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Bankruptcy

Arizona Bankruptcy Attorney Blog

The perspective of one Arizona Bankruptcy Attorney on insolvency during a depression.
By Joseph McDaniel, Esq.

Post Frequency: 2.4/day

Last Entry: March 31, 2011 at 10:42:02

Are You in Good Company when you File a Bankruptcy in Arizona

Posted on May 10, 2010
Are other folks filing bankruptcy cases under Chapter 7, 13, 11, and 12 during the depression that grips the United States?Well, yes. In huge, hockey-stick sorts of numbers. The Arizona Bankruptcy Court released numbers recently showing a huge spike in bankruptcy filings in the Phoenix Metro area...

The History of Bankruptcy in the United States for the last 100 Years, including The Chandler Act (Bankruptcy is my Middle Name!)

Posted on May 09, 2010
I ran into a nice article that discussed the increases in bankruptcy filings over the last 100 years or so. It's located here: http://www.stlouisfed.org/publications/br/articles/?id=563It has a particularly spiffy hocky-stick graph of bankruptcy filings over the last 100 years, and tries to correlate those filings with other events, like the greater availability of credit to the middle class over the last one hundred years...

So if Students Are Told, Don't Bother with Law School, Do You Think It's a Depression?

Posted on May 08, 2010
So there I am, reading the ABA Journal, like you do when you're a bankruptcy lawyer in Phoenix, Arizona, and I was not surprised to see experts telling kids, "Don't Go to Law School!" The idea is that kids coming out have huge debt, and little chance of paying it off...

Bankruptcy Options in Mesa, Phoenix, Scottdale, Chandler, Tempe, Paradise Valley and the rest of AZ

Posted on May 07, 2010
People live in hope. That's why the most common question I've gotten recently, whether by phone, email or in person, is "I was just thinking about bankruptcy. And I was wondering what my options were." Yeah, I know those are phrased as statements. "What are my bankruptcy options? What bankruptcy and non-bankruptcy options do I have?"I hope the grammarians are happy now...

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Free Bankruptcy Information for Chapter 7 Bankruptcy Cases, and Chapter 13, And Chapter 11, and Chapter 12 in Arizona!

Posted on May 06, 2010
Free is My Favorite Price. I expect its The Favorite Price of just about everybody else, as well.Hence this blog. As Shrinks say, "My love is free. My time will cost ya."But there are other sources of free online bankruptcy information for bankruptcy cases in Arizona, whether they're going to be filed in Mesa, or Scottsdale, or Glendale, Tempe, Phoenix, Chandler, or anyplace else in Arizona...

Really Free Credit Reports from the Big Three Prior to Your Bankruptcy! Free! My Favorite Price for Free Credit Reports!

Posted on May 05, 2010
Here's the deal: you only get to file your Chapter 7 every eight years these days; under the New Code when I started practicing bankruptcy law, the time period was shorter. All the more reason to get it right.So make sure you list all your creditors, because one of the questions you'll be asked at the first meeting, under penalty of perjury, is whether you listed all your creditors...

Please Don't Sell Non-Exempt Property AFTER the Filing of your Chapter 7!

Posted on May 05, 2010
It's not unusual for folks who are having money troubles to sell their stuff to raise a little extra dough. A yard sale sometimes happens, or a sale of a car, or the sale of the beloved Beanie Baby Collection, or even (in extreme cases) the video game collection...

Fresh Start? Well, There's Bankruptcy. And Mary Pickford, of all people, talks about a Fresh Start

Posted on May 04, 2010
Mary Pickford was an early incarnation of America's Sweetheart in the movies, and long enough ago in time that her movies were mostly silent films. But apparently she was a part-time movie star and full time philosopher, and she said some interesting things...

The Automatic Stay in a Bankruptcy Case: a Fundamental Debtor Protection, and More! 11 USC 362, That's the ticket! Bankruptcy Information, Arizona

Posted on May 03, 2010
The "automatic stay" of 11 USC 362 is a fundamental debtor protection. That's the part of the Bankruptcy Code that makes your phone stop ringing and lawsuits stop coming when you file a Chapter 7 or Chapter 13 bankruptcy in Arizona.It's a pretty complicated piece of legislation, and it's fundamentally different from the versions of stays which existed under the Bankruptcy Act (the version of the bankruptcy law that we had in the United States prior to what bankruptcy lawyers called the New Code prior to the 2005 Amendments...

Unemployment in Motion; No Wonder there are So Many Bankruptcy Cases in Maricopa County, and all over Arizona!

Posted on May 03, 2010
This is just downright scary.Here's a sort of animated map of unemployment rates.My take on it is that it's optimistic in terms of the actual numbers (I absolutely reject the official government statistics on unemployment; in my humble opinion, they're cooked to make 'em look less horrible than they really are)...

Bankruptcy is Not a Failure. It's a Fresh Start!

