student loan law changes
debts arising from a divorce order
creditors not notified of the bankruptcy
student loans
you may not discharge all your debt
payroll taxes, the loan that lives forever

Discharge in bankruptcy is good. Dismissal is generally bad.  Discharge is  what  most debtors seek when filing their bankruptcy.  Dismissal is what a debtor is  generally trying to avoid.
The discharge is the injunction granted by the bankruptcy court that keeps the creditors from enforcing their rights to collect personally on the debt.  More commonly, [...]

When will they figure it out?  Wells Fargo and Chase have announced they plan to kick consumers while they are down again.  Credit card rates are being increased, 3 percentage points by Wells following a similar increase by Chase, in the worst economic climate since the 1930s.
A Wells Fargo spokesman said that the bank waited [...]

Pamela Stewart, a Houston/Victoria (Texas) consumer bankruptcy lawyer spoke recently about bankruptcy at The People’s Law School sponsored by The University of Houston Law Center  – Center for Consumer Law.
Highlights of the session included discussion of the different chapters of bankruptcy, who is eligible to file a Chapter 7 or Chapter 13 bankruptcy, the meeting of creditors that all [...]

I’ve been posting about bankruptcy questions asked most frequently by my clients, and I’ve dealt with questions about the pre-bankruptcy process, procedural issues, and Chapter 13 issues.  But almost all my clients want to know about life after bankruptcy.  Once again, I cannot over-emphasize the importance of consulting your own bankruptcy lawyer because circumstances can [...]

If you have filed for bankruptcy before, you may be able to file again if you need to.  But, to determine if you can get another discharge in bankruptcy, you need to know the petition date and chapter of your previous case.
There is a myth that you can only file bankruptcy every seven years.  That [...]

Most people want simple, clear, answers to a few simple questions about bankruptcy.  Sometimes the answer depends on your circumstances.  Most bankruptcy lawyers, however, turn the tables and ask a whole lot of questions before answering the client’s questions.
Because every case is different, it’s dangerous to generalize without some factual background.  While it is no [...]

A tire company sent a reaffirmation agreement to me for one of my clients to sign.  A reaffirmation agreement is a new contract to pay an old debt that is included in your bankruptcy filing.
I laughed when I saw who it was from but I laughed even harder when I discovered it was for a [...]

More student loans are not dischargeable in bankruptcy than ever before and the definition of student loan has been expanded to include private loans and expenses that are not “loans” in the traditional sense of the word loan.
The changes came after Congress passed the s0-called bankruptcy reform act in 2005 known as the Bankruptcy Abuse [...]

The new bankruptcy law, BAPCPA (”Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act”) requires that a debtor’s assets must be valued at “replacement cost.”  In fact, if you meet with your attorney, he will give you a notice required by section 527(c) of the Bankruptcy Code, which probably explains valuation similar to this section from the [...]