Filing for bankruptcy is complicated and stressful. You may be confused about what you are asked, or the state of your finances. This may lead you to be inaccurate or not thorough. And rumors and misconceptions about bankruptcy lead people to hide assets and not be upfront with their attorneys. All of this can lead to huge problems down the road. Below are the five biggest mistakes bankruptcy filers make when they file for Chapter 7 or Chapter 13 bankruptcy.The post The Top 5 Mistakes Bankruptcy Filers Make appeared first on Tucson Bankruptcy Attorney.

The number of new cases through my doors is down, just like it is everywhere. But I’m staying busy.   Busier some days than I would like to be. I thought it might be fun to look at the change in the composition of my cases over the past two years. More complicated cases There don’t seem to be any simple cases anymore.  Debtors who have managed to avoid filing bankruptcy til this late in the Great Recession don’t lead simple lives.  Their issues are more complicated, the competing interests are stronger. Complex cases take more of my time and support a larger fee. Bankruptcy litigation I’ve just completed the liability phase of a nondischargeability case, defending a debtor from charges that his moonlighting in the same field as his employer created a non dischargeable debt. While bankruptcy litigation is down along with filings, there always seem to be more need for good bankruptcy trial lawyers than there is supply. There are certainly more discharge violations than are ever enforced for the benefit of our clients.  Go on, make that discharge mean something. Mortgage servicing complaints For all the attention that mortgage servicing has gotten lately, it doesn’t seem to have gotten any better.  I’m finding that in or out of bankruptcy, homeowners have issues with the servicing on their loans. And, praise be, we have some new tools to help homeowners in the beefed up procedures for getting information from the servicers. I’m just getting back the first wave of responses to my requests for information on behalf of clients.  It remains to be seen whether the fixes will be administrative or litigation driven. It’s clear to me that there is a need for accountability in the servicing world. Bankruptcy intersects family law The family law bar feeds me cases as fast as I can digest them.  Most families are fairly financially precarious when intact.  The same income can seldom support two separate households.  Bankruptcy can at least start the former spouses out with less economic baggage. Yesterday’s new case involved the rights of a family lawyer against the other spouse in that spouse’s bankruptcy case.  The family court awarded the lawyers a lien on the community’s share of a partnership holding a commercial building.  My task will be to figure out the extent which that lien is enforceable in a Chapter 7 case. Housekeeping deferred So far, my days have been busy without resorting to cleaning my office or updating my client handouts. How about you?  What’s keeping you busy?   Image courtesy of Flickr and John Haslam.

Starting an Individual Retirement Account, or IRA, is pretty easy. You can call a financial adviser, or even do it online. You can avoid paying tax on the money when you contribute it (in a traditional IRA) or when you withdraw it (in a Roth IRA). IR As are usually well-protected in bankruptcy, subject to some rules about when they were first funded and how recently. For instance, if you file for bankruptcy tomorrow, and last week you transferred $50,000 into the IRA, you may have problems. Talk to a bankruptcy lawyer before you transfer any assets and to determine when if at all you may plan to file a bankruptcy in the future. The good news as we mentioned is that IR As are broadly protected. The bad news is that a recent decision of the US Supreme Court tells courts that you cannot exempt an IRA you inherited from someone else (like a parent) through the traditional exemptions that protect your assets from creditors. The case that decided it, called Clark v. Rameker, came out of Wisconsin. The courts had a difficult time balancing what retirement and tax laws said versus what the bankruptcy laws say. There wasn’t a clear cut answer. But the Supreme Court has decided. So unless Congress (or the state legislatures) change the exemptions, we need to know if the IRA you may have was one you started or if you inherited it. That way we can best advise you. If you’re contemplating a bankruptcy and have a retirement account, don’t be surprised if we ask you for more details. The more information we have, the better we can assist you. Please call us at Lakelaw (847-249-9100 in Illinois, 262-694-7300 in Wisconsin) or visit our website at www.lakelaw.com to arrange a free consultation and discuss what assets can be protected from creditors in bankruptcy.

Chicago Bankruptcy Lawyer If you search for a Chicago bankruptcy lawyer, you are going to find a wide range of talent, fees, experience, demeanor and success. You will find everything from the entry-level attorney who is trying to help his first client all the way to the seasoned attorney who is closing in on retirement+ Read More The post All Chicago Bankruptcy Lawyers Are Not Created Equal! appeared first on David M. Siegel.

