Bankruptcy Law Network: Bankruptcy

Home -> Law Blog Directory -> Bankruptcy Blogs

OR PHONE (866) 635-1838 for Bankruptcy Help, (866) 635-6190 for Divorce,
(866) 635-2689 for Personal Injury or (866) 635-9402 for Criminal Defense

Find a Local Lawyer

Bankruptcy (866) 635-1838
Divorce (866) 635-6190
Personal Injury (866) 635-2689
Criminal Defense (866) 635-9402

Bankruptcy

Bankruptcy Law Network

Solution oriented information.

Post Frequency: 2.1/day

Last Entry: March 18, 2011 at 11:35:04

Another Debt Collector Charged With Illegally Posing as a County Clerk

Posted on November 19, 2010
An Oklahoma based payday lending firm operating under the names CASHMAX, Fed Cash, TOPCASH and Cash Service Center and owned by Patrick D. “Dylan” White found itself subject to a temporary restraining order issued by a Texas court earlier this month...

Residential Short Sale Can Be A Trap

Posted on November 17, 2010
Underwater loans and a difficult real estate market have made short sale of homes a popular alternative to bankruptcy or foreclosure. However, bankruptcy may be a better option than short sale. Homeowners, trying to do the ?right thing? are learning that no good deed goes unpunished...

Best Reason To File Bankruptcy

Posted on November 16, 2010
If you’re paying minimum payments on credit card debt and have nothing saved for retirement, you are my favorite candidate for bankruptcy. The most compelling reason to file bankruptcy is so you can spend money on retirement savings. If you want to be self sufficient and live even a moderately comfortable life in retirement, it [...

You can surrender your underwater house in full satisfaction of the first and second mortgages in Chapter 13 bankruptcy

Posted on November 16, 2010
Recently, Jonathan Ginsberg explained that second mortgage holders often pursue their unsecured claim after the first mortgage takes the house in foreclosure. In the wake of the largest meltdown of real estate in history, many homeowners are sitting on second mortgage time bombs...

To access this complete feed in the blog feed reader login or register for free.

2010 Bankruptcy Filings Up 14%

Posted on November 11, 2010
According to the 2010 Fiscal Year statistics from the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts, the number of bankruptcies filed between October 1, 2009 and September 30, 2010 increased from 1,402,816 to 1,596,355, an increase of 13.8%. Chapter 11 (business and large individual) filings decreased, from 14,745 to 14,191, a 3...

The Means Test

Posted on November 11, 2010
The means test is one of the first things that your attorney needs to prepare in order to file a consumer bankruptcy. The results of this process will tell you whether you qualify to file a Chapter 7. And it will tell you what your monthly payments would be if you were to file a [...

What Happens to my Second Mortgage Obligation if my First Mortgage Lender Forecloses?

Posted on November 10, 2010
I recently received the following question from a reader of my Atlanta bankruptcy law web site: I live in Georgia. If my 1st mortgage goes to foreclosure, what happens to my second mortgage? Here are my thoughts: if the holder of a first (or senior) mortgage forecloses, all junior mortgage liens are wiped out...

Mortgage Modifications Fail To Slow Foreclosure Rate

Posted on November 08, 2010
Proprietary mortgage modifications, not HAMP mortgage modifications, lead the way according to HOPE NOW Loan Mod statistics. 120,000 modifications have been done by the mortgage companies themselves, compared to only 27,840 HAMP mortgage modifications, compared to HAMP has been, and remains, a gigantic government failure...

Chapter 13 Minimum Payment.

Posted on November 07, 2010
A minimum payment in a Chapter 13 Bankruptcy will vary from district to district depending on the local rules. However, the minimum payment must cover what you must pay within the applicable commitment period. Like many things in the law that answer to that question is ” it depends...

Student Loans Not Discharged Due to Boyfriend?s Income and Voluntary Underemployment

Posted on November 06, 2010
Below poverty level income for five of the past six years was no basis for discharging a chapter 7 debtor’s student loans, where she was voluntarily underemployed, had no dependents, and lived with her boyfriend, relying on his income as if they were married, according to the Bankruptcy Appellate Panel for the Eighth Circuit...

Profit and Loss Statements for Bankruptcy

Posted on November 03, 2010
If you?re running a business, filing bankruptcy involves preparing a profit and loss statement. While this subject isn?t terribly interesting or sexy, it?s critically important to preparing accurate information for your bankruptcy lawyer. What?s a Profit & Loss Statement? Relax! This isn?t algebra or calculus...

Debt Collector Scam Reaches New Low: The Unicredit Bogus ?Courtroom? Scam

Posted on November 02, 2010
It isn’t easy for consumers to protect themselves these days, from robo-signers, foreclosure-rescue scams, and all manner of abusive collection tactics, but the Unicredit scam may take the prize for sheer audacity. It seems that Erie, Pennsylvania debt collection agency Unicredit not only set up a fake courtroom, complete with phony judge, with which to [...

New Median Family Income Numbers For Bankruptcy Effective November 1, 2010

Posted on November 01, 2010
The new median family income numbers used for determining whether a debtor can file a Chapter 7 bankruptcy went into effect today, November 1, 2010. The numbers are provided by the U.S. Census Bureau. The means test was one of the major changes that occurred as part of Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act (BAPCPA) [...

Protect Your Home in Bankruptcy, Not Just its Dollar Amount

Posted on November 01, 2010
You want to protect all of your home, car, or other non-cash asset but exemptions are limited to fixed dollar amounts. The Supreme Court says you can. Exemptions are stated in fixed dollar amounts. Protecting your home can be difficult because it is hard to value...

