Every once in a while, a prospective client comes to see me and confesses to doing a little pre-bankruptcy planning of his own, without benefit of counsel. In many cases, such actions make a bankruptcy filing more difficult, more costly, or inadvisable at all. Even worse, many times the same or a better result could [...]

Yesterday I sat down with some clients to try and figure out what was going on with their mortgage.  My clients say they made all the payments, but the mortgage company shows that they are two months behind.  After extensive review of the clients’ receipts and the mortgage company’s payment history (which is no picnic, [...]

Paying attorney fees and costs for bankruptcy is a challenge. You have the right to represent yourself in bankruptcy (as in any other court). But should you? What are the risks of representing yourself in bankruptcy?
Off the top of my head, here are some of the things that you can get wrong when you don’t [...]

The Bankruptcy Code offers one final option to consider in dealing with liens on collateral the debtor wants to keep. The Code allows a debtor to “redeem” collateral, which means that the debtor pays the lienholder a one-time, lump sum payment equal to the value of the collateral, in full satisfaction of the debt. The [...]

Bankruptcy operates to discharge your personal liability for debt (with a few exceptions). Liens, such as home mortgages and the lien on your car, survive bankruptcy. In a Chapter 7 case, the trustee will determine whether your home, car, or other asset is worth more than your exemption and any liens.  If there is [...]

This article in the Washington Post notes the connection between the rampant mortgage fraud, lax lending practices, and the housing bubble.
Many experts have concluded that the nation’s real estate boom of recent years was fueled in part by weakened lending standards that sparked excessive demand and drove up prices. Now, some are worried that the [...]

Before you file bankruptcy, you want to know what will happen to your stuff.  In Part One, I touched on the idea of exempt property.  Exempt property is property that is not subject to the claims of creditors or a bankruptcy trustee, i.e., it is “exempt” from seizure.  But what if a creditor has a [...]

Everyone who considers bankruptcy wants to know the answer to that question–what will happen to my house, my car, my personal belongings. Most debtors in bankruptcy keep most or all of their property, but the methods of doing that vary, depending on the type of case you file, the kind of property you own, and [...]

The same day I read this, on the difficulty of determining Connecticut exemptions through web research, a prospective client asked a question that made two things obvious: 1) She had been trying to research South Carolina’s homestead exemption online; and 2) she had gotten hold of some very misleading information. So, I tried Googling “South [...]

Prospective clients often ask me “How do I pay you when I am bankrupt?” The cost of filing bankruptcy, and how you get that paid, is a primary concern to virtually everyone who considers bankruptcy.
Attorney fees for filing bankruptcy depend on a number of factors–prevailing rates where you live, the relative complexity of your [...]