Since 2005, debtors have been required to take a short credit counseling session before they file bankruptcy cases. Not taking the counseling session is grounds for having a bankruptcy case thrown out of court . . . not a good outcome, considering it costs $299 just to file, and having a dismissed case locks you [...]

We briefly interrupt your holiday preparations for breaking news — Massachusetts governor Deval Patrick has signed into law some of the biggest changes in the Massachusetts homestead exemption in many a year. When the new law takes effect in mid-March of 2011, it will no longer be necessary for every homeowner contemplating a bankruptcy case [...]

Following up on a previous post, now even the government agrees that mortgage servicers might not be on the side of the homeowners they collect monthly payments from. The Congressional Oversight Panel for the Troubled Asset Relief Program made public its findings yesterday. Companies that manage mortgage loans can profit from foreclosure-related fees and are [...]

Are the people who open up the envelope and cash your mortgage check each month out to get you? Could be, at least according to syndicated finance guru Suze Orman. Her point is that if you are asking for a loan modification, and they agree to arrange for a trial modification period, they could be [...]

Bloomberg is reporting that the number of homes in the United States that are “underwater,” that is, worth less than the amount owed on them is decreasing slightly. For the quarter ending September 30th, 22.5% of the homes with mortgages have negative equity. In the prior quarter, that figure was 23%. But what is causing [...]

Hit it big in the state lottery? Well we might see you in bankruptcy court in a few years anyway. Researchers have looked at whether winning the lottery in Florida prevented people from going bankrupt. Although winning big (from $50,000 to $150,000) helped stave off bankruptcy in the first couple of years, the odds of [...]

Debtors filing bankruptcy cases have two course requirements they must fulfill: they must take a credit counseling session before even filing a bankruptcy case, and then they must take a “financial management course” after filing in order to receive a discharge. Procrastinator’s delight: as of December 1, 2010, the deadline for finishing the financial management [...]

It isn’t everyday that a federal judge gets impeached, and it is certainly unusual for it to happen in part because of a bankruptcy filing. But yesterday the U.S. Senate ousted New Orleans judge G. Thomas Porteous from his lifetime position on the federal bench. One of the reasons why is that the judge was [...]

Can having a valid pre-nuptual agreement help you out if you later decide to file Chapter 13 bankruptcy? Maybe, but don’t count on it, at least in Massachusetts. There, one debtor pointed out that her pre-nup called for each spouse to pay their own debts during the marriage, and in particular, called for the wife [...]

Debtors with relatively high incomes who suddenly lose their job have some unique hurdles to clear if they need to consider bankruptcy. This is because the “means test” that calculates whether or not a debtor is eligible for a Chapter 7 discharge is a backwards-looking thing; all calculations are based on your earnings in the [...]