The“Who’s On First” problem of lien strip service haunted my weekend at the Sacramento Bankruptcy Forum and the week that has followed back in the office. As one judge so kindly pointed out, if it turns out your service of the lien strip motion was inadequate, it will be the debtor’s attorney in the cross […]
Have Your Say About New Bankruptcy Forms
Speak now or forever hold your peace. Or suffer in silence, is more like it. Comment period for the proposed new bankruptcy forms closes February 15th. That’s a week from tomorrow. Have you had your say? I’ve extracted the new I, J, and elements of B22 from the pdf on the court’s site to make […]
Sleepless In Sacramento
A really good bankruptcy law conference leaves you unable to sleep the next night. If you don’t learn something that scares you sleepless about how you practice, you weren’t paying attention. Service of lien strip motions tops my worry list after last weekend’s Northern California Bankruptcy Conference in Sacramento. Lien strips may be the biggest […]
What Does Good Lawyering Cost?
Ms. Moran, how could this bankruptcy case have cost as much as your fee application asks? That’s the harping voice in the back of my head as I write fee applications. That’s the question that my written application had better answer before I step to the lectern in a courtroom. It’s impolitic to say my client’s an […]
Is The Debtor Lost In Space?
Business bankruptcy skills, continued. The business lease often stands at the center of the troubles of a struggling business. Ask the right questions, or better yet, read the document yourself, and you can outline choices for your client. There’s no straight line through this topic, so let’s head off. Who is lessee? Even when the […]
Corporate Chapter 7: The Other Side Of The Coin
The reasons not to file a Chapter 7 for a failing corporation crowded my last post. My point was that just because the person in your office thinks his corporation should file bankruptcy, it may not be so. Today: the situations where it might be worth the downside risks to file a 7 for a […]
Four Dangers In Bankrupting A Corporation
If the whole point in bankruptcy is getting a discharge of your debts, it’s obvious why corporations don’t need Chapter 7 filings: Corporations don’t get discharges. (a) The court shall grant the debtor a discharge, unless— (1) the debtor is not an individual; § 727 Chapter 7 is so closely associated with financial failure and finality that you […]
