If all the children in Lake Woebegon are above average, all the small businesses our clients run are quite valuable. If the Chapter 13 trustee is asking the question, anyway. I rail when the Chapter 13 trustee’s business questionnaire asks “how much would you sell your business for.” Phrased that way, the question implicates all […]
The Best Reason To Reduce Chapter 13 Payments
When life intervenes during the course of a Chapter 13 case, we can modify the debtor’s Chapter 13 plan. As I laid out the provisions of ยง1329 on modifications for that post, I saw the hand of the late Senator Ted Kennedy in this section. I talked earlier here about his role in providing a […]
Means Test & Chapter 13 Plan Slides
The slides from my presentations at Amelia Island last weekend can be downloaded here: https://www.bankruptcymastery.com/workshopslide/
How To View Preferences Through The Lens Of A Chapter 13
Chapter 13 is often the chapter of choice when the client’s financial past includes avoidable transfers. Most clients are intent that the news of their bankruptcy not spread and especially horrified at the prospect of a Chapter 7 trustee suing their family members to recover preferences. At bottom, who really cares if a trustee avoids […]
The Chapter 13 Arsenal Is Incomplete Without This Unsung Hero
I beat the Chapter 13 trustee on what’s necessary to get a hardship discharge the other day. The contested issue was essentially whether the general rotten state of the economy was a circumstance beyond the debtor’s control, justifying a hardship discharge. Over the years of a Chapter 13 plan, lots of life events can threaten […]
The Chapter 13 Plan Light Bulb Moment
Do I have to cure the arrears on the car loan and pay off the claim secured by the car, came the email from the young bankruptcy lawyer. No: when you pay the claim in a Chapter 13 plan, the arrears on a car loan are not a separate element for payment. I knew the […]
Four Ways Around The Chapter 13 Debt Limit
Bankruptcy needs a higher debt limit, too. My topic at the Bar Association of San Francisco in late July was all of a piece with the national problems: our debt ceiling was too low. Of course, I was addressing the debt limits in Chapter 13. An increase of a few hundred thousand would have solved […]
