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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

NO, personal injury lawsuits or claims are NOT Exempt in the State of Arizona!

Posted on March 19, 2010
For reasons that escape me, people continue to believe what they want to believe. So here it is: if you file a Chapter 7 Bankruptcy case in Arizona, and you have an outstanding personal injury case that has not yet been resolved, you don't have that case anymore...

If I Make a Tiny Good-Faith Payment Every Single Month to my Credit Card Companies, They Can't Sue Me, Can They?

Posted on March 18, 2010
Yes, Virginia, they can sue you, even if you're make tiny payments to them every month. And they can sue you if you're sick, and out of work, and can't make any payments at all.They can be, in general, about as much in the way of being horse's patoots as they choose to be at any given time...

Communicating with Your Arizona Bankruptcy Lawyer in Phoenix, Mesa, Glendale, Tempe, or Anyplace Else!

Posted on March 18, 2010
One group of heroes has a saying: The difficult we do immediately, the impossible takes a little longer.And with lawyers, the difficult is fixing the problem; sometimes, it's impossible to make clients as happy as we'd like, every hour of every day.Recently my office got a phone call from an angry, distraught client who had hired us about three days before, and she said in the phone message that "You don't care enough to return my phone calls!"Sadly, of course, her calls had been returned multiple times, but she didn't pick up, because she thought it was a creditor, and my office couldn't leave her a message, because her phone mailbox was full...

Unequal Under the Law

Posted on March 17, 2010
Let's all agree on one thing: there's no requirement that bankruptcy law in the United States be fair, or even rational. The Supreme Court supports the right of Congress to produce stupid laws, not unconstitutional laws, and Congress accordingly produces as many stupid laws as it can...

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Is Bankruptcy the Right Choice for Me? What Options Should I Consider instead of Bankruptcy?

Posted on March 17, 2010
Let's talk.First, I have a little something I call the Joseph C. McDaniel Rule of Bankruptcy Inevitability. It goes kinda like this: if your unsecured debt (like credit cards and medical bills and breach of contract lawsuits) is equal to your net annual income, you're eventually gonna file, when you get tired and depressed enough, because the math doesn't work, and you can't pay off that debt with minimum payments...

Hiro Nakamura Should Be a Bankruptcy Lawyer

Posted on March 01, 2010
Hiro Nakamura is a character on the TV show Heroes who possesses the ability of space-time manipulation.Why should he be a bankruptcy lawyer?Because, as I indicated recently, I get emails that look a lot like this:"I've not had full time work for a year and a half...

PLEASE DON'T WAIT UNTIL ALL YOUR ASSETS ARE GONE BEFORE YOU TALK TO A BANKRUPTCY LAWYER IN ARIZONA, OR ANYWHERE ELSE!

Posted on February 27, 2010
Guys,There are some people who really, actually break my heart. They are the nice, sweet, hard-working people who make America the great Country that it is, and who spend their very last dollar trying to do the right thing.So stop it! Do not spend that last dollar! Do not beggar yourselves for credit card companies and banks that have already made money off of you for all your lives...

If You Were A Zillion Dollar Credit Card Company, Would You WANT to Drive People into my Office?

Posted on February 26, 2010
Traditionally, lawyers have exchanged a bottle of scotch or champagne with attorneys who referred them cases over the years. Or sent out baskets of fruit. Or cigars and blonds. Depended on the state.I'm torn. I am not happy with the behavior of credit card companies, but they're sending me so much business, I almost feel compelled to find out if they prefer gift baskets with fruit and chocolates or with nuts and gourmet coffee...

Can I Keep Money in my Bank Account So I Can Pay the Trustee for the Preference so he doesn't Sue Mom?

Posted on February 25, 2010
Nope!It makes sense that you'd want to do so, but you'll just lose that money to the trustee, because it's a non-exempt chunk of dough in a bank account on the instant of the Chapter 7 bankruptcy filing. So the trustee has an absolute right to have and grab and take it, for the benefit of creditors in your case...

The Stupidest Consumer Protection EVER? Cute Post by Another Bankruptcy Lawyer

Posted on February 25, 2010
Apparently, some other lawyers have also failed to see the benefits to consumers (or the humor) in the BARF Act. So I interrupt your normally scheduled blog to provide a rant from someone else, just for variation in rants.NOTHING HERE CONSTITUTES LEGAL ADVICE RE A CHAPTER 7, CHAPTER 13, CHAPTER 11, OR CHAPTER 12...

