Author Archives: doug

Who can make trouble for you in a Chapter 7 bankruptcy case?

By doug | Published: December 2, 2010

If you file a Chapter 7 bankruptcy case, are your creditors likely to object to it? Typically, the answer is no, although every bankruptcy attorney has war stories about the exceptions. And despite what you’d probably guess, objections are less likely to come from major credit card companies than they are from creditors whom you […]

Posted in Chapter 7 | Comments closed

Tax assessments are seldom good real estate valuations

By doug | Published: November 30, 2010

An always tricky area of bankruptcy law involves the method used to value a debtor’s real estate. Typically, one of the worst ways to justify the value of real estate is to just refer to the tax assessor’s valuation on a property tax bill. These values are notoriously out of date and often bear little […]

Posted in Real estate | Comments closed

Must a homeowner receive notice of a foreclosure sale?

By doug | Published: November 29, 2010

An interesting case brewing in the Bankruptcy Court in Worcester, Massachusetts raises an issue that you would (erroneously) think had been decided long ago: When a lender decides to hold a foreclosure sale, must the homeowner actually receive notice of the sale? Here’s what happened in the Bailey case: the homeowner sued Wells Fargo in […]

Posted in Foreclosure | Comments closed

Rangers emerge from bankruptcy court to capture American League pennant

By doug | Published: October 27, 2010

Baseball’s World Series starts tonight, featuring the American League champion Texas Rangers against San Francisco. We have been following the Rangers all summer, as they are the only North American sports franchise to emerge from bankruptcy protection recently. And emerge they did, winning the West Division and eliminating the Yankees for the pennant. It is […]

Posted in Just for fun | Comments closed

The Fed steps in to foreclosure / bankruptcy mess

By doug | Published: October 26, 2010

Complicating already roiled waters, the Federal Reserve yesterday got involved in the foreclosure fiasco, saying it will look into the accusations that mortgage lenders cut corners and used flawed documents to foreclose on homes. The Associated Press reports that Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke added weight to those efforts yesterday by saying the central bank […]

Posted in Bankruptcy News, Foreclosure | Comments closed

Tax refunds may not be so easy to get

By doug | Published: October 24, 2010

If you like to file your income taxes early and get your refund as soon as you can — via what’s called a refund anticipation loan, offered by many tax preparation services — you might not find it quite so easy to do come January. That’s because the IRS has informed tax preparers that it […]

Posted in Taxes | Comments closed

Debtor has trouble keeping vacation property in Mass. bankruptcy case

By doug | Published: October 21, 2010

A bankruptcy case heard in Boston this past summer might make it more difficult for Massachusetts debtors to hold on to vacation property if they are filing a Chapter 13 bankruptcy case. In the Turner case, bankruptcy judge William C. Hillman ruled that the married debtors couldn’t make $430 in monthly payments on thier hunting […]

Posted in Chapter 13 | Comments closed

Crystal Catherdral files for bankruptcy

By doug | Published: October 20, 2010

Hey, a bankruptcy lawyer would never be sad to hear about a new bankruptcy case, right? Not so, at least for me, for today brought the news that the Crystal Cathedral, the Garden Grove, Calif. megachurch founded by Rev. Robert Schuller, has filed for reorganization under Chapter 11 of the bankruptcy code. Rev. Schuller started […]

Posted in Bankruptcy News | Comments closed

Supreme Court to hear two bankruptcy cases

By doug | Published: October 20, 2010

It’s October, the time of year when the United States Supreme Court re-opens for business. The Court’s 2011 term will run through the end of June, and it is already known that two bankruptcy cases will be decided. More could be added to the docket as the term progresses. Because bankruptcy is a federal law, […]

Posted in Bankruptcy News, Chapter 13 | Comments closed

The life of a robo-signer

By doug | Published: October 20, 2010

I found this fascinating tidbit in an article by Alan Zibel on Bank of America’s continuing mortgage and foreclosure woes. A deposition released by the Florida attorney general’s office revealed that the office manager at a Florida law firm under investigation for fabricating foreclosure documents signed 1,000 files a day without reviewing them. The manager […]

Posted in Bankruptcy News, Foreclosure | Comments closed
Call now: (978) 975 - 2608