When you pay off an old collection account your creditors will usually update the trade line to show the debt as paid, but with a current date. This means that if the account was past due and charged off, now it is updated and showing as paid after having been charged off. Most people [...]

What does it mean to “file a bankruptcy” and when does it happen. Many of my clients consider that they have “filed bankruptcy” when they have come in to see me. That is obviously an important first step, but it’s only a first step. There’s still a lot of work left to be done at [...]

I spent the morning searching the internet for other bankruptcy information sites — to see how Bankruptcy Law Network was doing out in cyber-space. To my dismay, I found bankruptcy MIS-information on www.answerbag.com. The first question that caught my eye was: “If your ex-husband filed bankruptcy right after your [...]

One question we’re often asked is whether a client can keep their jewelry if they file for bankruptcy. The answer is “usually,” but, as with most things, it depends on the details.
If you own the jewelry free and clear, meaning that it isn’t security for a loan, the answer depends on how much it’s worth [...]

Attention has been given recently to the use of arbitration clauses to avoid scrutiny by Bankruptcy Courts and move disputes to the more creditor-friendly arbitrators hand-picked by the creditors. Several recent cases have approved such clauses (although it is not clear whether the clauses were rejected in the Schedules or the Plan, or if such [...]

A law school professor that I had during my first year of law school once explained that the purpose of law school is not to teach you where the courthouse is located, but to teach you how to find the courthouse if they decide to move it.
While this sounded clever, I’m not exactly sure what [...]

Yep.
In 2005, Congress changed the U. S. Bankruptcy Code and when that happened, folks got worried that the new laws would stop folks from filing Chapter 7 bankruptcy unless they were very low income. But, it is not as simple as that. The process that Congress put into place is actually a [...]

If someone has an open Chapter 13 bankruptcy, they need court permission to borrow money, but once someone has filed for Chapter 7, or once their Chapter 13 bankruptcy case is over, they can borrow money if they want. Finding someone who will lend to them is a different matter, or at least lending [...]

Now that you have received the claims list, and know who has filed a claim, and the amount they have indicated is owed, you need to make a careful decision with your attorney as to whether or not to file an objection to any of the claims.  My friend, Karen Oakes, wrote a terrific note [...]

My colleague, Kurt O’Keefe, recently wrote a post on this blog about tools available to small business owners that can be used to avoid bankruptcy.   Like Kurt, I frequently speak to small business owners who find themselves out of cash, out of inventory and facing huge personal liability from shopping center landlords, equipment vendors and [...]