Put off the division of community property in a marital dissolution at your peril. Hesitate and you risk all of the community property being swept up in a bankruptcy by the other spouse. And you’ll have little control where community property assets fall. Community property is all in The threat begins with the bankruptcy law […]
Navigate The Marital Debt Thicket In Bankruptcy
Love and Marriage. Fries and Catsup. Chips and Dip. Like these famous pairings, divorce and bankruptcy are frequent companions. When a couple goes their separate ways, often the most substantial marital accumulation is debt. The questions we get as bankruptcy practitioners usually revolve around whether to file a bankruptcy case before or after the divorce. […]
Interspousal Claims Defy The Chapter 7 Discharge
Even when the contentions against a debtor-spouse sound in fraud, breach of fiduciary duty, or intentional tort, the claims of the debtor’s spouse survive a Chapter 7 discharge. Despite the fact that those sorts of claims against anyone other than a spouse would require a timely filed adversary proceeding to escape discharge. So held the […]
How To Bankruptcy-Proof A Divorce Settlement
Chapter 13 bankruptcy can discharge non support obligations associated with a divorce that are non-dischargeable in Chapter 7. That’s worth repeating: any marital settlement agreement or court judgment that calls for payment or indemnity by one spouse to the other in the future is potentially vulnerable to a subsequent bankruptcy filing by the obligor-spouse. While […]
The Complex World Of Interspousal Claims In Bankruptcy
Traps and grey areas abound when one spouse files bankruptcy during or after a divorce. Inattention by the non-filing spouse can result in the bankruptcy discharge of spousal claims that might actually be nondischargeable. One of those traps involves the differing treatment in bankruptcy of debts to a former spouse incurred in the course of […]
Your Duty of Loyalty And Married Clients
Are your loyalties divided When a married couple books a bankruptcy consultation, you have an immediate problem: There be dragons, as early map makers helpfully provided. Because, as a lawyer friend of mine says: Anytime there are two people sitting across from you, you have a conflict of interest. That pithy expression has stuck […]
When Worlds of Bankruptcy & Family Law Collide
Bankruptcy, actual or threatened, can cause a genuine disruption in the force when divorce is on the table. That collision can be liberating or disruptive, depending on the timing of a bankruptcy filing and the goals of your client. Because the fallout from a bankruptcy case can be overwhelming, family lawyers need a working knowledge […]
