Do it yourself seems so industrious and self reliant. And we’ve been bombarded with books, speeches and courses on the evils of probate. So, I guess it should be no surprise when people try DIY schemes to both avoid probate and avoid lawyers who create probate-avoiding trusts. Yet they forget an unavoidable truth: the transfer […]
Locked Out Of Court: The Not-So-Fine-Print Arbitration Clause
Equifax and the CFPB have teamed up, sort of, to focus attention on consumer rights when dealing with huge consumer businesses. Equifax, alongside Wells Fargo of the millions of unauthorized bank accounts, want to limit their customers’ access to the legal system. Their boilerplate agreements prohibit customers banding together in class actions, and lock individual […]
3 Things Turn Off This Bankruptcy Lawyer
Looking to find a bankruptcy lawyer. Then you need to know what makes a good bankruptcy client. A good bankruptcy lawyer doesn’t waste time with some kinds of prospective clients. TThat’s because an experienced bankruptcy lawyer can see trouble from the start. So what would make a bankruptcy specialist turn down work? That is, other […]
Protect Your Credit After Equifax Security Breach
Half the US population may be affected by the hacking of credit reporting agency Equifax. I’m in that group along with 143 million other Americans. Stolen were names, addresses, dates of birth, and Social Security numbers. Some credit card numbers were also lifted. Everything an identity thief needs to ruin your financial life. Equifax is […]
All Star Soapbox Posts For 2017 – The Readers’ Favorites
We’re half way through the year here on the Bankruptcy Soapbox. Let’s take an All Star break and single out the best performing posts so far this year. Strikingly, the team is all veterans. Not a single post written in 2017 cracked the top ten. Nor did the two topics that animate me the most, […]
Bankruptcy Alphabet: Y is for Yoke
Y, in my Bankruptcy Alphabet, stands for Yoke. Debt is a yoke around the neck of a person. It keeps him harnessed to the weight of past financial decisions and, sometimes, to events over which he had no control. There are times in life when the right course is to put your shoulder to […]
How Will Bankruptcy Filers Retire?
Contributions to 401(k) retirement plans during a Chapter 13 are not forbidden, as claimed by a colleague. He paints with far too broad a brush. A better reading of the Parks decision by the 9th Circuit Bankruptcy Appellate Panel is narrower: The debtor cannot deduct from their income their on going contributions to a 401(k) […]
The Dozen Most Important Bankruptcy Posts Of 2016
Last week, I let readers pick their favorite new bankruptcy posts from 2016 . It was a good bunch. Now, it’s my turn. Here are the dozen new posts for this year that struck a chord with me. If there’s a theme, it’s the subject matter, rather than the style. Each post is on target on issues […]
Your Picks For The Best Of Bankruptcy Soapbox For 2016
Jumping the gun on year-end by a bit, I’ve gathered up the 10 most-read new posts on Bankruptcy Soapbox in 2016. Without need of an envelop, please, here they are, in reverse order: 10. Why The Gap Between Judges & Attorneys About Fees Most bankruptcy judges never walked a mile (or any distance) in the […]
Spotting The Mean In The Means Test
Just being a consumer is enough to put you on Congress’s bad side when it comes to bankruptcy. How do I know? I read the “reformed” bankruptcy code where the means test discrimination is blatant. Only those individuals whose debts are primarily consumer debts have to prove that they aren’t abusing the bankruptcy laws. The […]
