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 [...]

Many Chapter 13 cases arise from mortgage payment problems.  A significant number of Chapter 13 debtors enter into bankruptcy with a mortgage arrearage and they use the arrearage cure mechanism of Chapter 13 to stop the foreclosure process and to pay back the missed mortgage payments over time.
Unfortunately many of the budget and cash flow [...]

I am writing this post for the benefit of fellow lawyers and other colleagues who may be having the same problems I have accessing bankruptcy court records electronically.  If you use Firefox (Mozilla) or Opera as your browser, you will notice that your browser software periodically updates, and sometimes those updates create unintended consequences.  Similarly, [...]

In the real world, families help each other.  Sometimes this help can be in the form of co-signing a debt or even entering into debt to help a family member.  In my practice I frequently see situations where an adult child signs as the sole or primary mortgagee for a parent’s house.  Sometimes a parent [...]

Last week the Atlanta Journal Constitution published an important article entitled “Foreclosures Reach Renters.”  The article described the plight of tenants who had regularly and reliably paid monthly rentals for homes but were nevertheless faced with eviction if the property owner failed to make mortgage payments, resulting in a foreclosure.
Georgia, like most “non-judicial” foreclosure states, [...]

Recently I have noticed that both the Internal Revenue Service website and the website for the Office of the United States Trustee have published a great deal of material about “bankruptcy fraud.”   What exactly is “bankruptcy fraud” and how can you avoid doing things that might put you at risk?
In the consumer bankruptcy area, the [...]

One of the most prominent elected officials in the State of Georgia, State School Superintendant Kathy Cox has filed a Chapter 7 bankruptcy.   Ms. Cox’ husband, John Cox, is a homebuilder whose business has all but dried up in recent months.   The Cox’ schedules show $3.5 million in debts and $650,000 in assets.  My colleague, [...]

Under the BAPCPA amendments to the bankruptcy law, a presumption of abuse of Chapter 7 arises if your “median household income” exceeds the median income tables published by the United States Trustee’s office.  Although this presumption is rebuttable, as a practical matter the U.S. Trustee will object to almost any Chapter 7 case filed by [...]

When I first started practicing bankruptcy law some 20 years ago, one of the lawyers who mentored me regularly reassured me that bankruptcy was a pleasant area of practice because “nothing happens very quickly and you can always amend your pleadings if you change your mind.”
I have generally found this reassurance to be true, although [...]

Back in April, I wrote a post on this blog entitled “Am I Responsible for Car Accident Damages in Excess of Insurance Coverage” when I file for bankruptcy.  That post primarily concerned Chapter 7 and my conclusion was that in most instances a Chapter 7 discharge will eliminate personal liability for defendants in personal injury [...]