Transferring property to your children to avoid probate can cause big problems if a child files bankruptcy or is otherwise unable to pay his debts.
There I was at the Ripley’s “Believe it or Not” museum in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, when I came across a display of humorous tombstones.  The one pictured above says, “If any [...]

There are protected amounts for assets when one files bankruptcy, but that does not mean that a trustee will automatically seize and sell an asset having a value slightly over the protected amount.
Much depends on the region you file, the particular pressures on a trustee from Washington when you file, the type of asset, the [...]

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Bankruptcy protects some property from creditors, and in North Carolina that protection is set to increase when the amount of residential home equity protected from creditors goes from from $18,500 per debtor to $35,000 per debtor.   Gov. Perdue signed into law H.B. 1058, which becomes effective on December 1, 2009 to raise the NC homestead exemption. 
Many people mistakenly think [...]

In a recent article I reported on two proposals before the Louisiana Legislature to increase the homestead exemption:  one bill would have increased the exemption to $100,000.00 while the second bill would have made the homestead exemption unlimited.
The bad news is that neither of these bills passed in its original form.
However, the Louisiana Legislature did [...]

This question is asked more times in my bankruptcy office than I can count.  I am sorry to say that you do have to include your car, your House, your wedding ring and all your other property in your bankruptcy.
My clients then tell me their friend didn’t include their car or their house.   I’d be willing [...]

According to the Eighth Circuit Bankruptcy Appellate Panel, a bankruptcy debtor cannot lose social security benefit payments in a bankruptcy case, even the money is paid as a $17,165 lump sum for past benefits.  In re Carpenter, No. 08-6046 (8th Cir. BAP July 13, 2009), held that section 407 of the Social Security Act excludes such [...]

If you’ve filed for bankruptcy under Chapter 7, you can usually still sell your home. But there is likely to be a delay before you can complete the sale, so you need to understand basic bankruptcy procedure.  
Can your home be sold? The answer is: It depends. In fact, that’s the initial answer to most [...]

Bankruptcy debtors have the right to exempt property from the bankruptcy estate up to a certain dollar amount. In Massachusetts, bankruptcy debtors have the option of using either the Federal or Massachusetts exemptions to do this.
Where a debtor has a large amount of home equity they want to protect, he or she should use [...]

Think you can always amend the bankruptcy schedules later if it turns out there was more in the bank than was originally listed?  Think again — that’s the message of In re Barrows, No. 09-6003 ((8th Cir. BAP July 10, 2009).  In Barrows, the debtors were not allowed to amend their exemptions, thereby losing over [...]