What New Bankruptcy Lawyers Need To Know: Beyond The Code

How Did The Autopsy Go?

By Cathy Moran, Esq. Filed Under: Bankruptcy Practice

Bankruptcy cases in our offices have a relatively short life span and our involvement in our client's life ends soon. When the case is over, do you dissect the case and evaluate what went right and not-so-right? Greg Lambert, one of the authors of 3 Geeks and a LawBlog, suggested that firms conduct an After Action Review of a case, as his unit had done in the Army for field … [Continue reading...]

Bankruptcy Attorney As Storyteller

By Cathy Moran, Esq. Filed Under: Bankruptcy Practice

Bankruptcy schedules should show big picture

We get so caught up in putting the right stuff in the right place on the bankruptcy schedules that it's easy to lose sight of the big picture. Having learned that assets subject to a spendthrift trust provision aren't property of the estate, we omit them from the schedules. Patterson v. Shumate. Forgetting, of course, that Schedule B asks for interests in retirement plans and pensions, which … [Continue reading...]

Whose Property Is It At Conversion?

By Cathy Moran, Esq. Filed Under: Bankruptcy Practice

Twenty years in, it's still undecided. We have no uniform rule on what happens to equity in an asset, built up during a Chapter 13 plan, when the case converts to Chapter 7. Amazingly, nearly 20 years after subsection (f) was added to 348, courts are split on how it works. But another court has just weighed in. Given the propensity for Chapter 13 cases to crater, you need to know where … [Continue reading...]

Brokerage Agreement Boilerplate May Cost Client Their IRA

By Cathy Moran, Esq. Filed Under: Bankruptcy Practice

Talk to Chuck and lose your IRA? That's the prospect suggested by a recent bankruptcy case from ED TN featured in the ABI Journal this month. In a nutshell, the case held that lien granting language in the standard Merrill Lynch brokerage account agreement was a prohibited transaction with respect to an IRA. Daley, 459 B.R. 270 (E.D. Tenn. 2011) The Chapter 7 trustee was successful in … [Continue reading...]

Join Me For A Day Of Online Marketing On December 8, 2012

By Cathy Moran, Esq. Filed Under: Bankruptcy Practice

Once upon a time, a raft of consumer bankruptcy lawyers were lost in Googleland. The landscape was littered with pandas and penguins. No one could find the lawyers; the lawyers couldn't find clients.... Is that a familiar tale? For some enterprising lawyers, the story will have a happy ending. They will spend a day with Jay Fleischman and me unpacking the consumer lawyer's … [Continue reading...]

The Mystery Of Adequate Protection

By Cathy Moran, Esq. Filed Under: Bankruptcy Practice

Adequate protection in operation seems to stump new bankruptcy lawyers. How does the adequate protection payment relate to the claim as a whole? How do you figure it? Who gets adequate protection? The knottiest question I took at Amelia Island (and the least satisfying answer) came in the Chapter 13 plan class about adequate protection. So, let's take a stab at working through … [Continue reading...]

Means Test & Chapter 13 Plan Slides

By Cathy Moran, Esq. Filed Under: Chapter 13

The slides from my presentations at Amelia Island last weekend can be downloaded here: https://www.bankruptcymastery.com/workshopslide/ … [Continue reading...]

My Choice of Nuggets From NACBA Workshop

By Cathy Moran, Esq. Filed Under: Bankruptcy Practice

Wrap up from Amelia Island NACBA Workshop Anytime you spend time rubbing shoulders with other committed bankruptcy lawyers, you learn something. Some learning occurs in the presentations. Some on the other hand is the product of what my fellow Californian Jay Fleischman calls hallway magic. Share, trade, question, complain to other bankruptcy attorneys in the conference hallways, and … [Continue reading...]

Bankruptcy Ethics: Candor v. Confidentiality

By Cathy Moran, Esq. Filed Under: Bankruptcy Practice

Crack of dawn from Amelia Island: a crackerjack program on bankruptcy ethics with Judge Thomas Waldron; soon to be judge Cynthia Grimes; and Jill Michaux, Topeka Kansas bankruptcy practitioner. Premise: candor to the tribunal trumps the duty of confidentiality to the client. The rules that apply found in Model Rules Rule 3.3 The lawyer shall not knowingly make a false statement to the … [Continue reading...]

Bankruptcy Case Law Update

By Cathy Moran, Esq. Filed Under: Bankruptcy Practice

I can't type fast enough to summarize Henry Sommer's comments on the cases, but I'll list the cases Henry included in the Case Update. Hall v. US, 132 S. Ct. 1882 - do post petition capital gains taxes have priority Johnson v. Zimmer, 686 F.3d 224 household size when debtor has partial custody Flores, 2012 U.S. App. Lexis 18508 (9th Cir) did Kagenveama holding on applicable commitment … [Continue reading...]

Changes to Bankruptcy Rules

By Cathy Moran, Esq. Filed Under: Bankruptcy Practice

John Rao reported on rule changes that will become effective December 1. There are only three changes, including a change to the time for filing motions for summary judgment and one providing a requirement that debt buyers provide a summary of very specific information on the provenance of a purchased claim. Effort to redesign bankruptcy forms Planned to coordinate the new forms with the next … [Continue reading...]

From NACBA Amelia Island

By Cathy Moran, Esq. Filed Under: Bankruptcy Practice

Greetings from the NACBA 2012 workshop at Amelia Island. And it really does look like the picture. The morning opened with a poll of the 400 attendees of those who'd been affected by the Superstorm; Probably a quarter of the audience stood as having gotten here despite storm challenges. Almost an equal number of attendees are attending their first NACBA event. The program is divided … [Continue reading...]

Hold Your Questions (Til Friday)

By Cathy Moran, Esq. Filed Under: Bankruptcy Practice

I'm packing up for NACBA's Fall Workshop in Amelia Island, starting with the Thursday night beach party. Assuming Hurricane Sandy doesn't have me sleeping on the floor in an airport between Northern California and Jacksonville, I hope to see lots of readers there. I'm carrying my deck of blank index cards to capture your suggestions about things you'd like to see discussed here at Bankruptcy … [Continue reading...]

« Previous Page