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Siegel, Claim Preclusion & Me

By Cathy Moran, Esq. Filed Under: Bankruptcy Practice

claim preclusion nightmare

I’ve been having nightmares about the 9th’s Circuit’s decision in Siegel for 20 years. Broad strokes, Siegel (143 F.3d 525 (9th Cir. 1998) holds that a filed claim in a no asset bankruptcy case to which no one objects is entitled to preclusive effect in subsequent litigation by reason of Bankruptcy Code §502. In Siegel, […]

Filed Under: Bankruptcy Practice

How To Bankruptcy-Proof A Divorce Settlement

By Cathy Moran, Esq. Filed Under: Family Law in Bankruptcy

bullet-proof divorce

Chapter 13 bankruptcy can discharge any non support obligations associated with a divorce. That’s worth repeating: any marital settlement agreement or court judgment that calls for payment or indemnity by one spouse to the other in the future is potentially vulnerable to a subsequent bankruptcy filing by the obligor-spouse. While obligations deemed to be “support” […]

Filed Under: Family Law in Bankruptcy Tagged With: 2022, divorce, marital settlement agreement, property division

The Complex World Of Interspousal Claims In Bankruptcy

By Cathy Moran, Esq. Filed Under: Bankruptcy Practice

discharge spousal claims

Traps and grey areas abound when one spouse files bankruptcy during or after a divorce (you can get family lawyers for hire here). Inattention by the non-filing spouse can result in the bankruptcy discharge of spousal claims that might actually be nondischargeable. One of those traps involves the differing treatment in bankruptcy of debts to […]

Filed Under: Bankruptcy Practice Tagged With: 2022, divorce, ex-spouse

Lien Avoidance In Bankruptcy: The Questions You Need To Answer

By Cathy Moran, Esq. Filed Under: Bankruptcy Practice

lien avoidance tool box

Black letter law says liens pass through bankruptcy unchanged. But the better statement adds a single word: unless. Liens survive bankruptcy intact unless….unless you take some action to void them. One tool to void liens lives in §522(f). Its location in Chapter 5 tells you that it’s available to any individual debtor who is entitled […]

Filed Under: Bankruptcy Practice Tagged With: 2022, impair exemption, lien avoidance

Lenders Can’t Hide From Misapplication of Mortgage Payments

By Cathy Moran, Esq. Filed Under: Rule 3002.1

Who knew 20 years ago how apparently hard it is to account for money paid to you? Even if accounting for money was your business? Today’s raft of mortgage accounting issues were not ones I foresaw when I became a bankruptcy lawyer. Yet every day we encounter cases where the foreclosure notice follows the “all […]

Filed Under: Rule 3002.1

Between the 1st and the 15th: Is Mortgage Current?

By Cathy Moran, Esq. Filed Under: Bankruptcy Practice

mortgage payment

The no man’s land between the mortgage due date and late payment is a persistent trouble spot for Chapter 13 practitioners: Are there arrears when the case is filed during the grace period and the payment made before it was late? In Borre, Judge Ronald Sargis of ED CA said no. He held that the […]

Filed Under: Bankruptcy Practice Tagged With: 2022, arrears, mortgage

Finding the Flaws in IRS Tax Liens

By Cathy Moran, Esq. Filed Under: Bankruptcy Practice

tax liens

Tax liens in bankruptcy sometimes don’t stand up to close scrutiny, to the delight and profit of bankruptcy debtors. I was reminded of two such instances by the excellent presenters at the NACBA 2021 Workshop. Lien perfection follows state law The secret tax lien attaches to all of a taxpayer’s property of any kind, wherever […]

Filed Under: Bankruptcy Practice

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