Every chapter 7 or chapter 13 bankruptcy filing involves a creditors meeting which occurs about one month after the case is filed. This meeting can unexpectedly become the perfect storm where, if enough of the wrong factors jell together, the debtor may blurt out the “forbidden reason” for spending down his or her bank accounts before [...]
Featured
In bankruptcy, an Individual Retirement Account (IRA) is usually protected from creditors. But a controversy has been brewing over protection for an IRA when it is inherited from another person. This should not be controversial and the 8th Circuit‘s Bankruptcy Appellate Panel (BAP) doesn’t think it’s that complicated either. When you establish an IRA, you [...]
When a client is considering filing for Chapter 13 bankruptcy, one of the first questions I’m asked is, “What will my Chapter 13 Plan payment be”? I almost always answer, “I don’t know yet.” Why? Because of the complex way plan payments are determined. There is a four-part test. Unfortunately, after running all of the [...]
Three years into the mortgage foreclosure crisis, a major lender has finally announced that it will reduce principal on “underwater” mortgages. Sort of. According to The New York Times, BoA won’t actually write down loans to the value of the property (which is more than it would get in a foreclosure). Rather (and here’s where [...]
This week a unanimous Supreme Court concluded that bankruptcy creditors ought to read their mail once in awhile. Perhaps even pay attention and act upon what they read there. Otherwise, they have only themselves to blame. This not-so-remarkable — yet important — decision involved a complicated — yet simple — case. A man filed a [...]
