Even if you and your wife are both on the deed and mortgage it is permissible for only one to file for bankruptcy. This is true even if you are past due on your mortgage payments. If only one of you files a Chapter 13 bankruptcy, you will include the past due mortgage payments in [...]
January 2010
Today, I received a letter from a client. And with her permission, I am repeating her entire letter here, with her name omitted to protect her privacy. We filed a chapter 7 just 5 months ago. Here’s how the world looks like to her today: Dear Mr. Leibowitz, Just a note to let you know [...]
If you file a bankruptcy case, you have to disclose all your assets. You have to show your bank statements to the bankruptcy trustee. You have to show your tax returns to the trustee too. It’s not as easy as you think to hide assets. Nobody will believe that you don’t have a checking account. [...]
When you file bankruptcy whether you file a Chapter 7 or a Chapter 13 you must file a Statement of Financial Affairs. Brett Weiss has written several articles on the Statement of Financial Affairs. Question 10 asks you questions about transfers in the last year prior to filing. The trustee will use this information [...]
We have a problem in our nation. Millions of families have spent money beyond their ability to repay. It’s not bad that a family can make normal monthly payments on a credit card. However, credit card lines of credit are not assets. They are potential liabilities. And credit card debt, like any other liability, must be repaid.
The current standard for discharging student loans is “undue hardship.” Over the last three decades, Congress has made it increasingly difficult to discharge student loans. The chronology of this noose tightening around debtors’ necks follows: Student loans were dischargeable throughout most of the 20th century. In 1976 Congress enacted the Education Amendments, and in section [...]
