If you listen to the radio or watch late night TV, you will hear ad after ad for “debt settlement” companies.  They are selling services that will consolidate debt and avoid the necessity of bankruptcy.   I have previously written a blog post on this blog expressing my concern about the debt settlement industry.  In response [...]

Over the past few days, I have written two posts about special problems that arise when an MLM distributor seeks to file bankruptcy.  In the last post I spoke about the presumption of abuse problem that could arise if an MLM distributor filed a Chapter 7 immediately after losing his commission stream due to a [...]

A few days ago, I wrote Part I of a series entitled Bankruptcy and the MLM Distributor.  In that post I described my typical MLM distributor as an entrepreneurial, motivated businessperson who worked full time on his MLM business and ran into debt problems because of a sudden or unexpected change in his compensation plan, [...]

My Debt Law Network colleague Andy Miofsky recently published a very timely article on this blog entitled “Do It Yourself Debt Settlement.”  As I read Andy’s article, it reminded me of a conversation I had earlier this year with a very interesting gentleman named Kenny Golde.
Kenny is a screenwriter and movie maker who lives in [...]

Over the past couple of years I have met with several potential clients who were in the MLM (multi-level-marketing) business and were looking to file (Chapter 7) bankruptcy.   Recently I spent a good 45 minutes on the phone with another potential client in the MLM business and this conversation got me thinking about the issues [...]

Over the past couple of years I have met with several dozen remodeling contractors to discuss bankruptcy.  Like many places, the Atlanta area has experienced a downturn in home building and home renovations and building contractors of all sizes have suffered greatly.
Clients and potential clients in this profession range from the one man contractor who [...]

Several years ago, the Chapter 13 trustees and the bankruptcy judges in the Northern District of Georgia added a new administrative burden to lawyers who file Chapter 13 cases in the Atlanta area.  Under this local rule, within 30 days after the “bar date” for creditors to file claims, lawyers must review all of the [...]

Not surprisingly, bankruptcy lawyers like me often get questions about life post-discharge.  Are there any “best practices” for rebuilding your credit after your bankruptcy (or period of bad credit) is over?
Thoughts about how to re-establish credit after bankruptcy have been written about on this blog.  One of the practices frequently discussed involves obtaining a secured [...]

On May 22, 2009, President Obama signed into law the Credit Cardholder’s Bill of Rights Act of 2009.   The provisions of this new law go into effect in February, 2010.  A detailed explanation of the provisions of this new law may be found at Adam Levitin’s informative article on the CreditSlips.com blog.
In reviewing the legislation, [...]

In the course of corresponding with folks contemplating bankruptcy, I frequently get emails and calls asking about debt settlement.  A recent letter got me thinking about debt settlement and I was inspired to create a post on my Atlanta Bankruptcy blog entitled “Debt Settlement vs. Bankruptcy” in which I set out my observations about the [...]