From the Editor – Surrender and Vesting

Community property works differently in bankruptcy. I probably don’t have to tell you that. On the issue of assets and debts, community property is pretty straightforward. All of the community property comes into the estate upon the commencement of a bankruptcy case, even when only one spouse files. §541(a)(2). Every creditor with a right to be paid from the community can file a claim, regardless of which spouse incurred the debt. §101(7). So creditors of the nonfiling spouse are proper claimants in the filing spouse’s bankruptcy case. If the bankruptcy estate contains separate property as well, §726 creates a distribution scheme that segregates community assets from separate property assets in paying community and non community debts. So far pretty straightforward. Right?

Come to NACTT in New York City for discussion of this opinion and other tax sale issues.

Tired of eating fees at the end of a Chapter 13 when the debtor/client gets a discharge and you get to write off the time you spent in excess of the approved fee? Meet the Bingham Provision!

An ordinary title for a very NON-ordinary article! A computer program which will accurately predict whether a borrower will default and relief extended based on the data. WHAAAT???

“I tend to believe that . . . attorneys are worried about . . . office looks like, key word/website optimization and the like. As a result, consumer bankruptcy attorneys fail to focus on referral sources. . . . Before costs, he or she needs to worry about a steady stream of paying clients.” See also: Personal Injury Attorney’s Duty of Reasonable Inquiry of a Client’s Bankruptcy This is a free resource you can share when contacting PI attorneys for referrals.

“We often first encounter prospective clients when a creditor has posed a threat to take something from them, here and now.” But what about six months from now? A year? What does the stress do over time?