What New Bankruptcy Lawyers Need To Know: Beyond The Code

Divorce and Bankruptcy: Frequent & Discordant Pairing

By Cathy Moran, Esq. Filed Under: Family Law in Bankruptcy

Incendiary combination: family law and bankruptcy

I hadn't hit the steps of my office on the way back from a speaking engagement before the phone rang with a resulting referral. My speech addressed the intersection of bankruptcy and family law. What a fruitful pairing. While my presentation to a bar section of family lawyers was entitled When Worlds Collide, it could have been Vinegar & Soda, or … [Continue reading...]

Go Back, Says Mortgage Law Expert

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

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...]

What’s Your Next Challenge?

By Cathy Moran, Esq. Filed Under: Bankruptcy Practice

Ever feel like the practice of consumer bankruptcy law resembles crossing the chasm on a rope bridge? In the dark? I assure you, you are not alone. In one of my first contested matters in bankruptcy, probably within 18 months of passing the bar, and the same distance from adoption of the Bankruptcy Code, I must have set a record for the number of times I continued a hearing, because I … [Continue reading...]

Friday Freebie

By Cathy Moran, Esq. Filed Under: Bankruptcy Practice

Budget flat? Business slow? How about a federal practice manual, on line, for free? Check out the Federal Practice Manual for Legal Aid Attorneys. It's not shopworn: we don't have enough of those legal aid heroes to smudge the pages. To expand your bankruptcy practice beyond drafting schedules, you need litigation skills. Here's a resource, right in your browser. Hat tip to … [Continue reading...]

Avoid Probate: Lose The Property In Bankruptcy Instead

By Cathy Moran, Esq. Filed Under: Bankruptcy Practice

DIY probate avoidance and bankruptcy don't mix

Whether it's fear of the cost of lawyers or joinder in probate-phobia, the public's do-it-yourself testamentary substitutes can have ugly consequences when bankruptcy looms. "When the individual who is supposed to benefit from a parent's accumulations files bankruptcy, the cheapo alternative to a will or trust can cost the players the property", said probate lawyers based in Raleigh area. Do it … [Continue reading...]

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