The Federal Reserve and Government forecasters agree: the Great Recession is over. But not for millions of Americans whose homes remain underwater thanks to the sub-prime mortgage scandal. Nor is it over for the millions more who lost their jobs and have only been able to secure part-time work with less pay and no benefits.Read More
When you file for bankruptcy you sign sworn schedules that itemize your assets. If you fail to disclose in full or fail to update your asset summary, you risk a creditor objecting to discharge on the basis of fraud. Claims that arise after the bankruptcy filing like future lawsuits are also assets of the Estate....Read More
Freddie Mac and Freddie Mae made guideline changes to the prevailing short-sale guidelines that unified and clarified them. Those changes featured examples of eligible hardships that would permit homeowners to sell their homes even if they were then current on their mortgage. Ultimately that new guidelines enabled lenders and servicers to quickly and easily qualify...Read More
In June 2013 the US Supreme Court published an opinion arising from a dispute over the estate of Pierce Marshall - better known as the husband of Anna Nichole Smith. That case, Stern vs. Marshall, gave rise to a surprising decision; namely, that Bankruptcy Courts could not rule on the State-law aspects of a dispute...Read More
This piece from the Wall Street Journal’s Real Time Economics site answers the question with charts galore! The short answer comes in 3 parts: 1) For working people, 2013 was more of the same slow, jobless recovery; 2) For high net-worth individuals and corporations it was a bonanza; and; 3) The housing sector underwent a...Read More
Priority disputes can be played out in Bankruptcy court. Take the case of In re Jones, in which Chapter 11 Debtors owned several pieces of property encumbered with mortgages cross-collateralized with other property of the Estate. That's when the trouble started...Read More
What if a Debtor inherited an IRA? Would the inheritance be "exempt" as a retirement fund? In the 8th and 5th Circuit the answer appears to be yes; but in the 7th Circuit the answer is no. Read how In re Clark revealed a Circuit split that only the U.S. Supreme Court can resolve.Read More
Chances are that any equity you had in your home disappeared between 2008 and 2011 and hasn't been seen since. What will happen in 2013? One thing for sure though: if a write-down is not an option many people will find themselves looking to programs like HAMP and HARP to manage their payments, and others...Read More
Yes Virginia, it is possible to both discharge unsecured debts forever (Chapter 7) and strip down secondary mortgages (Chapter 13). But why would a Debtor file two cases when it's hard enough to put themselves through one? Read on and find out.Read More
Your customer or borrower has been paying like clockwork and you, the creditor or vendor, have been dispensing goods and services as promised. Then your customer starts to pay a little later, then later still. Why not? Times are tough. So you do the decent thing and take their payments without complaining. Next thing you...Read More
