Author Archives: doug

Borders inches closer to bankruptcy liquidation of Methuen and Salem stores

By doug | Published: July 18, 2011

The Borders bookstore chain got a lot closer to bankruptcy liquidation over the weekend, as no bidders emerged by the bankruptcy court’s deadline. This probably means the eventual shuttering of the Methuen store at the Loop, and the mini-outlet in the Mall at Rockingham Park in Salem, N.H., due to the bankruptcy. There could be […]

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Last call for bankrupt Borders stores in Methuen, Salem, NH

By doug | Published: July 15, 2011

If you would like to see the bankrupt Borders bookstores in Methuen and Salem, N.H. remain open, you better put a bid in on them before Sunday night. As of now, it looks like the whole chain might be headed to a Chapter 7 liquidation sale, which would eventually close the Methuen and Salem stores […]

Posted in Bankruptcy News, Chapter 7 | Comments closed

Bankruptcy tips: cramming down a car

By doug | Published: July 13, 2011

If you are thinking of filing for bankruptcy, and still need basic transportation to get to work and tote your family, you could be helped by the notion of “cramming down a car.” Don’t worry; it’s nothing like the picture at left! Actually, its the car loan that you want to cram down, not the […]

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Student loans and bankruptcy: a sticky situation

By doug | Published: July 13, 2011

Recently I published an article over on AVVO about how debtors trying to get themselves out of student loans through a bankruptcy filing soon find themselves caught in a Catch-22 situation. You can read it here. It wasn’t always this way; up to the mid 1990’s, student loans were dischargeable in bankruptcy seven years after […]

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Presto, change-o! Converting a bankruptcy case

By doug | Published: July 12, 2011

When you file a bankruptcy case, the debtor must choose a particular chapter of the bankruptcy code (chapters 7, 11, 12 and 13 are the most common), and the rules of the chose chapter are then applied to the case. The initial choice of chapter is not forever binding, however. Indeed, debtors have a great […]

Posted in Chapter 13, Chapter 7, Practical tips | Comments closed

Bankruptcy court says MERS is alive and well and living in Massachusetts

By doug | Published: July 11, 2011

MERS is doing OK here in Massachusetts. Just in case you are not obsessed with the lingo of real-estate banking, MERS stands for Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems, Inc., a corporation whose sole business is filing mortgage documents at county registry of deeds nationwide. If you check your mortgage doen at the Northern Essex registry of […]

Posted in Bankruptcy News, Foreclosure | Comments closed

The different kinds of bankruptcy trustees

By doug | Published: July 8, 2011

Russell DeMott is a bankruptcy attorney in South Carolina, and he has posted a hilarious article on the internet outlining the differences between Chapter 7 bankruptcy trustees and Chapter 13 bankruptcy trustees. Attorney DeMott’s thesis is that Chapter 7 trustees act like voracious wolverines, chewing through all the debtors they come across in a desperate […]

Posted in Chapter 13, Chapter 7 | Comments closed

The first three questions at the bankruptcy meeting of creditors

By doug | Published: July 7, 2011

Many debtors are frightened the night before they have to attend the meeting of creditors in their bankruptcy case. (A few are frightened for months before, but that’s a story for another day). Most of this nervous energy is terribly misplaced. In the first place, “meeting of creditors” is usually a misnomer; “meeting with the […]

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Where to file your bankruptcy case

By doug | Published: July 6, 2011

It’s an old joke in the legal profession: A new lawyer armed with an expensive diploma still has find his way to the courthouse before he can start practicing any law. And if you are filing a bankruptcy case, you are in the same predicament. Bankruptcy cases are assigned to a division of the bankruptcy […]

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Super secret spontaneous mortgage relief?

By doug | Published: July 5, 2011

For several years now, the one thing the big banks have insisted on is that they are in no position to reduce the balances on underwater home mortgages. Now it turns out that some of them are in fact, very quietly doing just that. As reported by David Streitfeld in the New York Times and […]