Contributions to an employer-sponsored retirement plan going forward are excluded from disposable income in Chapter 13, says the 9th Circuit in Saldana, 122 F.4th 333, 19 years after BAPCPA became law. What took so long? Words in the statute matter Congress, in its BAPCPA-typical awkward fashion, said right there, in 541(b)(7)’s hanging paragraph, that amounts […]
2026 Brings Larger California Homestead
It’s time to check out the California homestead numbers for 2026. The 2021 expanded California homestead not only brought the exemption amount closer to the real cost of housing, it provided for annual adjustments for inflation. The original legislation created a $300,000 floor on the exemption and a $600,000 cap for homeowners, based on the median price of a […]
Putting the spotlight on Chapter 13
My fellow author at ConsiderChapter13.org Jen Lee called for the bankruptcy bar to do a better job of pitching the manifest strengths of Chapter 13. Ditch the jargon and focus on the facts that are Chapter 13’s strenght. Her advice to use head to head comparisons with alternative approaches to debt for the client is […]
BOLO Alert: Community Property in Unexpected Places
In law enforcement, BOLO stands for Be On the Look Out. But even outside of law enforcement, BOLO alerts operate. In this case, we as bankruptcy lawyers need to be on the look out for community property. It’s easy to think that community property is an issue only for practitioners in the 9 community property […]
The Trick To Getting Paid For All Your Work In Chapter 13
Tired of eating fees at the end of a Chapter 13 when the debtor-client gets a discharge and you get a write off of the unpaid fees? The problem– attorneys fees incurred during the case but unpaid at case end are uncollectible when the debtor gets a discharge. It happens all too frequently when you […]
Use your authentic voice to humanize yourself and the law
The legal chatter is full of the promise of Artificial Intelligence to revolutionize the practice of law. It can write your letters, your briefs and your website, they say. But there’s a catch here (other than the fact that AI sometimes makes stuff up, including case law, out of whole cloth.): ChatGPT and its ilk […]
My Client Communication Strategy: Flood the Zone
Poor client communication is the source of both client anguish and discontent with the legal profession. Case in point: failure to return calls is the most frequent complaint to the state bar where I practice. As bankruptcy lawyers, we’re dealing with people under stress: they are seldom at their best and their capacity to absorb […]