Why Do Credit Card Companies Call It a "Repricing Event" When They Increase Your Interest Rate by 30%?

Posted on February 24, 2010
Because non-consensual sex is too hard to spell.Sorry, I had to do it. A client told me this one today, and I'm still trying to get the coffee out of my keyboard.NOTHING HERE CONSTITUTES LEGAL ADVICE RE A CHAPTER 7, CHAPTER 13, CHAPTER 11, OR CHAPTER 12...

One Ring to Rule Them All, And In the Darkeness Bind Them!

Posted on February 24, 2010
Okay, wrong ring. But wedding and engagement rings continue to be issues in cases, and it may get a little worse over time before it gets better. But don't stop breathing; I have written two different blog entries about wedding rings, and this is just an update...

Am I an Arizona Bankruptcy Law Expert in Phoenix? Well, Let's Go to the Dictionary!

Posted on February 22, 2010
I heard this from a potential client this morning, and couldn't resist passing it on. You know what an expert is, right?Well, an "ex" is a has-been. And a "spurt" is just a drip under pressure. So I guess if the shoe fits....NOTHING HERE CONSTITUTES LEGAL ADVICE RE A CHAPTER 7, CHAPTER 13, CHAPTER 11, OR CHAPTER 12...

Unexpected Compassion in Bankruptcy Court. Vacating Reaffirmation Hearings on Cars!

Posted on February 22, 2010
I have written before that Bankruptcy Court is one of the few Courts in the United States where the Pity Pitch doesn't work very well. The reason is obvious. Everybody there has an excellent reason to make a Pity Pitch, and if everybody can make the same sort of argument, that specific argument will mean less to the people at whom it is directed...

Yet Another Way to Keep a Business in a Chapter 7 Bankruptcy Case

Posted on February 11, 2010
My guess is that this is going to provide more fodder for blogs than most topics, because there are a lot of different patterns in businesses.Let's do a quick recap; bankruptcy is critical to job-formation in the United States because entrepreneurs need to be able to learn their jobs, because no school teaches you how to be an entrepreneur...

Why Do I Ask Clients, "Is there Anything Else You Think I Ought to Know?"

Posted on February 11, 2010
A cleanup question is a useful tool. Remember that they call it the practice of law. There's a reason for that. You learn as you go. Every single day.About twenty-eight years ago a nice young man called me on the phone about a possible bankruptcy filing...

Why There Are No Jobs, But Plenty of Bankruptcy Cases to go Around!

Posted on February 09, 2010
Clients, you can skip this one; it's just an observation on the reasons that there are too few decent jobs to go around in the United States.And this isn't a blog about macro-economics, because I'm just a bankruptcy lawyer, and I'm not smart enough for all that theory...

Bankruptcy: The Most Important Job-Creation Tool

Posted on February 06, 2010
How do I get there?Simple.Jobs are created in the private sector, not the public (government) sector. If somebody has a government job, the money to pay for that position came from the private sector. No private sector at all, no jobs at all. Except under socialism and communism, and the problem with socialism, according to Margaret Thatcher, is that eventually you run out of other people's money...

Yes, this is still a recession; Unemployment is officially 9.7%; Bankruptcy cases will continue to increase

Posted on February 05, 2010
You heard it here first, folks. p.s. Wait until commercial real estate tanks.p.p.s. Wait until hyper-inflation hits. p.p.p.s. Maybe you think this makes me happy, because I'm a bankruptcy lawyer. And nothing could be further from the truth.NOTHING HERE CONSTITUTES LEGAL ADVICE RE A CHAPTER 7, CHAPTER 13, CHAPTER 11, OR CHAPTER 12...

What Happens When Only One Spouse Files a Bankruptcy?

Posted on February 05, 2010
It's never good to make waves in bankruptcy cases. The trustees are used to seeing a particular set of facts, and they are trained to be curious about non-standard sets of facts. So, for instance, when I was at a first meeting of creditors today in Casa Grande, I got to hear the filing spouse sputter when asked 1)WHY his wife didn't file, and 2)was his wife getting a tax refund, because if so, the trustee wanted it, even if the wife wasn't filing a bankruptcy, and 3)WHAT ASSETS did his wife own, even if she wasn't filing?You just KNOW that debtor will be sleeping on the couch for several decades after the trustee takes his wife's car and tax refund, and whatever else looks like fun, when his wife had told him she wanted nothing to do a bankruptcy...

