That is the guess of  a Washington Think tank based on the Case-Shiller home price index, as reported in today’s Los Angeles Times.
Supposedly, this will complete the deflation of the housing bubble started by Mr. Greenspan.
This will put more homes underwater, worth less than the amount of the mortgages borrowed against the house.
This writer has [...]

Popularity: 19% [?]

She didn’t want to totally destroy her credit, so she didn’t list five credit cards with small balances. Sound familiar? Perhaps you’ve had this thought.
Bankruptcy papers are signed under penalties of perjury, and are the same as live testimony in court. If you knowingly leave something off, you’ve lied and your bankruptcy [...]

Popularity: 17% [?]

Maybe. It depends. Do you owe the IRS any prior monies? Can you claim the monies due to you as exempt?

Popularity: 33% [?]

Popularity: 33% [?]

Technically speaking, once you file for bankruptcy, all your property is no longer yours.  Instead it is now part of a new entity called the Bankruptcy Estate, pursuant to 11 USC 522.  Nevertheless, in most cases, it goes back to you relatively quickly.

In chapter 7, all your property comprises the bankruptcy estate until one of [...]

Popularity: 28% [?]

I don’t know.  But, recently, I got a call from someone in Ohio (I’m in California) telling me that she had filed a “medical bankruptcy” but needed some help in California regarding property she owned here.
So, what is a “medical bankruptcy?”  Frankly, there’s no such thing in the law.  I suspect what she meant is [...]

Popularity: 19% [?]

The purpose of the Massachusetts homestead is to protect families, not just debtors.  It should come as no surprise that a home remains protected if a child occupies the home even if the parent-debtor has moved out.  The parties in In re Thompson, 2008 Bankr. LEXIS 1199 all overlooked this point and argued about whether the debtor’s absence [...]

Popularity: 13% [?]

The Week magazine reported that annually, 10,000 Indian farmers kill themselves because they can’t pay their debts. What kind of bankruptcy is available in India, I asked myself. Short answer, after 10 minutes of internet search, I don’t know. That suggests to me that a vigorous bankruptcy system is not part of [...]

Popularity: 13% [?]

When filing a personal chapter 7 or chapter 13 bankruptcy, most debtors are concerned about the effect the bankruptcy filing might have on their checking and savings accounts. After all, many debtors have banked at the same institution for years, and they do not want to have this banking relationship disrupted. This concern, [...]

Popularity: 25% [?]

The Bankruptcy Code (11 U.S.C. Section 727(12(e)) permits an interested party to seek revocation of a debtor’s discharge if it can be shown that the debtor obtained the discharge by fraud and that fraud was not known to the requesting party until after the discharge was granted. It is not sufficient to show that [...]

Popularity: 27% [?]

Most, if not all, of my clients tell me they don’t ever want another credit card. I just laugh and tell them they will want one in a few months because that is what society has taught us. Besides you need one to rent a car, make hotel reservations, and the like. [...]

Popularity: 15% [?]