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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

Auctioning a Debtor's Dreams, Hopes, and Beanie Babies in Bankruptcy Cases

Posted on January 29, 2010
In Arizona, about once a month, there's a sale by the trustees of property that the trustee believes is not exempt in that trustee's Chapter 7 Bankruptcy cases. The trustees have slightly different ways of approaching the sales. The physical plant for the sales is Room 102 at the District of Arizona Bankruptcy Court, and it's an ordinary room with a phone in the middle of a folding table...

Bankruptcy debtors no longer say, "I really don't want to do this."

Posted on January 26, 2010
Over the course of the last thirty years or so of working in bankruptcy law, I've found goofy ways to amuse myself. One was waiting for my consumer clients (who are utterly different than my business clients) to say, "I really don't want to do this."Some took until the very last moment of the interview to get it out; and some said it before they said their names...

The Best Bankruptcy Lawyer in Arizona!

Posted on January 26, 2010
For what purpose?Lawyers are like golf clubs; there are clubs for sand, there are clubs for distance. There is no best club for every situation. There are lawyers I think of as the best in Arizona for specific purposes. There are clients I won't take for various reasons...

Will My Creditors Be Angry if I (fill in the blank)?

Posted on January 20, 2010
First, most of your creditors are gigantic institutional entities, and they have no emotions whatsoever.They do, however, like primitive organisms, have responses. When you don't pay creditors, they will, depending on the type of creditor and the stage of collections, either sue, garnish, foreclose, set up a debtor's exam, or write mean letters...

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What's a Good Result in a Chapter 7 Bankruptcy?

Posted on January 19, 2010
Well, that depends.Generally, what an Arizona bankruptcy lawyer wants to see in a case (at least, what I like to see) is a case in which the debtor (the "bankrupt") passes the means test, or is an exception to the means test, and gets to get rid of all the debt, and to keep all the assets...

Is Getting to Your Bankruptcy Discharge Heaven or Hell? Your Choice!

Posted on January 13, 2010
There's a move called Jacob's Ladder. The interesting part of the movie (which is one long hallucinatory flashback) has to do with a philosophical analysis that is delivered by Danny Aiello, quoting the 14th century Christian mystic Meister Eckhart:"Eckhart saw Hell too; he said: 'the only thing that burns in Hell is the part of you that won't let go of life, your memories, your attachments...

Filling Out the Dreaded Lists and Schedules!! Daaa-daaa-daaa-DUM!!!!!!!!!

Posted on January 10, 2010
This is designed to help my clients fill input information in their forms. This is not legal advice for somebody in New York, because the local rules, folkways, and practices, as well as the exemptions, are going to be different in New York. If you're not my client, for heaven's sake, don't read this and think you can be your own lawyer...

When Trustees Attack!

Posted on January 08, 2010
Over the course of the last thirty years, I've had the privilege of seeing more things than I would have expected when I was in law school.One is the occasional bankruptcy trustee manifesting extreme rudeness, prejudice, or ignorance. I've seen it about a dozen times...

Do Not Commit Suicide! IT'S ONLY MONEY!

Posted on January 06, 2010
Most people think money is pretty important. In fact, somebody said that money is like a sixth sense, without which we cannot make full use of the other five. Which is one way of looking at it.Another way that I've sometimes heard is this: I have an insurance policy, and the exclusionary period has run...

Why Am I Going to Build "The Talking Bankruptcy Blog?"

Posted on January 05, 2010
Some folks would prefer to get their information through their ears instead of through their eyes; that is, they'd prefer to listen rather than read.I can live with that. So for my potential clients who hate the idea of reading a lot of pages, but can live with clicking on my pretty, pretty picture (white hair, white beard and all), I'm going to talk into the camera and see how that works for them...

So Is the Depression Over, Bankruptcy Lawyer?

Posted on January 04, 2010
No.The depression is not over.I'll get back to you when it is, and I'll buy the Champagne. By the way, this depression is bad enough that even the French are buying less Champagne. Note that during the Great Depression, the then-government announced 32 times during the course of the depression that it was over...

The Means Test: Part 6,374

Posted on December 31, 2009
So when you're doing your first cut at the ball to determine whether you pass the means test, which is one of the ways to get into the doors of Paradise (labeled "Chapter 7", right above the pearly gates and just to the left of Saint Peter), consider a couple of items...

If You Want to Keep It, Make the Darn Payments!

Posted on December 31, 2009
There are many reasons I hate reaffirmations a lot. Here's one of the small ones. No matter how smart people are, if there's a little extra money in the bank at the end of the month, they don't usually see that as an emergency.So what about the situation where they know that they want to keep a car in their Chapter 7, and they know they have to stay current on the car, and the automatic deductions have stopped?And the automatic payments weren't being made, so the debtor just twiddles thumbs because, after all, there's money in the bank, right?Well, that ultimately turns into an emergency, when the discharge is entered, and the automatic stay relating to property of the debtor evaporates...

What Happens Next? Funny You Should Ask!

Posted on November 06, 2009
Once you've paid the retainer and filing fee, your next question is predictably going to be, "what happens next?"I know that because I've done this for thirty years or so.Well, the answer around my office is this! The first phase of your case is the "pre-filing" phase...

Now That I've Filed a Chapter 7 Bankruptcy, What Should I Expect to Happen?

Posted on September 17, 2009
Well, the first thing you should expect is some small amount of peace and quiet. Prior to the filing, you may have been getting a few love notes from creditors in the mail, or by way of their process servers, and phone calls telling you that your creditors miss their payments, deeply...

"Am I Going to Lose My House?" Only If You're Smart.

