This past weekend, I had the opportunity to attend a bankruptcy liquidation sale. The case involved a business promoter in the Atlanta area who ended up in Chapter 7 when his business failed. This individual had apparently solicited hundreds of thousands of dollars from investors to create an on-line streaming video business.
As best [...]

One of the changes in bankruptcy law that was in the 2005 Bankruptcy Act (”BAPCPA”) was to prevent debtors filing Chapter 13 from reducing the amount paid to car lenders on car loans taken out within 910 days of filing for bankruptcy. Because of this, more debtors are unable to keep those cars, [...]

The nation’s best consumer bankruptcy lawyers put together a list of 33 Don’ts for Preparing to File Bankruptcy, compiled by my fellow Kansas attorney Jonathan Becker of Lawrence. Here is part 3, the final installment of the list.

Don’t omit or ‘save’ a credit card for after your bankruptcy.
Don’t fail to list debt to family [...]

Here is part 2 of a list of 33 don’ts for preparing to file bankruptcy compiled by Jonathan Becker after polling the listserv members of the National Association of Consumer Bankruptcy Attorneys.

Don’t fail to tell your attorney about your small business, sole proprietorship, partnership, LLC, LLP, LC, corporation, or hobby.
Don’t purchase a home shortly [...]

This is the second of two posts addressing the decision of Massachusetts Bankruptcy Judge Feeney in re Mati, 2008 WL 2389234 (Bkrtcy.D.Mass.2008). After addressing the first issue in the case concerning 401(k) deductions and bad faith, the Court moved on to the dispute over whether the debtor was entitled to the car “ownership” deduction [...]

Most of us get bombarded via e-mail, radio and TV by ads promising, “Avoid bankruptcy! Wipe out more than half of your credit card bills!” Sounds too good to be true. But do they really work? Well, sort of. But not quite in the way you might expect.
These programs typically work by telling you simply [...]

My colleague Michael Doan, for California, and I, for Massachusetts, have written on the need for separate bankruptcy filings by same sex spouses because their marriage is not recognized under the federal Defense of Marriage Act.  This federal treatment may well be worth the costs of separate filings.  These filers, who together are above median income, might [...]

My colleague, Jonathan Becker from Lawrence, Kansas, recently polled the nation’s best consumer bankruptcy attorneys and compiled a list of 33 don’ts for preparing to file bankruptcy.
Of course, this is not an exclusive list of advice for preparing to file for bankruptcy relief. You should seek the advice of a local attorney in your [...]

Someone asked Georgia attorney Jonathan Ginsberg what to do with a debt that hadn’t been reaffirmed in his Chapter 7 bankruptcy case. The debtor appeared to be upset to learn that his attorney didn’t file a reaffirmation on his car loan. If the reaffirmation isn’t filed, the car might be [...]

Barack Obama, the presumptive Democratic nominee for president, includes on his website a summary of his positions on bankruptcy and credit reform.
From his website:
Obama will reform our bankruptcy laws to protect working people, ban executive bonuses for bankrupt companies, and require disclosure of all pension investments.

Cap Outlandish Interest Rates on Payday Loans and Improve Disclosure: [...]