To get ready to file a bankruptcy in the United States, you need to get a credit counseling certificate, gather up your pay stubs and financial documents, and make an appointment to see an attorney in your local area. Everyone who files a bankruptcy must get a credit counseling certificate from a provider approved by [...]
January 2011
Recently, Senator Jeff Merkley from Oregon has been speaking very loudly about the need for the current Congress to amend the Bankruptcy Code to allow cramdowns of first mortgages on primary homesteads. If you recall, the same proposal was attempted by Senator Dick Durbin from Illinois back in 2009. This time, Senator Merkley may have [...]
Dear Jane, Your mother entrusted her funeral expense money to you last year. You spent it on living expenses. You don’t want your mother to get notice of the bankruptcy as a creditor because you are very much ashamed. You said that you were hoping to repay your mother with your expected tax refund, and asked if we could forget that [...]
Borders, the national book store with actual stores, may have to file bankruptcy soon. Is that going to mean disaster for its customers? That’s very unlikely. Borders Group has hired bankruptcy lawyers. It is taking (even) longer to pay for inventory to conserve cash. This is a predictable dance by heavily leveraged retailers in a [...]
Many of my clients worry about where they will live if the file for bankruptcy and surrender their (usually far under water) house. They’ve heard horror stories about people with bankruptcies on their credit being unable to rent. But things aren’t as bad as they fear. My usual recommendation is not to look at the [...]
Lien priming is a term of art in bankruptcy used to refer to a concept in debtor-in-possession financing (“DIP financing”). DIP financing is a very large topic in itself, but simply put, when a business debtor is trying to reorganize in bankruptcy, it often needs cash. A large industry exists to fund these cash requirements, [...]
