Any parent who’s lived through the terrible 2’s knows the appeal, and the annoyance, of the question “why”. Life, to a two year old, is a series of interconnected questions. Why are things this way? Why? The centrality of that question to bankruptcy lawyers surprised me this weekend when Jay Fleischman and I conducted a […]
Scary Peak At Loan Mod Future
Loan modifications and the relative casualness with which they are documented scare me. Given the glaring problems that loan servicers have in accounting for payments made by borrowers and expenses charged to loans, the idea that those same people at the servicer are making good records about modifications seems naive. Consider that the same people […]
Five Shortcuts To The Latest In Bankruptcy
Someone asked me the other day how I keep up on cases. I bit my tongue, since my usual sense about advance sheets and the like is that I’m horribly behind. (I’m so behind I’m talking about “advance sheets”, cases printed on paper!). Reading my email seems to consume a disproportionate portion of the day. […]
How To Avoid Being Thrown Under The Bankruptcy Bus
Bankruptcy lawyers find themselves thrown under the proverbial bus time and again. Clients contradict themselves, trustees speak poorly of us during hearings, and even judges from time to time have been known to call us on the carpet for perceived shortcomings. Sometimes we’re caught in a position due to an unforeseen turn of events. Other […]
Why No Look Fees Are No Good For Bankruptcy Lawyers
No look fees for bankruptcy cases are comfortable and easy for the practitioner. You can quote a fee for a Chapter 13 confident that most other attorneys in town are quoting the same fee. No fear of price competition. The client likes it. It appears to offer certainty in an uncertain world to someone worried […]
Here’s A Way To Rescue Your Client’s Exemptions
Do you know which ignored prefiling issue triggers the most reopened bankruptcy cases? I’ve got no data but my money’s on avoidable judicial liens. We as bankruptcy attorneys have gotten so caught up in avoiding consensual mortgages where they are totally unsecured that we forget to look for the easy stuff. Stuff that is available […]
Here Are 3 Ways To Cram Down A Car In Spite Of The Hanging Paragraph
There are three labeled exits from the 910 freeway. Find one and you save your client thousands of dollars. Miss them all and you do your client a disservice. The infamous hanging paragraph in §1325(a) prohibits bifurcation of a creditor’s claim secured by a vehicle into a secured claim and an unsecured claim. Specifically: section […]
