Bankruptcy

A Bankruptcy Decision Tree that Doesn't Branch!

By Joseph McDaniel, Esq.

And the legal issue is one that I have researched in the past, and I know that there are different positions in two other Circuits and that the 9th Circuit hasn't ruled on the matter.

And that depending on the different trustees that might be assigned to their case, the result might be different. Ditto depending on the lawyer that the trustee might hire to work the case.

Ditto depending on the U.S. Bankruptcy Judge in Arizona who might be assigned to the case.

So the answer to the half hour long mixed legal and fact question is often, "That depends."

Except that it doesn't.

Because the potential debtor has overwhelming debt, and inadequate income, and twelve lawsuits cooking (which they're gonna lose, because they owe the dough, and Judges aren't dumb).

So the filing is inevitable, and the result is going to be one thing, or another, or another, but the filing of the bankruptcy case is inevitable.

And the case is going to go one way, or another, but the important issue to the potential client is whether they're likely to get a discharge in their Chapter 7 bankruptcy, and whether there will be an objection from the panel trustee to their list of property claimed as exempt, and whether they will pass the means test, and whether a creditor will file a complaint.

And the rest is interesting, from an academic perspective.

But I'm a lot less hypothetical and a lot more practical in my old age than I was as a baby lawyer practicing bankruptcy law in Arizona.

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. NOTHING HERE MAY BE USED AS LEGAL ADVICE IN CONNECTION WITH ANY BANKRUPTCY, WHETHER THAT BANKRUPTCY IS IN PHOENIX, GLENDALE, TEMPE, MESA, SCOTTSDALE, OR ANYWHERE ELSE.

Full post as published by Arizona Bankruptcy Attorney Blog on June 03, 2010 (boomark / email).