What New Bankruptcy Lawyers Need To Know: Beyond The Code

Keeping Watch Over Chapter 13 Claims

By Cathy Moran, Esq. Filed Under: Chapter 13

Do you remain on watch in your client's Chapter 13 after confirmation? The attorney for the couple in my office yesterday apparently thought she was off duty after confirmation. As a result, the debtors paid more than $30,000 to the wrong creditor, the mortgage arrears weren't paid, and their case is on the verge of dismissal four years into the case. What went wrong What counsel … [Continue reading...]

Time Can Be On Your Side

By Cathy Moran, Esq. Filed Under: Bankruptcy Practice

Lucky us. Not. We have a new, multipage model Chapter 13 plan in several Bay Area divisions. It exalts mathematic precision over the intentions of the plan. Have the wrong number for the fixed monthly payments to particular creditors, and the money is distributed, willy-nilly, to unsecured creditors. (There are other idiocies that I will surely complain to you about later. This one … [Continue reading...]

Fleshing Out Incorporation Before Bankruptcy

By Cathy Moran, Esq. Filed Under: Business bankruptcy

As Miss Manners might say, you, Gentle Reader, have a secret fan. A fairy god-lawyer, so to speak. She's my law partner who watches the new bankruptcy lawyers around us, and pokes me: "You've got to tell them ...." Fill in the blank for the topic du jour. Renee thinks there's more you should know than I've deigned to write. Well, this week she said, "You've got to tell them … [Continue reading...]

I Assume, Redux

By Cathy Moran, Esq. Filed Under: Bankruptcy Practice

If there are 50 ways to leave your lover, there must be 150 ways that your bankruptcy client can get it wrong. And at the end of the day, you risk taking flak for the screw up. Fair or not. So I'll share this week's dust up in my office and maybe we all can refine our approach to clients. In the beginning Clients operated a small corporation that wholesaled a product they had custom … [Continue reading...]

Chapter 7 Risks Everything For Operating Business

By Cathy Moran, Esq. Filed Under: Bankruptcy Practice

Shut the business down, the Chapter 7 trustee told debtor's counsel. Or get an order allowing continuing operation. My addition to the litany: bring a motion to abandon. Why order shutdown? The debtor was a partner with his parents in a restaurant that they wanted to continue to run. Yet somehow, no one had considered the position of the bankruptcy trustee who is charged with managing the … [Continue reading...]

Neat Bankruptcy Skill: Severing Spouses

By Cathy Moran, Esq. Filed Under: Bankruptcy Practice

Every time I contemplate severing a joint bankruptcy case, the traditional Anglican wedding service echoes: Those whom God has joined together, let no one put asunder. Then I excuse myself, since it was either the attorney or the debtors that elected a joint case, not the Almighty. And I proceed to make two bankruptcy cases where there appeared before to be only one. Why divide … [Continue reading...]

Jazz Up Your Bankruptcy Practice

By Cathy Moran, Esq. Filed Under: Bankruptcy Practice

Meet me in New Orleans. That's where the bankruptcy action will be at the end of October. It's NACBA's 2013 Fall Workshop But early-bird sign up is over at the end of this week, September 6th. Three tracks With longer sessions for more in-depth treatment, the workshop is organized into three tracks Fundamentals Evidence, Mortgages, and Secured Claims Office Management You can bounce … [Continue reading...]

The Rules Of The Game Are Changing

By Cathy Moran, Esq. Filed Under: Bankruptcy Practice

Change is coming- either influence it or don't complain. The proposed changes to the rules of bankruptcy procedure and to the official forms have been published and your comments are solicited. The comment period will remain open til February 15, 2014. There's no reason to wait til the last minute to be heard, however. I have been told repeatedly by many of those involved that each and … [Continue reading...]

Watch Your Language

By Cathy Moran, Esq. Filed Under: Bankruptcy Practice

Pick your words carefully. Your clients will have to live with the results of your choice. Our challenge as bankruptcy lawyers is to extract, analyze, and present a huge amount of financial information. We have to get it from people who don't really understand why we need it, nor the consequences of not getting it. We are usually working for less money than the job we do is worth, so the … [Continue reading...]

When Appearances Are Deceiving

By Cathy Moran, Esq. Filed Under: Bankruptcy Practice

The judgment was for $500,000. Debtor's bankruptcy lawyer was stumped. How to schedule it? What's the problem? you ask. The half million dollar judgment was in the debtor's favor (did you see that coming?), and the debtor considered it uncollectable. I practice before the same Chapter 13 trustee. I know his intolerance for schedules that give assets or debts a value of … [Continue reading...]

Who Is Stupid Here?

By Cathy Moran, Esq. Filed Under: Bankruptcy Practice

The headline was "Are your clients really stupid?". Wait, wait. Hear him out. The answer isn't what you're tempted to respond. In a piece now gone from the web, Matt Homann, who describes himself as a recovering lawyer, adapted to lawyering a piece from the Bay Area tech world, suggesting that differences of opinions among co workers are more often due to different thinking … [Continue reading...]

Split The Sheets, Split The Debts, Then Watch Out

By Cathy Moran, Esq. Filed Under: Bankruptcy Practice

The marital settlement agreement that resolves a divorce often divides the debts between the couple. Simple, so far. But if the agreement includes an indemnification provision, you may have a bankruptcy issue that limits the breadth of the discharge or drives the choice of chapter. Hold harmless provisions The typical indemnification provision requires each spouse to hold the other … [Continue reading...]

Is The Price Right?

By Cathy Moran, Esq. Filed Under: Bankruptcy Practice

What's it worth? Another round of bankruptcy newbie questions suggests it's time to review small business valuation questions. Our hypothetical debtor supports his family working in an incorporated business that he wants to continue operating. He is the only shareholder. The scenario that prompted this post had the debtor reporting to his lawyer that the business was worth $100,000. … [Continue reading...]

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