You’re behind on your mortgage, and a foreclosure is threatened. You speak with a bankruptcy attorney, and are eligible for a Chapter 13, which will let you catch up on the payments and save the house. But should you?
I speak with clients every day in this situation, and one of the most important things I [...]

Many of my clients come into my office already knowing what chapter of the Bankruptcy Code they want to file under. Others have no idea how they want to proceed. So which chapter is “best”?
The answer, of course, depends on the details of the case.
My general rule of thumb is that, unless there is a [...]

Watch out, if your $18 million home on the beach in Malibu is turned back to the bank–it might become a “Party House”.
This is what happened to victims of the Madoff pyramid scheme, who lost their home as a result. According to this article on AZCentral.com:
A Wells Fargo & Co. executive who oversees foreclosed properties [...]

When Congress passed bankruptcy “reform” in 2005, it included provisions requiring consumer bankruptcy lawyers to call themselves “Debt Relief Agencies,” restricting the information we could provide our clients, and adding all sorts of disclosures and disclaimers that did little more than generate lots and lots of paper.
These provisions were challenged as unconstitutional by a Minnesota [...]

“My wages are being garnished!”
“I have a foreclosure scheduled for tomorrow!”
“They’re going to come and repossess my car tonight!”
As a bankruptcy attorney, I have heard all these, and more, as reasons why a potential client’s case needs to be filed TODAY. While bankruptcy attorneys may be able to file a bankruptcy case on an emergency [...]

Many clients face eviction from their homes after foreclosure. At first glance, even a bankruptcy filing might not help, since § 362(b)(22) states that there is no automatic stay of eviction where a pre-filing judgment for possession has been entered. Such clients are safe, however. The plain language of this section does not apply to [...]

Your Chapter 13 case is in trouble. The stay has been lifted on your house, or the plan payments are behind and the trustee is threatening to dismiss your case, or you’ve finally decided that the house isn’t worth the headaches you’re going through, and you just want out. What do you do?
One option is [...]

“How do you get paid?” is the question I’m asked most often at parties. After all, they say, if your clients don’t have any money, how can they pay you?
The answer depends on the details of a particular client’s case, but there are several ways I usually get paid.
1. You may have savings you haven’t [...]

Reader’s Digest, founded in 1922 and America’s best selling consumer magazine, said Monday that it would be filing for Chapter 11 reorganization.
From a high of 18 million copies a month in the 1970’s, subscriptions had declined to less than 9 million. Reader’s Digest, which will continue to publish, plans to use Chapter 11 to cut [...]