In the on-going saga of Missouri bankruptcy exemptions, some apparently-settled debtor protections have recently been destabilized. And this caused an apparent split among bankruptcy judges on at least some of these protections. Recently, this on-going evolution visited the daily wages of consumers. Missouri has a law which protects a large portion of an individual’s income [...]
Exemptions In Bankruptcy
In the previous installment, we discussed the 8th Circuit’s Benn decision which began a sea change in Missouri bankruptcy exemptions. To see how Benn‘s unusual opinion created uncertainty in Missouri bankruptcies, one need look no further than our state teacher pension plans. Prior to 2010, almost no one seriously imagined a state employee’s pension plan [...]
Sometimes a strategy causes more harm than good. Many long-accepted Missouri bankruptcy exemptions have become uncertain or been lost due to one such case. This is the story of how one strategy blew up to create dangerous uncertainty for consumers. Bankruptcy exemptions dictate what stuff is protected from a bankruptcy trustee. As allowed by federal [...]
Bankruptcy might be able to help you get a car back that has been picked up by the Sheriff to sell to pay on a judgment claim, but it would be better not to wait until you see your car (or other property) being taken away to call a lawyer. You might be able to [...]
In July, 2007, Florida’s legislature created a $4,000 wildcard personal property exemption for people who do not receive benefits of a homestead exemption that has become a prime example of the Law of Unintended Consequences. During the real estate heyday on Florida (Circa 2005), there was a great disparity between homeowners and home renters when [...]
As explained by Professor Daniel Austin of the Northeastern University School of Law in Boston, Mass. in the December/January 2011 American Bankruptcy Institute Journal, the U. S. Constitution in Article 1, the Bankruptcy Clause, authorized Congress to establish uniform laws regarding bankruptcy throughout the United States. However, as Prof. Austin acknowledges, the reality is far from [...]