Posted on May 03, 2010
When I was done with my clerkship with Bankruptcy Judge Maggiore and then with Chief Bankruptcy Judge Caldwell, I started using the phrase "Bankruptcy is not a failure, it's a fresh start!"Today, of course, the same thing is true. On the other hand, many of the folks I talk to can't yet agree, because they haven't gone through the grieving process for their plans that just didn't work out...

The Five Stages of Grief in Bankruptcy Cases

Posted on May 03, 2010
People are often compelled to respond to the perceived loss of formerly valuable assets, and the shipwreck of their plans for retirement, before they are psychologically ready to do so. For instance, when a "good deal" on a house has long since faded away with eroding home prices, and a job has evaporated along with the economic depression that grips our country, many folks will just stay trapped in denial (bankruptcy lawyers sometimes call it "deer in the headlights syndrome") and keep making patently excessive payments that they can't afford out of the 401(k) that they shouldn't be spending until it's all gone...

No Homestead Joy in Arizona, No Matter Whether it's Mesa, Scottsdale, Tempe, Gilbert, Paradise Valley, Peoria, Glendale, Chandler, or Fountain Hills

Posted on April 28, 2010
Sure, OTHER states, including California, North Carolina and Wisconsin get big homestead increases! Because OTHER states like their debtors! But in Arizona?Nooooooooooooooooooooo! Not even in Mesa, for heaven's sake! Nor Scottsdale, nor Tempe! In fact, nowhere in Arizona do we get a cool increase in homestead amounts! I reprint an article below in its entirety, just so you can get the flavor of it:House rejects expansion of 'homestead' rightsHoward Fischer, Capitol Media ServicesMarch 16, 2010 - 5:29PMBankers have beaten back efforts to give Arizonans more protection from losing their homes in cases of bankruptcy...

No-name Cookies Vs. No-name Law Firms

Posted on April 27, 2010
Some things must have names. There was a guy named, I think, Amos. He made "Famous Amos Cookies", or some such product. He had to file a bankruptcy, and his name for the cookies, as a trademark, was valuable and non-exempt, and was sold to somebody who then produced cookies under the name Amos had previously used...

How to Find the Best Banruptcy Lawyer in Phoenix, or Scottsdale, Mesa, Glendale, Tempe or Avondale, or Anywhere Else in Arizona or Elsewhere!

Posted on April 25, 2010
Let's get this straight. No matter what anybody tells you, the process of filing for bankruptcy is not a picnic. It is not fun, it is a lot of work, and the only reason that most people file is that the complicated, burdensome process of bankruptcy is a better alternative for them than burning through their 401(k) in a futile attempt to make creditors love them...

Bankruptcy is my Middle Name!

Posted on April 19, 2010
Well, almost. My middle name is "Chandler".The Bankruptcy Code, in earlier years, was called "The Chandler Act of 1934".As they say on "Get Smart", missed it by that much!NOTHING HERE CONSTITUTES LEGAL ADVICE RE A CHAPTER 7, CHAPTER 13, CHAPTER 11, OR CHAPTER 12...

When Will I Be Free of Debt if I Make Payments On My Credit Cards? Should I File a Chapter 7 or 13 Bankruptcy in Arizona?

Posted on April 18, 2010
When people ask me about bankruptcy options and non-bankruptcy options, paying off the debt is always one of the options we discuss, although sometimes it gets little attention.Why?Well, if somebody wakes up, and can't remember what, where or how much he was drinking last night, and can't remember the names of the people he woke up beside in bed, and he asks himself, "I wonder if I might be an alcoholic", you know he probably is an alcoholic...

Charitable Contributions and Tithing Allowed Under the Means Test in Arizona Chapter 7 Cases (and in Chapter 13 Cases, for that matter!)

Posted on April 18, 2010
The Means Test is the limbo bar under which a debtor must pass (unless the debtor is one to whom the Means Test does not apply, or unless there are "special circumstances") in order to be permitted to maintain a case under Chapter 7 of the Bankruptcy Code...

What is the Means Test and What Does It Mean for a Prospective Chapter 7 Debtor in Arizona?

Posted on April 18, 2010
Fish don't spend a lot of time thinking about water; birds don't think much about air. So it is with Arizona bankruptcy attorneys. We swim in a sea of means test concerns, and thinking about the means test is a sort of constant background buzz. Therefore, it always comes as a slight shock to me when a prospective client asks me, "So what's this means test that you keep talking about?" See, there's this free online means test calculator linked to my blog, in the homework section...

What's a Rule 2004 Examination in an Arizona Chapter 7 Consumer Bankruptcy?

Posted on April 15, 2010
Most Chapter 7 cases (about 97%, I understand) are what are called "no asset" cases, which simply means that the only assets in the Chapter 7 Bankruptcy Estate are exempt, over-encumbered, or worthless. Then there are the other three per cent of cases, or "asset" cases...

