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…
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…
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…
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. Do it yourself…
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…
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,…
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…