Are you guilty of any of these means test mistakes dealing with taxes? Using the tax deductions from the pay stubs when your client traditionally owes taxes payable with the return Using the tax deductions from the paystubs when your client traditionally gets a substantial refund Using last year’s tax as the measure for the […]
Means Test: Good Enough Isn’t Good Enough
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 […]
Maximizing the Initial Client Interview
The first meeting with a bankruptcy prospect is the best and hardest work I do. It’s probably the most important as well. I use it to figure out what the issues in the case are, what the client’s goals are, and to convey what I will need from the client to produce a successful outcome. […]
Newbie Summer Reading: Rake v. Wade
One more case before summer’s over: Rake v. Wade. This one is interesting because it dealt with a central issue in Chapter 13: whether the Bankruptcy Code requires payment of interest on mortgage arrears (which are usually themselves mostly interest) even when the underlying loan documents do not provide for interest on arrears. And even […]
Bankruptcy and Offers in Compromise
This one is for Lex and Gail and follows up on Peeling the Onion, about the client who was counting on the IRS compromising their priority tax debt just as their income jumped. First, get the lingo right: it is an offer IN compromise, not an offer AND compromise. In general, the IRS will not […]
Breaking Up Earlier Rather Than Later
I ended up representing a crazy because I had an attorney/client relationship with him when he discovered that the foreclosure sale was 48 hours off. I needed to have taken my own advice about deselecting clients who won’t take your advice. My concern here, both personally and professionally, was that I thought risky to say, […]
Newbie Summer Reading: How Lamie
Bankruptcy cases you need to know by name include Lamie, the Supreme Court’s 2004 pronouncement on attorneys fees for debtor’s counsel. Petitioner represented a Chapter 11 debtor whose case was converted to Chapter 7. After conversion, Mr. Lamie filed amended schedules, and reports on changes in assets and debts since the commencement of the case. […]
