Massachusetts bankruptcy cases increasingly require good service
Massachusetts bankruptcy attorneys trying to help clients mired in the mortgage mess of the last few years are increasingly turning their attention to the notion of good service. By this I don’t mean fawning over clients or judges, but simply sending (“serving” in legal lingo) important court papers to the right recipients. As a prime [...]
Bankruptcy law eases rules on keeping your car after you file
A very modest increase in the amount of equity in a car that a debtor can keep after filing a bankruptcy case went into effect in April, 2013. Previously, a single debtor claiming federal exemptions was allowed $3,450 in equity in a vehicle. With the cost-of-living increase that took effect on April 1st, that was [...]
What you can keep after bankruptcy just increased
A bit of good news just came in for anyone out there considering filing a bankruptcy case: As of April 1, 2013, the total amount of property that a debtor can “keep” after filing Chapter 7 bankruptcy increased to $12,725.00, an extra $750 over prior law. The increase is part of an every-three years tweaking [...]
Dionne Warwick filing highlights effectiveness of bankruptcy against taxes
Dionne Warwick has filed for bankruptcy. The 72 year old pop diva’s case was filed pretty far from San Jose — in the bankruptcy court in northern New Jersey. Big numbers always make big headlines in the financial pages, and Warwick’s has a whopper — $10 million dollars due for back taxes. Of this, $7 [...]
rules on sucessive bankruptcy discharges clarified
Massachusetts bankruptcy attorneys got an important clarification recently from U.S. Bankruptcy Court judge Melvin Hoffman on how much spacing there must be between bankruptcy cases for a debtor who wants a Chapter 13 discharge, but who has previously received a Chapter 7 discharge. This situation involves section 1328 (f) of the bankruptcy code, which bars [...]
Do you have to pay a Chapter 13 trustee ten percent?
When bankruptcy debtors file Chapter 13 cases, they have to pay a fee, or commission to the Chapter 13 trustee that administers their case. This is how the trustee gets paid. The commission is typically ten percent of the payments made through the plan. So if a debtor’s plan calls for a monthly payment of [...]
What happens when a check is outstanding at the time of a bankruptcy filing?
If a debtor files a bankruptcy case after having written checks on a personal account, but before they are cashed who gets to keep the money? This is a question that is being asked in the Henson case before the United States Court of Appeals in the Ninth Circuit, which has jurisdiction over the nation’s [...]
Battle over church’s bankruptcy underscores definition of payment on time
Bankruptcy litigation between Boston’s Charles Street AME Church and its principal creditor, OneUnited Bank is simmering past the boiling point according to news reports in the Boston Globe. The church filed a bankruptcy case earlier this year to avoid foreclosure on its historic building in the heart of Boston’s black community. In August, a lawyer [...]
What’s up with Massachusetts’ HomeCorps program?
The latest government program for easing out of the foreclosure mess — at least for Massachusetts residents — is called HomeCorps, and it is being run out of the Attorney General’s office, with the funds provided by the state’s share of settlement money from the big banks over their recent lending practices. HomeCorps got up [...]
What’s missing from the new Massachusetts foreclosure law
Massachusetts has another shiny new foreclosure prevention law on the books this month — the second new one in two years, but perhaps the biggest feature of this piece of legislation is what isn’t in it. Mandatory mediation for homeowners seeking mortgage modifications. Under the original proposal of the state Senate, before a residential foreclosure [...]
