Married couples can file a joint petition in bankruptcy for a single filing fee. Consolidation of cases for married couples saves administrative cost, attorney fees, and can promote domestic harmony. This benefit has, until recently, been denied by some courts for same sex married couples. The United States Department of Justice has announced that it [...]
Kent Anderson, Oregon Bankruptcy Attorney
An illegal immigrant can file for bankruptcy in the United States. There is no reference to a citizenship requirement in the Bankruptcy Law. US Code §109 provides the requirements to be a “debtor.” The most common way to be eligible to be a debtor is to have a “domicile” in your state. A domicile “requires [...]
If you owe federal tax and fail to pay, the IRS has a federal tax lien on all of your assets. The lien can be a secret and exists even if the IRS has failed to file a Notice of Federal Tax Lien in the public records. This secret lien can take your retirement funds [...]
It is generally unwise to break the rules and disobey a court order. This appears to be true for debtors in a Chapter 13 plan as well. In Standiferd v. United States Trustee the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld denial of discharge for two debtors who failed to comply with the court order confirming their plan [...]
Short Sales, home loan write-downs and foreclosure can all result in cancellation or forgiveness of debt for the borrower. Debt cancellation can result in taxable income to the borrower. There are many debt cancellation tax articles published on Bankruptcy Law Network. However, there are several ways to exclude debt cancellation from taxable income. Congress has [...]
