We live in two different worlds, the client and the bankruptcy attorney. (care to hum along?) “Creditors”, for debtors, means those folks who send a monthly bill, and who call if you are late. “Creditors”, for bankruptcy lawyers, means everyone who has a claim of any kind against the client. In his Fundamentals of Bankruptcy…
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…
Early in the life of BAPCPA, I sat down to review a means test with a new bankruptcy lawyer. The first part of the form seemed to be complete and make sense, but as I worked my way deeper into the document, unexpected lines were blank, or numbers were small relative to my expectations. Doesn’t…
For six months, I’ve been writing this blog for newish bankruptcy lawyers, trying to imagine what it is that I know about this practice that you, as a newcomer, needs to know sooner rather than later. I’ve shamelessly lifted stories from my clients and those of my local newbies to write about here. I’ve snatched…
Lee Rosen, a well known family lawyer, described the demands of his practice thus: Family law attorneys live in an information deprivation zone. They need to know more than they can possibly remember. They’ve got to master the fundamentals of family law. On top of that, they must have a working knowledge of property…
How do you make your first assault on a contested matter in bankruptcy? Pick up the phone to your opponent! Countless times, a new bankruptcy lawyer gets an objection or opposition and indulges in a reflexive question about what kind of pleading to file or counter manoevre to initiate. Their first move should be to…
Since the Fundamentals of Bankruptcy course came out, I’ve talked with a number of new bankruptcy attorneys who report that they are waiting for later offerings, since they’ve already filed a number of petitions and feel they have that aspect of the practice down pat. One lawyer reported that he had filed 10 cases, so…