A bipartisan group of Representatives is planning to offer an amendment to the Wall Street reform bill being debated on December 9th that would allow bankruptcy judges to approve changes to mortgages on the family home. Currently, lenders are protected from plan terms that change the terms of loans secured by personal residences. Judges can […]
Should you pay the mortgage?
Homeowners should be walking away from underwater houses in droves, according to the analysis of University of Arizona law professor Brent White. And they shouldn’t feel guilty about it either. White’s argument is that until borrowers make clear headed economic, rather than emotional, decisions about paying for underwater houses, the banks will not be moved […]
Money management and the things we “deserve”
American Express radio commercials are touting a women’s money group, The Smart Cookies, who, we’re told, got control of their personal debt problems within two years. The five women they featured collectively owed $50,000, which seems small relative to the clients I see. But what set my teeth to grinding was one woman’s assurance that it […]
Thankful amid hard times
As families and well established businesses pour through my office, I remain thankful that our bankruptcy laws and societal mores provide an economic fresh start for those who have no reasonable hope of repairing their finances The process of filing bankruptcy is no more traumatic than the participant makes it; the lead up to admitting […]
Retirement contributions in Chapter 7
As befits a Moran, I got my Irish up at a 341 meeting when the UST’s representative announced that “we don’t allow retirement deductions on Schedule I”. Huh? Did she intend to utter fighting words? First point, as far as I could see, she wasn’t wearing a black robe, so the issue of “allowance” was […]
Medical bankruptcies not obvious
On the surface, my initial consult had a tax problem: years of unpaid income taxes. The salary was on the upper end of what I usually see. It was only after we talked at length that the story came out: the client had a mentally ill child and had drained retirement savings to pay for […]
Ending the debit card gotcha
Banks and credit unions collected nearly $24 billion last year in overdraft fees, the majority of them overdraft fees on debit cards, according to the Center for Responsible Lending. Once thought to be a convenient and safe alternative to credit cards, debit cards have been transformed to a bank profit center. Card holders are unwittingly […]
Chapter 13 debt limits double for couples
Each debtor in a Chapter 13 was entitled to debts within the debt ceilings for Chapter 13 eligibility according to a recent bankruptcy decision out of Kansas called Dana Werts. That effectively doubled the amount of debt a married couple could have and still meet the debt limits of Chapter 13. [Since this decision, Chapter 13 […]
Lenders slow to act following relief from stay
The automatic stay is the hallmark of bankruptcy, so when the judge lifts the stay to permit a lender to foreclose, we tend to think the curtain has come down on our client as homeowner. Well, maybe not, or at least, not yet. In some cases, the road to foreclosure seems to be a wandering […]
Lawyers ask “How does bankruptcy work?”
The good folks at the Collaborative Law gathering yesterday had the same questions that their clients have: when is the right time to file bankruptcy? what happens when you file? what does it do to (for?) your life? Collaborative Law, as I understand it, involves couples in a cooperative effort with a shared set of […]
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