbit, relevant to your quest, that isn't evoked with your questions. But, never fear, you have another trick up your sleeve:  the open … [Continue reading...]