New and not so new bankruptcy lawyers muddle the difference between “exempt” and “exclude“. It makes a world of difference. You have to make the call when listing property of the bankruptcy estate, usually various kinds of retirement assets. All of the debtor’s assets and legal rights come into the estate. Exemptions allow you to […]
Unfinished Business Of Learning The Law
Every legal seminar needs an extra day, in solitude, to internalize what you’ve “learned”. At the NACBA Fall Workshops last weekend, Jay repeated the old saw that a workshop is worthwhile if you bring home one good idea. He told our group in the Business of Bankruptcy Law tract that we aimed to provide […]
NACBA Workshops A Real High For Bankruptcy Lawyers
The content and the company at NACBA’s fall workshops has me flying. I’ve come off two days in Colorado Springs, making presentations on the means test and on applications for compensation and hosting the Business of Bankruptcy track with New York bankruptcy lawyer Jay Fleischman . The energy and curiosity of the newer bankruptcy lawyers […]
Why you should want your competition to become better bankruptcy lawyers
Sounds counter intuitive, doesn’t it? It should be easier to be a stand out if all the bankruptcy lawyers around you are Lilliputians. Yet I second Jay Fleischman’s wish for more good bankruptcy lawyers around me. And I think that the attitude I’ve encountered among some newcomers to the field, that they won’t share anything […]
Did You Forget Bankruptcy’s Magic Words?
We have an incantation that, uttered when you file the bankruptcy schedules, protects us from certain harm. Or at least awkward admissions. Remember? Try saying : Disputed! Unliquidated! This spell allows you to disclose, notice, and discharge creditor claims without admitting that the debtor is liable or without determining the amount of the claim. […]
Courtroom Journal: Hardship Discharge & Rotten Economy
Is the current rotten economy and marginal job skills a circumstance for which a Chapter 13 debtor is not “justly accountable”? Or does nothing short of death or disability entitle a debtor to a hardship discharge in Chapter 13? Yesterday’s hearing was triggered by the Chapter 13 trustee’s objection to our motion for a hardship […]
Two Things To Do When The Phone Has Stopped Ringing
If you are lonely as the Maytag repairman in this lull in bankruptcy filings, add to your practice enhancing projects some office organization tasks. The two that head my list are write a staff training manual and improve my work product retrieval system. Let’s work on the retrieve and recycle issue first. Central to good […]