Recently I attended a CLE seminar in which the learned professor discoursed on the difference between a metaphor and a simile.   A metaphor is a statement which is not literally true but (for example, you never see a wolf actually wearing sheep's clothing) but conveys a truth through comparison.     This discussion came in handy when I came across the following pleading filed by Western District of Texas Trustee John Patrick Lowe who used Whistler's first nocturne as an extended metaphor for the disclosure provided to him in the case.  I provide the pleading for you in its entirety. Case Summary It's Whistler's first "nocturne", created in 1871 when he was only 37 years old.  The viewer is on the Battersea bank of the river Thames in London at night looking across to Chelsea on the other bank. A stylized barge is on the river. Lights on the far side of the river reflect across the river surface. And a figure, also stylized, appears on the near bank. An example of what Whistler called "art for art's sake". No lesson of any sort, religious, moral, ethical or otherwise, nothing informative, nothing historical.Only something created for the thrill of it. And for the thrill created in certain viewers. It's also an example of the manipulation of facts, the suppression of some facts and the enhancement of others. Suppressed were the range of a normal pallette, what with blue, blue, blue but with minor hints of black to distinguish outlines and yellow to depict the reflection of lights on the river Thames. A hundred years later and without the detail it could very well be a "Blue Rothko". Also suppressed were details, something which would enable the viewer to tell where we are, what time of day it is or what's we're looking at. None of the bustle or activity of the day. No buildings really. And one's sense of proportion is put off by the size of the figure in relation to the barge and to objects on the far bank. Enhanced were color, mood, atmosphere. The picture is nothing if not atmospheric.Paragraph 10 of the Debtor's Statement of Financial Affairs discloses her transfer of interests in real property in Orange and Tyler Counties, Texas to her daughters in May and August of 2012, less than two years prior to the commencement of the case.  Those statements and her testimony at the meetings of creditors were also an example  in the enhancement and suppression of facts. Suppressed were evidence of the value of the interests, the presence in the chains of title of, not necessarily oil and gas leases, but instruments disclosing oil and gas companies' intent to engage in seismic activity with respect to some of the interests, the brutal and extremely material fact that her daughters had peddled on most of what they'd acquired from their mother, the Debtor, shortly after having acquired those interests. Enhanced were her medical condition and the medical conditions of several family members, financial hardship, divorce and the so-called lack of any value to the interests, their extreme "sentimental value" to the family. The interests had been in the family for years and should stay in the family for years, the Trustee was told.The Trustee had to interpret these stylized facts; adjust his point of view; use his imagination. He discovered the facts which had been suppressed: oil and gas activity; real objective value attributable to the mineral estates; real objective value attributable to the surface estates; the lack of sentimental value as perceived by the Debtor's daughters; the recent resale of most of the interests for dramatically increased prices.  And ignored the facts which had been emphasized. And at the end of the day, the Trustee had settled the estate's claims to avoid the transfers and recover the transferred interests for an amount sufficient to pay all allowed creditors claims a 100% dividend plus post-petition interest.The Trustee's final report before distribution also proposes a small surplus distribution to the Debtor, her fee, as it were, for having created this beguiling work. Art for art's sake. Case No. 13-11741, Dkt. #25 (Bankr. W.D. Tex. 6/5/14).

Medical Debt There is no question that a chapter 7 bankruptcy case will eliminate medical debt. However, if you only have one debt, you may not need to file bankruptcy at all. This is all going to depend upon the aggressiveness of the debt collector as well as your tolerance for ongoing collection efforts. In+ Read More The post I Have One Huge Medical Debt. Is Bankruptcy The Answer? appeared first on David M. Siegel.

A common question that comes up when clients are considering chapter 7 bankruptcy is what impact bankruptcy will have on IR As and other retirement accounts. When we file your chapter 7 bankruptcy, we have the opportunity to use what are termed “exemptions” under the U.S. and Arizona bankruptcy laws. The post IR As and Bankruptcy appeared first on Tucson Bankruptcy Attorney.

Food and clothing in the bankruptcy means test One of my jobs as a bankruptcy lawyer is to make you look good on the bankruptcy means test. Here in Northern Virginia, I claim an extra 5% on your food and clothing allowance.  The bankruptcy means test law talks about that 5% in 11 USC 707(b)(2)(A)(ii)(l). […]The post Bankruptcy Means Test: 5% Additional for Food and Clothing by Robert Weed appeared first on Robert Weed.

Chicago Bankruptcy Trustee In certain circumstances a Chicago bankruptcy trustee can take your tax refund. It all depends however on the facts of the case. Let’s start with the chapter 7 situation. If you receive your tax refund prior to your chapter 7 bankruptcy case being filed and you exhaust that refund prior to the+ Read More The post Will The Chicago Bankruptcy Trustee Take My Tax Refund? appeared first on David M. Siegel.

A recent client came to see me many months back to talk about potentially filing for bankruptcy. He was not even thinking about a bankruptcy release at that time. This person knew that he had debt, but he was reluctant to file for some reason. Many people think that if they just keep avoiding lawsuits+ Read More The post Will Bankruptcy Release The Freeze On My Bank Account? appeared first on David M. Siegel.