May 11, 2008

• Debtor Audits to Start Again - What Does This Mean?

  One of the least discussed changes brought about by the October, 2005 changes to the bankruptcy law was a provision that provides for "audits" of random cases.  When a case is audited, it is selected at random by the  United States trustee and the debtor and debtor's attorney are required to submit extensive documentary proof of information set out in the petition. (…)

January 2, 2008

• Financial Managment Course Requirement - Filing Deadline

  The bankruptcy law requires debtors to attend two educational courses.  The first requirement calls for a "debt management course" and must be completed prior to filing - your certificate of completion is your "ticket in" to the bankruptcy process. (…)

September 19, 2007

• Credit Card Balance Transfer Issues

  Back in April, I wrote a post about the issue of balance transfers and Chapter 7 bankruptcy.  In this post I note that balance transfers were dangerous because from the perspective of the new credit card issuer, the transfer was new debt.  In other words, if you have been carrying a $10,000 balance on your Discover account, for 5 years, and two weeks ago you transferred this balance to a new Citibank account to get a better interest rate,  that $10,000 debt is new debt as far as Citibank is concerned. (…)

August 11, 2007

• Can Bankruptcy Take Care of Outstanding Bad Checks?

  My colleague, Wendell Sherk, a bankruptcy lawyer in St. (…)

April 4, 2007

• What Are My Rights if I Loan Money to a Friend and the Friend Files Bankruptcy?

  If I loaned money to a friend who committed bank fraud (I had to wire the money within minutes of having received the call from the friend directly to the Bank's fraud recovery department) and that friend subsequently files Chapter 13, is it safe to assume that I have no recourse but to wait in line with other unsecured creditors? (…)

October 10, 2006

• Random Bankruptcy Case Audits Coming Soon

  Illinois bankruptcy attorney Mazyar Hedayat reminds us in his DuPage County Bankruptcy blog that random bankruptcy case audits will start on October 17, 2006.  October 17 is, of course, the one-year anniversary of the effective date of the BAPCA change to the nation's bankruptcy laws. (…)

July 30, 2006

• Credit Counseling Requirement of Bankruptcy Code Generally Viewed as a Waste of Time

  In a previous post, I had written about the harsh consequences (i.e. (…)

June 26, 2006

• Physician's Failure to Comply With State Malpractice Insurance Requirement Does Not Give Rise to Non-dischargeable Debt

  The 11th Circuit (Federal Courts in Georgia must abide by 11th Circuit precedent) recently issued an interesting decision denying the appeal of a malpractice victim in a bankruptcy petition filed by a Florida doctor, Dr. (…)