Pick your words carefully. Your clients will have to live with the results of your choice. Our challenge as bankruptcy lawyers is to extract, analyze, and present a huge amount of financial information. We have to get it from people who don’t really understand why we need it, nor the consequences of not getting it. […]
When Appearances Are Deceiving
The judgment was for $500,000. Debtor’s bankruptcy lawyer was stumped. How to schedule it? What’s the problem? you ask. The half million dollar judgment was in the debtor’s favor (did you see that coming?), and the debtor considered it uncollectable. I practice before the same Chapter 13 trustee. I know his intolerance for schedules that […]
Who Is Stupid Here?
The headline was “Are your clients really stupid?”. Wait, wait. Hear him out. The answer isn’t what you’re tempted to respond. In a piece now gone from the web, Matt Homann, who describes himself as a recovering lawyer, adapted to lawyering a piece from the Bay Area tech world, suggesting that differences of opinions among co […]
Split The Sheets, Split The Debts, Then Watch Out
The marital settlement agreement that resolves a divorce often divides the debts between the couple. Simple, so far. But if the agreement includes an indemnification provision, you may have a bankruptcy issue that limits the breadth of the discharge or drives the choice of chapter. Hold harmless provisions The typical indemnification provision requires each spouse […]
Is The Price Right?
What’s it worth? Another round of bankruptcy newbie questions suggests it’s time to review small business valuation questions. Our hypothetical debtor supports his family working in an incorporated business that he wants to continue operating. He is the only shareholder. The scenario that prompted this post had the debtor reporting to his lawyer that the […]
RTFM*
I know gambling debts are non dischargeable, so we can’t convert the Chapter 13. So said debtor’s counsel whom I was trying to help with a troubled case. I wanted to retort: point me to the code section that says that. I tried gently to suggest it wasn’t so. Not sure the “suggestion” penetrated. So […]
Bankruptcy For Elders: Minefield or Mother Lode?
I commend to you the money problems of the elderly as challenging and underserved. The 70ish couple in my office came with their two adult daughters. Neither spouse appeared in good health. The good news was that they had substantial equity in their home; the bad news was that the equity exceeded the California homestead […]
