Bankruptcy Mastery

Becoming a better bankruptcy lawyer

Where Are The Answers For The Consumer Bankruptcy Lawyer?

By Filed Under: Bankruptcy Practice

Tell me what to read if my client has  Issue A, and what to read if they have Issue B, the rookie bankruptcy lawyer asked. Other readers voice the same plaint:  tell me where the answers are for practicing bankruptcy law. Well, I have some good news and some bad news.  The bad news is that there is no single source, or collection of universal answers, or instant how- to manual for bankruptcy … [Continue reading...]

The Rules Change

By Filed Under: Bankruptcy Practice

December 1, the Federal Rules of Bankruptcy Procedure change. If you can't tell the players without a program, you can't practice bankruptcy law without having a handle on the federal rules.  Then, of course, you need to see what the local rules add, but that's another story. Here's the list of rules that change. Image courtesy of ttarasiuk … [Continue reading...]

Thanks Be

By Filed Under: Bankruptcy Practice

Professionally, what am I thankful for? I'm thankful for experience and a skill set useful in terrible economic times. I'm thankful for bankruptcy laws, flawed as they are, that allow people to escape debt and focus on the future. I'm thankful for an honest judiciary and panel trustee system that give the system integrity. On a less lofty note, I'm thankful for computers and the … [Continue reading...]

Consumer Debt Label Matters in 13

By Filed Under: Chapter 13

Consumer debt?  Non consumer debt?  Have mostly non consumer debt and you get a pass on the means test.  Where else does the consumer/non consumer characterization matter:  in Section 1301, where co debtors on a consumer debt are protected by the automatic stay. Section 1301 limits the scope of the co debtor stay to consumer debts and protects individuals liable with the debtor on the debt … [Continue reading...]

Number One Reason to Avoid Taking a Chapter 11

By Filed Under: Bankruptcy Practice

Put aside inexperience:  the most important reason not to take on a Chapter 11 is that it can kill your practice. The rules and procedures for Chapter 11 were created for the debtor "big boys", the corporations that hire tall-building lawyers by the score.  There are innumerable hoops to jump through, even if you were familiar with each hoop and had a template for the exercise.  The  shear … [Continue reading...]

Really Subtle Trick For Discharging Taxes

By Filed Under: Bankruptcy Practice

While the IRS shows the early withdrawal penalty for taking money from an IRA as tax, several cases uphold treating it as a penalty, therefore,  dischargeable in Chapter 13. No matter how often I go to NACBA events, I always end up with a couple of dynamite ideas that justify the time and expense.  This one comes from Billy Brewer and the Advanced Issues in Chapter 13 track.  Usually I write … [Continue reading...]

Meet Me in Puerto Rico

By Filed Under: Bankruptcy Practice

Off for NACBA workshops

Dateline:  San Francisco International Airport I'm leaving on a jet plane, to coin a phrase<g>, for NACBA's Fall Workshop in Puerto Rico.  Nothing that all day on a plane can't accomplish. If you're  attending, please look me up and introduce yourself.  I'd love to have faces attached to names, in the ever optimistic thought that I can remember them.  Any  feedback you can offer on … [Continue reading...]

Twelve Ways to Tweak Schedule J

By Filed Under: Before filing

When the debtor's Schedules J shows a significant number on the bottom line, that "excess income" may suggest the case is an abuse. The first question should always be:  "How real are the projected Schedule J expenses"? In districts where the difference between I and J retains some significance in Chapter 7, bankruptcy attorneys need to cast a critical eye on what the debtor says it costs them … [Continue reading...]

New Bankruptcy Lawyers – Beware Strangers With Candy

By Filed Under: Bankruptcy Practice

Concern for bankruptcy clients who weren't well represented by brand new bankruptcy lawyers got me started with this project.  As I told colleagues, some of the lawyering I saw was so bad that we needed to either teach the newcomers to be better lawyers or run them out of the practice, because they were unwittingly victimizing debtors. Recently, I've seen at least two cases of the reverse:  … [Continue reading...]

The Mystery Of The Disappearing Means Test Deduction

By Filed Under: Means test

naked city means test

Just when you thought you figured out the means test, a debtor throws you a curveball. Like the Naked City, there are eight million means test stories out there. This is one of them. Last night, I'm reviewing a petition that a young lawyer I mentor was prepared to file. The debtor is recently married and he and his bride each make about $5,000 a month gross. Schedule A shows no real estate, … [Continue reading...]

Means Test: Mean and Meaningless

By Filed Under: Means test, Opinionated

means teat

Years after BAPCPA became law, I'm still grinding my teeth about the inanity of the means test.  It consumes a huge amount of my time, gathering numbers about the cost of telecommunications services and my client's projected costs of health care.  I get to know more about their ailments than anyone but their spouse and their doctor. For what? Tell me what real meaning lies therein as a measure … [Continue reading...]

Means Test: Getting Business Income Correct

By Filed Under: Business bankruptcy, Means test

I expect clients to conflate themselves and their wholly owned business corporation;  I didn't expect the new bankruptcy lawyer to treat the corporation as if it didn't exist. Yet as I reviewed a B-22 for a rookie bankruptcy lawyer, I found all of the corporation's gross income included in the means test for the individual shareholder.  When questioned, the young lawyer replied that … [Continue reading...]