How To Modify Your Chapter 13 Plan After Confirmation

Posted on October 31, 2010
You filed for Chapter 13 bankruptcy. Your Plan finally got confirmed, and you’ve been cruising along blissfully ever since. But what happens if there’s a bump in the road and you need to change course midway through your case? Your Chapter 13 Plan is a living, breathing instrument...

Middle Class Bankruptcy: Unbundling Legal Services ? Part Two

Posted on October 31, 2010
I return to this series (for the patient among you) on unbundling legal services because I believe the bankruptcy court system will incorporate more of its principles into the day to day practice of bankruptcy law, and the maxim regarding unintended consequences will come increasingly to bear...

Bankruptcy Is Not Failure ? It?s Financial Planning

Posted on October 29, 2010
As a consumer bankruptcy attorney who has spent the better part of the last 15 years counseling individuals contemplating bankruptcy, I can tell you that one of the things I see on a daily basis is the lack of financial planning from individuals. I don’t want to sound mean or as if I am putting [...

FTC Issues New Rule Applicable To Debt Relief Companies

Posted on October 29, 2010
Just watch television for a short amount of time and you will see several commercials promising to rid you of credit card debt. Are these sales pitches scams? We at Bankruptcy Law Network have blogged extensively (click here, here, and here) about these types of companies...

Alternatives to Bankruptcy

Posted on October 26, 2010
Most people would like to avoid bankruptcy if they can. Sometimes alternatives are worth trying, but it pays to know the risks. A good bankruptcy lawyer never pushes someone into bankruptcy but, instead, lays out the options and lets the individual decide...

Identity Theft: Another ?Somebody Done Somebody Wrong? Song in Bankruptcy Court

Posted on October 26, 2010
Identity theft. Folks worry about it all the time. Most times, folks worry about credit card numbers being stolen, accounts “hacked”, accounts opened under your name without permission. There are procedures that can be followed when a person discovers their identity has been stolen...

BAPCPA Encourages Divorce

Posted on October 25, 2010
The “family-friendly” Congress elected in 2004 did an odd thing in 2005 when they passed BAPCPA. In the process of ignoring how the American family has evolved since “Father Knows Best” was a television mainstay, they encouraged the break-up of the indebted family...

Foreclosure Freeze Reported To Harm Security Clearance

Posted on October 22, 2010
Foreclosures have been frozen as lenders are purportedly investigating problems with mortgage documents. I wrote an article last week Foreclosures Stopped by Bank of America: Not Always Good News outlining some of the problems that people may run into with the freeze...

It?s the Trial, Stupid: Why Banks Robo-Sign Documents.

Posted on October 20, 2010
Banks do not want to go to trial in mortgage foreclosure cases. Judges and the Wall Street Journal still do not get it. Banks want to avoid trial because trial shines a light on the facts of a case. When you want to see what’s buried in the back yard you grab a shovel and [...

Crystal Cathedral Ministries announces plans to file for bankruptcy protection

Posted on October 19, 2010
Crystal Cathedral Ministries in California (best known for its “Hour of Power“) announced yesterday that it is seeking the protection of Chapter 11 bankruptcy to protect it from its creditors. The Ministry had been struggling to pay its debt for awhile...

Texas AG signs Agreement with Wells Fargo Giving Some Mortgage Relief

Posted on October 19, 2010
Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott and seven other states (Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Nevada, New Jersey and Washington) entered into an agreement with Wells Fargo on October 5, 2010 which will provide $5 million in relief to more than 200 Texas homeowners who had payment option (pick-a-pay) adjustable rate mortgage loans with Wells Fargo...

Mom Says Don?t Forget to Propose a Reasonable Chapter 13 Plan

Posted on October 19, 2010
Every bankruptcy attorney knows that the process can put tremendous strain on family relationships. But a recent South Carolina case demonstrates that bankruptcy coupled with an unreasonable chapter 13 plan can also bring a family together, although probably not in the way the husband and wife debtors had in mind...

Stripping Second Mortgages in Chapter 13: Minnesota Court Says ?No?

Posted on October 18, 2010
Bankruptcy lawyers across the country have assumed for years that “stripping” completely unsecured second mortgages on homestead real estate was accepted as fact, at least in chapter 13 cases. A minority of courts have even allowed this to be done recently in chapter 7 cases...

Why Hasn?t Obama Supported Judicial Modification?

Posted on October 18, 2010
Modification of home loans in bankruptcy was promised by candidate Obama before his election as President. Current bankruptcy law prohibits modification of a loan secured against the debtor?s principal residence. The idea was simple, if bankruptcy judges were allowed to adjust the balance due and payment terms of home loans in Chapter 13 cases, many [...

The ?New? Bankruptcy Law 5 Years Old

Posted on October 17, 2010
Bankruptcy attorneys across the country are taking note that we just passed the five year anniversary of the 2005 law changes, known to some as the New Bankruptcy Law, and to others as BAPCPA which stands for Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act...

Planning for Bankruptcy Saves you Money

Posted on October 15, 2010
Good planning for bankruptcy can save you money. Bad bankruptcy planning is fraud. Check out this post and this one too. Good bankruptcy planning can prepare you for your future. Bad bankruptcy planning can send you to jail. And no bankruptcy planning is almost as bad as bad bankruptcy planning...

Previous | Next

Related Law Bulletins

Developments in Portland and Spokane Catholic Church Bankruptcy Cases
On April 17, U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Elizabeth Perris formally appro...