Two different clients recently have approached bankruptcy’s means test and the good faith test in Chapter 13 like Momma Grizzlies. Their assumption was that anything they spent on their children was beyond question when it came to qualifying for bankruptcy. One single mother assumed that she was entitled to deduct from the means test her [...]
Cathy Moran, California Bankruptcy Lawyer
Failure to withhold enough for taxes due post confirmation of a Chapter 13 bankruptcy can be fatal to the case. Some of the things that interfere with a debtor’s ability to fund a Chapter 13 plan are outside their control: job loss and illness come immediately to mind. But the preventable cause of many case [...]
The bankruptcy trustee can sell assets you no longer own under his avoiding powers for the benefit of creditors. What, you say? If it isn’t mine, what rights do my creditors have in those assets? It all depends on how you parted with property as to whether bankruptcy law allows the trustee to recover the [...]
At the same time the bankruptcy community is pondering the Lanning decision on what “projected disposable income” is in a Chapter 13, I read Judge Eugene Wedoff’s thoughts on whether Chapter 13 plans ought to require the payment of all of that disposable income during the bankruptcy to the trustee. * His point was that [...]
What will bankruptcy do to my credit rating ? is the most frequent question prospective bankruptcy filers ask. I try to stifle my knee jerk reaction to ask if anyone who knew the truth about their financial situation would lend to them now, and now I say truthfully, I don’t know. Before the Great Recession, [...]
When a confirmed Chapter 13 bankruptcy plan threatens to fail, the debtor needs to consider whether the plan can be modified to survive. The debtor can seek a change in the amount of the monthly payment or the length of the plan. Debtors who experience a change in financial circumstances often seem to freeze, to [...]
