Bankruptcy

Not Huge and Very Stupid: A Discharge is Denied

Posted on April 29, 2008
I have been asked by clients if they can avoid having to list all of their credit cards on their bankruptcy schedules. The answer is simple: ?no.? However, they must list all of their debts. And if you owe the credit card company money, you must list it on your bankruptcy schedules (open lines of credit are not debts, although no debtor should expect that an inactive line of credit will survive a bankruptcy filing)...

Things To Think About on a Thursday

Posted on April 24, 2008
I believe there are folks who believe that I am a huge Negative Nancy when it comes to talking about the economy. So much so, that they do not even want to bring up the subject around me. As I have mentioned: I am not an economist. I did not do well in economics while in college...

Storm Prepration: Do Not Transfer Property

Posted on April 23, 2008
I cannot tell you the number of times I have heard prospective clients tell me something like this: ?I have been wanting to file bankruptcy for several months, but I wanted to put my house into my relative?s name first.?When I hear that, I usually cringe...

Today's news...

Posted on April 22, 2008
If you're trying to get a loan modification, you might be interested in this from the LA Times. Condo owners take note: your neighbor's financial woes might become your own. See the Miami Herald for more. Which reminds me, if you own a condo and are hoping to refinance, you might be interested in this Boston Herald article...

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What would you do....

Posted on April 18, 2008
Very often, I find myself speaking to debtors and wondering what I would do if I were in their shoes. This week, I spoke with a debtor who has had a chapter 13 case pending for about a year and was representing himself. The debtor was facing a Motion for Relief from Stay for failing to make post-petition mortgage payments, although the plan payments were current...

When Parents are in Debt

Posted on April 17, 2008
Parents ? like all of us ? get older. Parents ? like all of us ? are human. And parents ? at times ? find themselves in a financial mess. Over the years, I have had a chance to represent older debtors, and in many cases, that representation resulted from the urging of their children...

Storm Preparation: Talk to Your Kids

Posted on April 16, 2008
When I was growing up, I was never made privy to my parents? financial affairs. I never knew if things were ?bad? (primarily because we were lead to believe they always were ?bad?) and we never really knew if they were ?good? (if for no other reason, because we assumed it was bad)...

This Debtor Knew When to Fold

Posted on April 11, 2008
When people gamble, they can win. But let?s face it: not often. When they lose, they can lose big. When is a gambler entitled to relief under the Bankruptcy Code? While the answer is not entirely black and white, a February 29 decision out of the Northern District Ohio sheds some light on the issue...

Storm Preparation: Payment Advices

Posted on April 09, 2008
Since the 2005 Bankruptcy Act, debtors have had to gather and provide their attorneys more documentation. There are a variety of documents that debtors need to collect, but the class of documents that is often difficult to put one?s hands on at the last minute is pay stubs...

Poster Children for Bankruptcy Reform

Posted on April 08, 2008
There has been so much written about BAPCPA and the creditors who practically wrote the law and got it passed. While I cannot doubt that creditors ? such as the good folks at MBNA (which was bought out by Bank of America), paid their lobbyists millions of dollars for years to get the Bankruptcy Code changed, a recent case perhaps rightly suggested that lenders had good reason to seek a change in the law...

The Insider View of Friendship

Posted on April 04, 2008
When is a ?friend? an insider and when is an ?insider? a friend? That was a question that a Kansas Bankruptcy Court had to struggle with in the case of In re Tankersley. The chapter 7 debtor?s friend (Anne) paid about $21,000 on the debtor?s mortgage...

Would-a, Should-a, Could-a.

Posted on April 03, 2008
Everyone has found themselves saying that at one time or another. Perhaps it was the regrettable decision of a particular business venture (or business partner), or perhaps it was ordering the chicken salad special, rather than a turkey club. Or, perhaps, you happened to be joint debtors who recently learned what can happen when you do not do what you should have and could have done...

Storm Preparation: Bankruptcy & Tax Returns

Posted on April 02, 2008
There are many important aspects of filing bankruptcy and getting the relief that the bankruptcy code offers. In setting the stage for filing bankruptcy and getting the relief you need, debtors need to be aware of some important obligations: the need to file tax returns.

A Word of Caution: Foreclosure Prevention Counselors

Posted on March 27, 2008
There are a number non-profit organizations in Metro-Boston (and state wide) that provide mortgage and foreclosure assistance to homeowners facing foreclosure. Over the last several months, I have personally encountered situations where these (for lack of a better term) foreclosure prevention counselors have actually caused more harm than good (or at least have the potential to)...

Todays news....and a New Series

Posted on March 26, 2008
First, the news... When a storm is coming, it's not uncommon for New Englanders to stock up on bread and milk. According to today's Financial Times, banks are apparently stocking up on cash. Does the FDIC's announcment that it plans to add 140 new workers in anticpation of bank failures have anything to do with it? New home sales fell to a 13-year low in February...

Today's news...

