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 […]
Why The Gap Between Judges & Attorneys Over Fees?
Very few bankruptcy judges ever represented average individuals in bankruptcy before they became judges. Fewer were sole practitioners,who must rely on the fees they earn and collect to stay in business. Those two factors seem to create the chasm between bench and bar over attorneys fees in consumer bankruptcy cases. This post starts from the […]
The Dr. Seuss Secret To Laws That Actually Work
The election is here. If you haven’t already, get out and vote. Put aside your excuses and your cynicism. Forget that democracy, at the detail level, hasn’t worked so well lately. In the big picture, voting, picking those who write the laws and those who administer them, is the essence of our freedom. Winston Churchill […]
The DOJ War On Chapter 13 Debtors
What’s wrong with the picture when United States Trustee is offended by Chapter 13 success? I heard a distressing story about the war against debtors recently. It seems a high rate of successful Chapter 13 plan completions triggered multi-day audit of the trustee by the United States Trustee. The UST likes to remind us that it […]
Foreclosure Looms But The Bank’s Numbers Don’t Add Up
The bank wants to foreclose on my client’s home. They claim he’s months behind. Only the numbers in their relief from stay papers filed in the bankruptcy don’t add up. The mortgage balance is one thing here, and other thing there. They file a declaration under penalty of perjury saying they have the note, followed within […]
Was Your Credit Score Trampled By Unwanted Wells Fargo Accounts
Fake Wells Fargo accounts opened without consent may adversely affect victims’ credit scores. Are you affected? Wells Fargo employees opened an estimated 500,000 unauthorized credit card accounts and more than 1 million deposit accounts. Your credit score is figured in part on new credit accounts and available credit. If you banked with Wells Fargo, […]
Costs of Incarcerated Kid Dischargeable in Bankruptcy
Bankruptcy “reform” a decade ago expanded protections for those owed family support. Any debt “in the nature of support” can’t be discharged in bankruptcy, regardless of to whom it’s owed. Orange County tried to ride that change in the law to make its claim against the mother of a kid in juvie survive her bankruptcy. Last week, the 9th Circuit […]
Who Gets To Choose Your Bankruptcy Chapter?
Does someone other than the debtor get to choose which chapter a bankruptcy case is filed under? Some seem to think so. There’s an ongoing tug of war in the courts between the bankruptcy establishment on one side and debtors and their lawyers on the other about whether a Chapter 13 that pays only the attorneys […]
The Realtor’s Guide To Home Sales In Bankruptcy
Sooner or later, every realtor will encounter a property involved in a bankruptcy case. Or a property that could escape foreclosure and sell, using bankruptcy. Bankruptcy’s a different world when it comes to real estate. It pays to know how to deal. Let’s walk through the principles and procedures involved when buying or selling real […]