"Can I Keep my Truck in my Chapter 7 Bankruptcy in Arizona? Because I Need It to Make a Living!" The Automobile Exemption in Arizona Ch 7 Bk

Posted on April 14, 2010
Yes, certainly; it's like my analysis of diamond rings. You can certainly keep your vehicle. The only question is whether and who and how much you have to pay for that privilege.There are two possible exemptions that can be piled onto vehicles in Arizona, but first understand that you're getting shot at from two directions in most cases...

Making Bankruptcy Videos Is a Learning Process: "What Are My Options", Takes I and II

Posted on April 11, 2010
So you think that building video blogs for your potential clients is easy, right?Well, first you need to cope with the camera angle, and then the lighting, and then forgetting the "Snowball" microphone, and then there's the dog barking at the bunnies eating the garden...

Moments of Clarity in Insolvency and Bankruptcy or Chapter 7 Bankruptcy as a Retirement Planning Tool

Posted on April 10, 2010
Alcoholics and gamblers and sex and drug addicts apparently live their lives at high speed with little concern for a longer time-horizon, and therapy and drugs are marginally helpful for them, and so many addicts destroy their lives with those tools. So it is with credit card addicts, and second mortgage addicts, and similar folks...

Sometimes the Evil Creditor who Sues You, or EVEN the IRS, can be Your Best Bankruptcy Buddy in a Chapter 7

Posted on April 09, 2010
The world is full of odd things. Bankruptcy law after the 2005 Amendments is even more odd than the real world. There are things your bankruptcy lawyer has to say ("I'm a debt relief agency. No, I'm not a human being. I'm a debt relief agency!") and there are things he can't say, even if he's ethically obligated to provide the best advice he's able to provide under his state ethical rules...

Eskimos Have 37 Words for "Snow"; Bankruptcy Lawyers have 87 Words for "Debt"

Posted on April 07, 2010
The environment in which people find themselves cause and permit people to make fine distinctions. I understand that some groups have more color words for the "green" portion of the spectrum than others. And famously, sociologists tell us that Eskimos have a lot more different words for snow than folks living in, say, Phoenix, Arizona, which is in a desert...

My first boring Bankruptcy Video Blog!

Posted on April 04, 2010
NOTHING HERE CONSTITUTES LEGAL ADVICE RE A CHAPTER 7, CHAPTER 13, CHAPTER 11, OR CHAPTER 12. FIND AN ARIZONA BANKRUPTCY LAWYER WHO IS BOARD CERTIFIED IN BANKRUPTCY LAW, AV RATED, AVVO 10 RATED, ON SUPERLAWYERS, OR JUST VERY EXPERIENCED AND A FORMER CHAIR OF SOME BANKRUPTCY SECTION OR COMMITTEE...

You Got Your Chapter 7 Bankruptcy Discharge! Congratulations! What's a Bankruptcy Discharge? Glad You Asked!

Posted on April 01, 2010
A discharge is a bit different in each of the multiple chapters of bankruptcy. That is, if you file a Chapter 7 Bankruptcy, you get your discharge, typically, about 100 days into the process, after you've filed the bankruptcy petition, IF you've gotten both of your consumer credit counseling thingies done and IF you showed up at the First Meeting of Creditors and IF you responded to The Trustee Letter by mailing the bankruptcy trustee the stuff she wanted...

Why is Tax Refund Season also Bankruptcy Season? And the Season of Dickens?

Posted on March 31, 2010
It's not obvious why people would wait to file a bankruptcy until they get a tax refund; except that's the way it usually works out.One of the reasons is that the tax refund is one of the ways people who are up against it pay for an Arizona bankruptcy lawyer, or a lawyer anywhere else...

Arizona Exemptions from The Bankruptcy Court for the District of Arizona; District of Arizona Bankruptcy Court Website is a Great Resource!

Posted on March 29, 2010
Frequent readers will recall that I really, really like the website of the District of Arizona Bankruptcy Court. I'm particularly fond of the fact that they took the trouble to post the Arizona Revised Statutes exemptions and several other exemptions in a fairly easy to read form for everybody to see; and I like it that the District of Arizona Bankruptcy Court gives a plug to Board Certified Bankruptcy Specialists!Sadly, it's not always easy to find, because it's hidden in one of the "frequently asked questions" on the District of Arizona Bankruptcy Court Website...

A Quick, Easy Way to Flunk the Chapter 7 Bankruptcy Means Test! While You Flunk the Regular Income Requirement of Chapter 13! TWO at Once!

Posted on March 26, 2010
I'm all for efficiency, and ease of use. So when you're trying to mess up your ability to file a Chapter 7 Bankruptcy, because you flunk the means test, I don't want you to have to work too hard. Some people have zero income from work, and should be ezee-peezie to file in a Chapter 7...

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