A question that often arises in the context of bankruptcy preparation has to do with debts owed to family members or close friends. What happens if you repay your brother/sister/mother/father the $2,000 that was loaned to you six months ago? What about a repayment to a friend or employer? The Bankruptcy Code addresses the issue [...]
January 2007
If you are like most bankruptcy debtors, the difficult decision to seek legal counsel about filing a case may be months in the making. In an effort to avoid bankruptcy, you may be considering any number of non-bankruptcy options, including informal payment plans, refinancing of your house or borrowing funds from friends or relatives. Regardless [...]
One of the basic concepts in bankruptcy is that a lien ( the legal interest of a creditor in a particular asset) passes through the bankruptcy proceeding unchanged, unless the judge makes an order otherwise. The lien, like the barnacles in the picture, cling tightly to the collateral to which it attaches. The bankruptcy discharge [...]
The “old” bankruptcy law lives on within the new bankruptcy laws, but with major changes to how people file and some of it’s benefits. It is more cumbersome, but bankruptcy is still available to most of the individuals who would have been eligible for help under the old law. It still holds true that if [...]
Bankruptcy can be filed jointly as one case if you are married but it doesn’t have to be. I often am asked the following question: ”If I am married, can I file bankruptcy by myself, without my spouse? The simple answer is yes you are allowed to file bankruptcy without your spouse, but it may not [...]
Many kinds of taxes are dischargeable in bankruptcy. You know that saying “there’s nothing sure in this life but death and taxes”? You might think that it applies to bankruptcy as well. The bankruptcy code is full of sections giving preferential treatment to the tax collector. And there are many different kinds of taxes. Let’s [...]
