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 […]
“I Didn’t Know That” Gem From The Convention
A hardship discharge is available to debtors who are not current on their post petition support payments, even though such a delinquency would prevent a regular discharge. I gathered this hitherto unknown bit from Henry Sommer in the panel on Marital Issues in Bankruptcy Saturday at the NACBA convention. BAPCPA added to the prerequisites for […]
2010 Tax Return Imperative in Chapter 13
Got to file the 2010 tax return to get your Chapter 13 plan confirmed is my message to clients filing bankruptcy. But it isn’t due til April 15th and I usually get an extension, comes the reply. Not this year. A case filed at any point in 2011 includes tax liability for 2010, since the […]
Swimming Upstream Against The Current of Client Optimism
Inflated value provided by client in bankruptcy schedules comes back to bite debtor when Chapter 13 plan collapses. The client’s case was driven by substantial taxes and a vehicle she just had to keep. The asset mix included a timeshare which, even at the start of the recession, she valued at far more than I […]
The Unrecoverable Bankruptcy Mistake
Which of the blunders by prior counsel in Chapter 13 threaten a problem for which no good fix exists? Failure to timely assume the lease for the sole proprietorship liquor store. And it was a near run thing for me as well. This couple brought me their pending Chapter 13, fraught with trustee objections, inconsistencies, […]
Learning Bankruptcy On The Job Victimizes Clients
I admit, up front , that I’m steamed. The clients in my office have a pending Chapter 13 case. People know the difference between a lawyer fighting a marijuana possession charge and bankruptcy case. They made an appointment with me because their bankruptcy attorney missed a hearing and doesn’t return their phone calls or respond […]
Learn the Bankruptcy Lingo: Pots & Percentages
While we’re learning to “walk the walk”, we might as well learn to “talk the (bankruptcy) talk”. Each profession has its shorthand for concepts that are encountered repeatedly. For bankruptcy lawyers, that includes the distinction between Chapter 13 “percentage plans” vs. “pot plans“. These terms are alternative ways that the dividend to unsecured creditors in […]