Posted on March 25, 2008
A friend passed along this story from today's Boston Globe: "Going Into 'survival mode.'"" The report takes a look at the ways people from all over the area are cutting back on monthly expenses as the anxiety over the economy continues to rise. It's worth the read...

Co-Debtor Stay in Chapter 13: The Debtor's Business

Posted on March 24, 2008
People own businesses: corporations, LLCs or other types of formal or informal business entities. When those people need to file bankruptcy, does the automatic stay that takes effect immediately upon filing also extend to those wholly-owned companies? The Bankruptcy Court in the Southern District of New York ruled on that issue on February 8, 2008...

Housing Discrimination Judgment: Non Dischargeable

Posted on March 21, 2008
The US Bankruptcy Court in Worcester was recently called upon to answer this question: may a landlord who discriminated against a prospective tenant because of the tenant?s Section 8 status discharge the judgment in bankruptcy? In a February 11, 2008 decision, the answer was a resounding ?no...

Today's News...

Posted on March 21, 2008
From FoxBusiness: a look at the legislation Congress is mulling over to give bankruptcy judges more authority to modify residential mortgages. Have you ever heard those radio commercials touting "debt elimination?" It usually has an announcer proclaiming that "my plan does not reduce your debt, it eliminates it!" One commercial in particular on a local station also has a speaker who says "using this system, I will be able to pay my 30 year mortgage in just three years making only the money I am making now...

Honesty: Truly the best policy

Posted on March 20, 2008
If you think you can get away with not being honest with your bankruptcy lawyer, think again. In a January 31 decision out of the Southern District of Mississippi, a bankruptcy attorney has been required to turn over his complete file to his client?s adversary and testify...

Preferences: What are they?

Posted on March 18, 2008
Companies and consumers who find themselves with financial pressures often borrow money from family and friends to make ends meet with the hope that bankruptcy can be avoided. But if bankruptcy cannot be avoided, there may be a motive to pay back those family members and friends who helped out before filing the petition...

Thoughts on When to "Walk Away"

Posted on March 14, 2008
There are many reports of struggling homeowners ?walking away? from their properties. If you own a condominium, shares in a cooperative or a lot or home in a housing association (which I?ll refer to here as ?real estate?) and you?re contemplating walking away and bankruptcy, an amendment to the Bankruptcy Code may influence many of your decisions...

When Mortgage Brokers Request Secrecy

Posted on March 13, 2008
Earlier this week I was talking with a client who let me know that their home was headed into foreclosure. I was a bit surprised to hear this because I had been led to believe that there was no problem making the home mortgage payments, only the other debt (which included other real estate)...

Mortgage Modification in a Chapter 13 Bankruptcy

Posted on March 12, 2008
A recent Massachusetts Bankruptcy Court decision set forth the standard that the majority of Federal Circuits have adopted: a bankruptcy debtor may avoid a wholly unsecured lien on the home. The case involved a debtor who claimed their home was worth $370,000...

Another Reason to Avoid "Debt Settlement"

Posted on March 11, 2008
I have written about so-called "debt settlement" companies that tout a benefit of paying off your debt quicker and cheaper. In the long run, consumers are left with less money and still at the door of the bankrutpcy court. From the March 6 issue of Business Week: The booming business has caught the attention of prosecutors and regulators, who say such programs can leave consumers in worse financial shape...

Today's News....

Posted on March 11, 2008
From the Globe: Massachusetts bankruptcy filings are up 22% from last year. Massachusetts Democrat Barney Frank presents his case for a housing rescue. The slowing economy is not keeping gasoline prices from creeping up and up.

Unauthorized Post Petition Transfer Leads to Denial of Discharge

Posted on March 09, 2008
Transferring real estate while contemplating bankruptcy can raise some issues. But transferring real estate after the bankruptcy case has been filed without the permission of the bankruptcy court is a big ?no no.? And as a debtor in learned in a February 11 Bankruptcy Court ruling out of Worcester, it can raises some serious problems...

Today's News....

Posted on March 08, 2008
From today's Boston Globe: Brokers at Lehi Mortgage Services Inc. have been accused of fraud by the Massachusetts Attorney General. Lehi Mortgage "engaged in a widespread practice" of submitting false information about bank accounts and incomes that "it knew or should have known were inflated," the attorney general's suit said...

6th Circuit Orders Turnover of Tax Refund

Posted on March 08, 2008
The Bankruptcy Appellate Panel in the 6th Circuit affirmed an Ohio Bankruptcy Court order requiring the debtors to turn over their tax refunds to the chapter 7 trustee. The debtors filed their chapter 7 case in March 2005 and their meeting of creditors was approximately two months later...

"Let Bankruptcy Judges Step In"

Posted on March 06, 2008
Congress is trying to move a bill that woujld give bankruptcy court judges more power to modify mortgages. From Law Professor Lynn LoPucki in today's Atlantic Journal Constitution: ...the bankers want to negotiate in an environment where they, not neutral bankruptcy judges, have the final say...

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