Bankruptcy Mastery

Becoming a better bankruptcy lawyer

The Chapter 13 Arsenal Is Incomplete Without This Unsung Hero

By Filed Under: Chapter 13

Chapter 13 hardship discharge: when the plan is derailed

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 plan.  Our clients usually aren't in the best of shape, … [Continue reading...]

Why You Need To Know The Three Musketeers Of Bankruptcy

By Filed Under: Bankruptcy Practice

Trio of lien treatments in bankruptcy

In literature, the three musketeers answered to  Athos, Porthos, and Aramis.  In the world of bankruptcy, they live on yet with different names.  That doesn't make them any less effective or, in the wrong hands, less lethal. The Code accords better treatment to creditors holding liens.  Therefore, it is often our sworn duty as fighters for our clients to tackle those liens, whittle them down, … [Continue reading...]

Need A Bankruptcy Form or Local Rule For A Mortgage Case?

By Filed Under: Bankruptcy Practice

  The National Consumer Law Center once again takes on a gargantuan task at the Bankruptcy Mortgage Project website. The site gathers documents, rules, procedures and forms touching mortgage issues in bankruptcy cases, organized by state. Within the site,  it addresses Loss Mitigation Chapter 13 Plan Cure Requirements Stay Relief Lien Stripping Chapter 13 Plans To top … [Continue reading...]

Go Back, Says Mortgage Law Expert

By Filed Under: Bankruptcy Practice

  Pamela Simmons is one of the towering figures in the field of mortgage law, Truth in Lending and the mortgage meltdown. She and her partner Bill Purdy are my go-to lawyers for anything related to mortgage loans gone bad. I count her a friend as well. Below is an open letter she wrote to attorneys struggling to help clients whose homes were at risk. As you read it, consider … [Continue reading...]

Get Your Client Out Of The Means Test Jail

By Filed Under: Means test

Get bankruptcy debtors out of means test jail

As much as the means test is a pain in the neck, why don't more bankruptcy attorneys skip it? Finding that your client's debts are not "primarily consumer" is an instant, get-out-of-jail-free card.  If you can check the B-22A box that the debts are not primarily consumer debts, you get to skip the rest of the miserable form. Let's revisit the statute:  §707(b)(1) starts out providing … [Continue reading...]

You Can’t Tell The Players Without A Scorecard

By Filed Under: Bankruptcy Practice

    The business bankruptcy version of "who's on first" is the inquiry:  who is liable for this debt?  Get a clear answer or get ready for trouble. A small business owner and his business are often indivisible in his mind. When a bankruptcy lawyer doesn't work to  pull them apart, analytically, he should be charged with an error. Seen at the courthouse The debtor had … [Continue reading...]

Humpty Dumpty and Statutory Interpretation

By Filed Under: Bankruptcy Practice

  After all the time I spend cajoling, suggesting, demanding that bankruptcy lawyer READ THE CODE, I was bitten by my own advice recently. The youngish bankruptcy lawyer had read § 109, and leapt to a conclusion 180 degrees from correct. He was utterly right that the words of the statute talk about debts the debtor owes. Only an individual with regular income that owes, on the date … [Continue reading...]

Chapter 13 Trustee Makes A Christmas List

By Filed Under: Bankruptcy Practice

OK, so I'm behind.  Christmas was three weeks ago. I'm just getting around to sharing with you my Chapter 13 trustee's Wish List for 2012, which she announced  at our bankruptcy bar's Christmas party. The fact that she has to "ask" us to do what the Code says we must speaks volumes about the attention to detail (or lack thereof) in the bar. And I would contend that we in the Northern … [Continue reading...]

Do You Know Bankruptcy’s Three Little Words?

By Filed Under: Bankruptcy Practice

Bankruptcy's Three Very Important Little Words

  They're not "I love you" or even "I am sorry". They're bequest, devise, and inheritance from §541(a)(5)(A). Any interest in property that would have been property of the estate if such interest had been an interest of the debtor on the date of the filing of the petition, and that the debtor acquires or becomes entitled to acquire within 180 days after such date— (A) by bequest, … [Continue reading...]

Name That Exemption

By Filed Under: Exemptions

Federal bankruptcy exemptions

OK, readers.  It's time for a pop quiz. How many non bankruptcy, federal exemptions can you name? 1. 2. 3. If you didn't get past the exemption for Social Security, read on. Section 522 (b)(3)(a) provides that a debtor who elects the applicable state law exemptions can also exempt property under  federal, non bankruptcy exemptions.  Inconveniently, those exemptions … [Continue reading...]

New Year’s Resolutions: What Challenges Me

By Filed Under: Bankruptcy Practice

I asked you last week to identify the challenges in your practice.  I heard cries for more clients, for mentors, for new skill sets. Turning the focus around, I thought about what I wanted to do differently or better this year in my practice.  Here's my list. Communicate the bankruptcy grounds rules to clients more effectively. Improve my work product retrieval system Pay better … [Continue reading...]

What Did The Lawyer Miss?

By Filed Under: Bankruptcy Practice

Something missing

Something was missing:  the brief on behalf of a creditor with a lien argued vigorously that the lien couldn't be stripped in a Chapter 13 in which no discharge was available. Silence  as to the other side of the argument. The one sided brief resulted in not only a loss on the client's issue, but a stripe of skin off the law firm's symbolic back for an attempt to mislead the judge. Worse, … [Continue reading...]