Do you think I worry about these issues too much? the rookie bankruptcy lawyer asked me. The issue was exemption planning and the question was whether instituting an IRA and funding it for the current year before filing was a transfer, and if so, would it be objectionable to a Chapter 7 trustee. We went…
Ever read, much less used, FRBP 4004(c)(2)? Have to say I’d done neither until Judge Christopher Klein mentioned it at a bankruptcy seminar earlier this year. He told the group that he had learned about it from a pro per who cited it to him in a dispute in a Chapter 7. So what’s this…
Is an initial consultation an opportunity to prevent problems later on in the case? Should you be doing more? I’ve taken my swipes at my clients’ previous lawyer in a prior post for either missing or ignoring issues that needed to be picked up and addressed in the schedules and the Chapter 13 plan. Some…
I admit, up front , that I’m steamed. The clients in my office have a pending Chapter 13 case. They made an appointment with me because their bankruptcy attorney missed a hearing and doesn’t return their phone calls or respond to their questions. The trustee has a three page objection to confirmation. As I looked…
Do you check the client’s proffered Social Security number against the number on their tax return? I’d never thought to do so til my partner returned from a 341 meeting with this story. She was sitting waiting for our client’s turn at a first meeting of creditors when the trustee asked a debtor about…
The debtor passed the means test but lost a motion to dismiss for abuse of the bankruptcy system. Schedule J, the debtor’s projected future expenses, showed a monthly excess of $500. Dollars to doughnuts, the debtor’s bankruptcy lawyer followed the form and the budget provided by the client. Dismissal resulted. What happened here? Two…
Looking back at some 15 weeks of writing Bankruptcy Mastery, I’m not sure I’ve ever said, explicitly, that the single most important step to learning the practice of bankruptcy law is joining NACBA. The NACBA annual meeting starts Friday in San Francisco, and I simply assumed I’d see my readers there. The National Association of…