Posted on September 01, 2009
First, it's not your house. You get to live there until you can't pay the bank anymore and then you get kicked out; so the only way you stay is if you pay, or you find some funky government program that actually works for more than .000001% of the population...

What's an Abandonment in a Bankruptcy Case?

Posted on August 25, 2009
Getting an application or motion or notice of intent to abandon in the mail in your bankruptcy case shouldn't upset a debtor very much. It's mostly a remedy for the bankruptcy trustee, who doesn't want to have items on his plate, in his bankruptcy estate, that are worthless and burdensome...

You Ain't Seen Nothin' Yet

Posted on August 25, 2009
I recently talked to one of the nicest couples in the world. I sympathized with them that they had lost a lot that they had worked for here and saved during their life here in the United States. They told me that they had come from a Soviet Satellite country, and that at one point in their lives their entire life savings had been devalued...

Cleopatra, the Queen of Denial

Posted on August 23, 2009
There's a song that talks about the Queen of Denial, which is a gag; the idea is that the woman in the song is in denial, and her name is Cleopatra, and that's almost like "Cleopatra, the Queen of the Nile". Okay, you had to be there. But sometimes people are not emotionally ready to file bankruptcy cases, even if it would be the best thing for them from an economic point of view, and even if it's inevitable because their income has dropped to close to zero, and they have five million dollars in debt, and they have a cardboard box as their only non-clothing asset...

Is the Attorney Gag Provision of the 2005 Amendments to the Bankruptcy Code Unconstitutional?

Posted on August 20, 2009
I just read a very interesting article about a provision of the Bankruptcy Code that prevents the free flow of information to consumer bankruptcy clients. Here's the article, in a very good blog called Credit Slips. One of the things a bankruptcy lawyer is not permitted to advise a client to do is to incur new debt for any reason whatsoever...

Bulldogging a Pickup Truck in Bankruptcy Court

Posted on August 18, 2009
Back when I was digging ditches with my Philosophy Degree in the hot, hot summer sun in Arizona, I worked for Pancho Willis, one of the most intelligent men I've ever known. Pancho would only hire ditchdiggers with advanced degrees, so it was sort of an honor to get to dig his ditches; he hired me because even though I didn't have a Masters or Doctors degree, I had a degree in a subject he'd never been lectured about before...

How Quickly Can You Get My Bankruptcy Case Filed?

Posted on August 11, 2009
I often talk to nice people and then get a call from them some months or years later, and they want to know how quickly I can file for them. Well, I can file very quickly indeed. I've got this electronic button, see?But that's not the real question. The real question is, how quickly can a bankruptcy be filed so that risk in filing is minimized to a good extent, and a reasonably good result obtained for the client?For that question, the answer is simple: the client is the limiting factor...

FIRST you file Bankruptcy, THEN you get Married!

Posted on August 10, 2009
These things appear to go in cycles. I get five questions in this area, and then the issue goes away for a while. The relationship between bankruptcy and domestic relations law is messy and goofy because Bankruptcy is mostly a Federal thing, and divorce is mostly a State thing...

A Timeline for Your Bankruptcy Case; Usual Sequence of Events in A Chapter 7 Bankruptcy in Arizona

Posted on August 08, 2009
Prior to your bankruptcy, suffer and worry a lot. You will, no matter what, and all that suffering will make you feel better when the overwhelming load of debt goes away.If you can possibly help it, try to refrain from throwing away all of your life savings in the 401(K) prior to thinking about bankruptcy...

Filing Bankruptcy to Get a Job

Posted on August 07, 2009
Recently I've been retained by two folks for an unusual reason. Now, I'm an Arizona bankruptcy lawyer, and I've been a bankruptcy lawyer for about thirty years, so I've heard a lot of reasons for filing. But these folks were different. They weren't being sued...

Can I Donate My Car to the Church before I File my Chapter 7 Bankruptcy in Arizona?

Posted on August 04, 2009
That would be a "no".The adage in insolvency law is that you must be fair before you are generous. It surprises me, because I'm an Arizona bankruptcy lawyer, that so many people want to be generous, just prior to filing a bankruptcy case here in Phoenix...

Hey, Give Heidi a Break, Okay? Itemize your Furniture!

Posted on July 29, 2009
Here's the deal: when you fill out your forms online in our computerized system, there will come a point when you are finished, and you will hit "send".If you don't itemize your furniture (yes, I'm not kidding; here in Arizona, furniture is exempt up to a replacement value of $4,000 for a single, and $8,000 for a couple, BUT YOU HAVE TO ITEMIZE IT! REALLY!!)...

Getting Their Bench Broken; Landmarc Capital in Receivership in Arizona, Said to be Insolvent

Posted on July 27, 2009
The word "bankruptcy" comes from two Italian words, "banca rupta", meaning "broken bench". The phrase came about because moneylenders in Venice worked sitting on "banca" in the public square.I read an article about an Arizona company that was just declared insolvent by the State of Arizona, and couldn't help thinking that their bench was just broken...

Arizona Realtors: Does Your Commission Belong to You After You File A Chapter 7 Bankruptcy in Arizona?

Posted on July 25, 2009
Maybe, maybe not. The analytical framework is understood by most experienced Arizona bankruptcy lawyers, because a lot of our clients over the last three decades that we've worked have been realtors.Here's the Reader's Digest version of the story: maybe you get to keep the real estate commission you receive after you file your bankruptcy, and maybe you don't...

Reaffirmations: Threat or Menace? or Let Them Eat Steel!

Posted on July 23, 2009
We already know that I hate reaffirmations. They weren't required in the 9th Circuit prior to the passage of the evil 2005 Bankruptcy Amendments. Now, the option of staying current and retaining isn't a legal option, but it's a practical option in many cases...

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