Potential bankruptcy clients frequently ask: “My wife/husband does not want to file, if I do, is she/he required to file also?” Negative. Involuntary bankruptcy is provided for in the bankruptcy laws. It is a complex proceeding in which creditors band together to throw a corporation or individual into Chapter 7 bankruptcy so they can get [...]
bankruptcy in the united states
The bankruptcy trustee can sell assets you no longer own under his avoiding powers for the benefit of creditors. What, you say? If it isn’t mine, what rights do my creditors have in those assets? It all depends on how you parted with property as to whether bankruptcy law allows the trustee to recover the [...]
As a bankruptcy lawyer, I’m often contacted by folks who ask, “Should I marry someone who is about to file bankruptcy?” Understandably, they don’t want to be on the hook for the debts of their future spouse. But then there’s love. He makes her heart go thump thump. She’s desperately in love with him. She [...]
In bankruptcy, an Individual Retirement Account (IRA) is usually protected from creditors. But a controversy has been brewing over protection for an IRA when it is inherited from another person. This should not be controversial and the 8th Circuit‘s Bankruptcy Appellate Panel (BAP) doesn’t think it’s that complicated either. When you establish an IRA, you [...]
Bankruptcy and divorce go hand in hand. It may sound like a good way for divorced couples to end their joint bill problems. A prospective client recently posed the following question: I was divorced within the past year. While I was married, my ex-husband and I incurred over $50,000 in credit card debt. Some of [...]