Go Get 'Em, Tiger! Lawyer Sues: Unrelenting Calls on his Overdue Student Loans

Posted on February 05, 2010
This is a just for fun post. I always like to see somebody going after those folks who make a lot of phone calls. And student loan lenders are remarkably aggressive in collecting their money.The ABA Journal recently ran this article: A Seattle lawyer who says Sallie Mae harassed him with ?unrelenting? automated collection calls is suing for at least $500 in damages for each unwanted contact...

The Super-duper Money-Back Bankruptcy Guarantee!

Posted on February 04, 2010
Puh-leeeze!Generally, if something looks too good to be true, it is. I've talked a little about docu-prep services previously. But there's one step lower, or perhaps sideways, in the bankruptcy universe. That would be the online-computerized bankruptcy ...

What's Going to Happen to My Time-Share in my Chapter 7 Bankruptcy in Arizona?

Posted on February 04, 2010
As with most things, that depends. A time share is an asset. It's also not one of the assets listed as exempt under the laws of Arizona. But it's a funny kind of asset. Maybe it's not transferable under the terms of the contract. Maybe there's a transfer fee...

Keeping a Business in a Chapter 7 Bankruptcy in Arizona, Part II

Posted on February 03, 2010
This issue will provide a ton of sequels, because every small business situation is totally different. Kinda like snowflakes. Today's lesson, however, will be brief. In today's variation, the small business owner, still a haircutter, has a tiny sub S corporation, and owns 100% of the stock in that corporation...

Arizona Bankruptcy Judge Talks About Reaffirmations, Redemptions in Her Bankruptcy Cases in a Video Published on the Arizona Bankruptcy Court Website

Posted on February 03, 2010
Bankruptcy Judge Hollowell sits primarily in Tucson, so she presides over my cases less frequently than some other Arizona Bankruptcy Judges. But she's always been smart, even before she got the robes. She also gives a care about debtors moving through her Court, and she's generated a video discussing reaffirmation and redemption which is published on the Arizona Bankruptcy Court Website...

If You're Gonna Be a Bankrupt, Don't Be a Banker!

Posted on February 02, 2010
Ordinary people of all sorts just plain like to help. And during a depression, it's hard to resist when a family member wants a loan, or wants you to pay back a loan. Or asks you to park money in your account, because some creditor is chasing the relative or friend...

Document Preparation Services (Docu-preps) and Bankruptcy in Arizona

Posted on February 02, 2010
Here in Arizona there is no unauthorized practice of law statute. There are, therefore, document preparation services that will word-process wills, bankruptcy petitions and schedules, and divorce packages.The prices for those services will vary. The prices for word processing a bankruptcy package is apparently held to a ceiling of $200, because the docu-prep services are permitted to provide typing and clerical services, but not legal advice to a potential debtor...

Gambling and Bankruptcy

Posted on February 02, 2010
Every now and then somebody drops in and discusses how much they don't like themselves, because they just bet their way into the poorhouse. Even worse, I sometimes get a chance to talk to some poor devil who's dishonored a gambling marker from Las Vegas, and now has an ARREST WARRENT out for him, and is looking at the probability of being EXTRADITED to stand trial in Vegas for what they suggest is like passing a hot check (the Vegas view of dishonoring a gambling marker)...

How Can You file a Chapter 7 Bankruptcy and Keep Your Small Business?

Posted on February 02, 2010
Well, you can't. It's absolutely impossible. Except when you can.I'm going to write about this topic and start with the very smallest and simplest business, and work up to more complex and larger businesses.Our first example in this topic area is the haircutter/dog groomer...

Apparently, the Best Bankruptcy Lawyer in Phoenix, Arizona Doesn't Work at this Pre-Paid Legal Services Firm

Posted on January 31, 2010
So there I sat, like you do when you're a bankruptcy lawyer in Phoenix, Arizona, and this nice couple sat down.I said, "So how can I fix all your problems?" Because I always want to fix all their problems. And sometimes I can.She said, we were a little uncomfortable with the advice we got before, so we thought we'd shop bankruptcy lawyers...

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