What New Bankruptcy Lawyers Need To Know: Beyond The Code

Include Me Not

By Cathy Moran, Esq. Filed Under: Bankruptcy Practice

Proposed: the word "included" shall be stricken from the vocabulary of any bankruptcy lawyer. A relatively innocent question from a young lawyer set me off (again). The car, driven and paid for by an offspring, was titled to the prospective debtor who was the only borrower on the loan. The lawyer asked how to avoid "including" the car in the bankruptcy. The client didn't want to entangle the … [Continue reading...]

The Chapter 13 Plan Light Bulb Moment

By Cathy Moran, Esq. Filed Under: Chapter 13

Do I have to cure the arrears on the car loan and pay off the claim secured by the car, came the email from the young bankruptcy lawyer. No: when you pay the claim in a Chapter 13 plan, the arrears on a car loan are not a separate element for payment. I knew the practical answer, but as I formulated a written answer, the light bulb went on as to why that was so. Don't mix … [Continue reading...]

How To Learn The Truth Behind The Asset

By Cathy Moran, Esq. Filed Under: Bankruptcy Practice

When credit is a commodity, family are friends, and creditors are not, strange things happen. Trouble is, our clients don't think the happenings are strange. Bankruptcy lawyers end up moving lots of "stuff" to get to the real story. Street law Arkansas bankruptcy lawyer Kathy Cruz uses the marvelous phrase "generally accepted people practices" to describe the kinds of transactions … [Continue reading...]

Four Ways Around The Chapter 13 Debt Limit

By Cathy Moran, Esq. Filed Under: Chapter 13

Retreating property values strand would be Chapter 13 debtors

Bankruptcy needs a higher debt limit, too. My topic at the Bar Association of San Francisco in late July was all of a piece with the national problems: our debt ceiling was too low. Of course, I was addressing the debt limits in Chapter 13. An increase of a few hundred thousand would have solved my problems. Historically the concept of limiting access to Chapter … [Continue reading...]

Bankruptcy Relief And Something For Nothing

By Cathy Moran, Esq. Filed Under: Bankruptcy Practice

This rant is for clients, and for bankruptcy lawyers who have to "adjust" the expectations of clients. The trigger was an attorney who asked if he could file a Chapter 13, strip a lien, and then convert the case to Chapter 7, preserving the lien strip. No, I said, why do you ask? The client was resistant to committing to a multi-year plan that might require increased payments if his income … [Continue reading...]

A Bankruptcy Lawyer’s Work Is Never Done

By Cathy Moran, Esq. Filed Under: Bankruptcy Practice

Your job isn't done at confirmation of a Chapter 13 plan. Our clients' lives keep changing, and if you keep thinking, there are on going chances to further improve their lives. Too often the changes in our clients' circumstances are negative and we are looking at cratered cases, conversions or hardship discharges. But this week, changes with a negative tinge held a happier outcome. It played … [Continue reading...]

Good Bankruptcy Lawyers Let It All Hang Out

By Cathy Moran, Esq. Filed Under: Bankruptcy Practice

Which bankruptcy schedule does this go on? Can't tell you how many questions I field about where on the official bankruptcy forms to schedule some asset. Is the timeshare real property or personal property? What do you do with the claim, the chose in action, the car titled to debtor but paid for by someone else. I have a secret to share. It doesn't matter. That is, it matters naught … [Continue reading...]

Lien Stripping And Dueling Appraisers

By Cathy Moran, Esq. Filed Under: Bankruptcy Practice

When the appraisals clash, and the fate of a junior lien of thousands of dollars is at stake, what's a judge to do? Crunch the numbers himself is how one judge came to a decision when the experts didn't agree. In Duarte, the debtor's appraiser testified that the house was worth $370,000 based on comparables including three bank-owned sales. The junior lien holder's appraiser came in at … [Continue reading...]

Is There A Shortcut To Learning Bankruptcy Law?

By Cathy Moran, Esq. Filed Under: Bankruptcy Practice

Got a shingle and a hankering to be a bankruptcy lawyer? Need to eat regularly? How does a rookie bankruptcy practitioner get off the bench and into the regular lineup? Go with the experienced lawyer, says my Bankruptcy Law Network colleague Dana Wilkinson, in a piece for consumers who need a bankruptcy lawyer. Good advice, unless you are the bankruptcy lawyer without experience. Time … [Continue reading...]

Why Choose Bankruptcy For a Judgment Proof Elder?

By Cathy Moran, Esq. Filed Under: Bankruptcy Practice

Preserving exempt property for the next generation may justify a bankruptcy filing for a judgment proof elder. California exemptions protected a generous homestead for my friend's frail client; her pension and social security income also enjoyed an exemption. I was about to question why the woman needed a bankruptcy at this stage of her life despite the credit card judgments, when the … [Continue reading...]

Bankruptcy Attorney’s Guide To Post Dated Checks

By Cathy Moran, Esq. Filed Under: Bankruptcy Practice

Remember the medieval maps that warned "there be dragons"? In the bankruptcy world, those dragons are post dated checks from your debtor client. Stay away. Post dated checks in payment of the debtor's attorneys fees create a prepetition claim, subject to the automatic stay and the bankruptcy discharge, held the court inWalton v. Clark & Washington (Bnkr. MD FL 2011). The opinion rejects … [Continue reading...]

Lessons For Bankruptcy Lawyers In Casey Anthony Trial

By Cathy Moran, Esq. Filed Under: Bankruptcy Practice

There's only one lesson here: it all turns on the evidence. It is widely believed that Casey Anthony was responsible for her daughter's death, but she was acquitted in a court of law because the prosecution didn't present evidence that proved culpability beyond a reasonable doubt. Supposition, inference, and logic won't cut it; it required evidence. Evidence? I'm a bankruptcy lawyer, … [Continue reading...]

Are You A Potted Plant?

By Cathy Moran, Esq. Filed Under: Bankruptcy Practice

Brendan Sullivan famously explained his role as an attorney in the Iran-Contra hearings by declaring that he was "not a potted plant", but the witness' attorney. "I'm the lawyer. That's my job." Sullivan was defending his repeated objections to questions asked of his client: that was his job. I, similarly, see my job as a bankruptcy attorney as pushing my clients to reexamine … [Continue reading...]

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