Bankruptcy Mastery

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Charting The Course of A Case

By Cathy Moran, Esq. Filed Under: Before filing, Counseling clients, Start Here

Planning the bankruptcy often determines whether the case succeeds or fails. To obtain good results for a bankruptcy client, sometimes you have to serve up unpleasant news and force the client to swallow that bitter pill. Hum a chorus of You Can’t Always Get What You Want. Of course, you can’t really force them to […]

Filed Under: Before filing, Counseling clients, Start Here

6 Basic Points About Tax Liens in Bankruptcy

By Cathy Moran, Esq. Filed Under: Start Here, Tax

tax liens bankruptcy

Everywhere I’ve looked this week, new bankruptcy lawyers are struggling with client tax liens.  Here’s my list of basics you need to know about federal tax liens. Tax liens create  a secured claim in favor of the taxing authority.  That claim incurs interest at the statutory rate. Exemptions, bankruptcy or state, are not effective against […]

Filed Under: Start Here, Tax Tagged With: consumer bankruptcy law, exemptions, tax in bankruptcy, tax liens

Bankruptcy Schedules Call For Payoff Balance

By Cathy Moran, Esq. Filed Under: Bankruptcy Practice, Start Here

Babel fish from Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

Bankruptcy debtors hear something different when their lawyer asks, “What do you owe on your mortgage”. It’s as though they speak a different language,  Client, while we speak Bankruptcy. As  bankruptcy lawyers, we need to be bilingual. It shouldn’t be a trick question, but all too often the answer a bankruptcy lawyer gets back is […]

Filed Under: Bankruptcy Practice, Start Here Tagged With: bankruptcy practice, client intake, filing bankruptcy

Bankruptcy’s 3 Year Rule for Taxes

By Cathy Moran, Esq. Filed Under: Bankruptcy Practice, Start Here

bankruptcy taxes

Taxes are dischargeable in bankruptcy once they meet the 3 year rule.  Don’t get swept away on April 16th and file a bankruptcy designed to discharge taxes without knowing whether the client got an extension to file for the year on the bubble. The three year rule, found in §507(a)(8), starts counting from the day the […]

Filed Under: Bankruptcy Practice, Start Here Tagged With: bankruptcy filing, discharge taxes

Bankruptcy Exemptions: 10 Ways to Deal with Excess Cash

By Cathy Moran, Esq. Filed Under: Exemptions, Start Here

bankruptcy exemptions

Bankruptcy lawyers occasionally are confronted with the client with more cash, or other marketable assets, worth more than the available exemptions to protect them. And state exemption systems often protect the darndest things, like a mule and a plow.  A milk cow.  The family bible. Those aren’t the things most of us are striving to […]

Filed Under: Exemptions, Start Here Tagged With: assets, bankruptcy exemptions, bankruptcy planning, bankruptcy practice, bankruptcy skills, filing bankruptcy

Assets in Bankruptcy Pose Valuation Issues

By Cathy Moran, Esq. Filed Under: Bankruptcy Practice, Start Here

asset value

A bankruptcy lawyer seems to often have the unpleasant task of telling a debtor that their possessions have little value. I don’t know whether it’s a defense mechanism or just ingrained thinking,  but I have clients tell me all the time that their assets have values far beyond what seems likely in the current market. […]

Filed Under: Bankruptcy Practice, Start Here

Alternative to Bankruptcy: Do Nothing

By Cathy Moran, Esq. Filed Under: Bankruptcy Practice, Start Here

bankruptcy alternative

Bankruptcy lawyers sometimes forget:  not everyone worried about debt actually needs to file bankruptcy. The anxiety that brings someone to your office may not be grounded in a real understanding of the rights of their creditors. I recently saw a woman drawing disability pay and looking at very substantial retirement income.  It seemed unlikely that […]

Filed Under: Bankruptcy Practice, Start Here

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