Sunday, June 26, 2011
Coverting from A Chapter 13 to a Chapter 7: Is it an "Absolute Right?"
There are few absolute rights in bankruptcy cases these days, whether the case is a Chapter 7 or a Chapter 13!
Thursday, June 16, 2011
Here's a Favor I Want You to Do For Me, So I Can Help You
There's something I want you to do for me. It's really a favor for you, but you're more likely to do it if I ask you nicely.
And I want you to do it so I can help you!
And no, that's not like the phrase: "I'm from the Government, and I'm here to help you!"
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
Another Bankruptcy Myth in Arizona!
There are a lot of bankruptcy myths, and at some point I'll make a collection of them. Here's a discussion of one of the most common! This myth has application to both Chapter 7 Bankruptcy Cases and Chapter 13 Bankruptcy Cases in Arizona.
Sunday, June 5, 2011
Here Is Another Helping of Favorite Bankruptcy Articles from this Week and my Other Bankruptcy Blog!
Most Popular Posts of the Week!
- Here's the deal: when you fill out your forms online in our computerized system, there will come a point when you are finished, and you will...
- Prior to your bankruptcy, suffer and worry a lot. You will, no matter what, and all that suffering will make you feel better when the overwh...
- Good advice from Pamela Yip . My favorite line from the article? "The ideal situation for retirement is to enter it debt-free." And eas...
- Has anybody else tried to post a pdf on a blog, whether it's an Arizona Bankruptcy Blog, or anyplace else? For a simple back-country Arizo...
- That depends. Have you noticed that things all happen in clusters, influenced apparently by sunspots? I got three calls this month from ...
- One thing about people in the United States: even though we're knee-deep in a depression, with bankruptcy cases to the right of us and the l...
- I previously blogged about the wedding ring issue , but I'm going to try it again, and this time I'll try to make it more direct. 1)You wi...
- This is designed to help my clients fill information into their forms. This is not legal advice for somebody in New York, or anybody else, b...
- Is this the real #1 mistake that people make about bankruptcy in AZ? Well, yeah, I think it probably is the single worst common bankruptcy...
- This is a post from a new blog I've started. It has one purpose in mind: it's designed to help folks who have small businesses bring in more...
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Wednesday, June 1, 2011
Here's a New Bankruptcy Blog for Your Reading and Viewing Enjoyment!
Here's a new Arizona Bankruptcy Blog. I like it partly because it's very easy to change the way that information about bankruptcy, both consumer and business, is presented there.
So come visit my new bankruptcy blog, and enjoy yourselves!
So come visit my new bankruptcy blog, and enjoy yourselves!
Saturday, May 28, 2011
Bankruptcy Videos? Well, Yeah, I Have a Few Bankruptcy Videos!
Feel free to go on over to my other site that's full of bankruptcy videos!
The First Meeting of Creditors in Your Bankruptcy Case is Scary, but It Doesn't Really Need to Be.
If you know what's going to happen at your First Meeting of Creditors, then it doesn't have to be all that scary, right?
Mind you, there are additional questions in a Chapter 13 First Meeting, or a Chapter 11 or Chapter 12 Bankruptcy in Arizona. And you don't ever have to worry about a Chapter 9 Bankruptcy.
So watch and enjoy, and I hope your blood pressure goes down a bit.
Friday, May 27, 2011
Why Is it a Good Idea to Pass the Means Test?
And there is a reason to pass the means test, in living color!
Passing the means test isn't always easy; in fact, just calculating the means test analysis is a little like doing your taxes!
But it gives you useful information!
Thursday, May 26, 2011
Before You File a Chapter 13 Bankruptcy in Arizona, Don't You think You Ought To Have a Reason to File?
There are still a few good reasons to file a Chapter 13 Bankruptcy Case after the 2005 Amendments to the Bankruptcy Code.
But there are only a few.
No Superdischarge, right? And you won't be modifying the first mortgage, right?
And you'll be paying through the nose for up to five years, right?
Now, I've filed either hundreds or thousands of Chapter 13 Cases, back when they were a good idea (hey, we used to have $1.00 total payment Chapter 13 Plans in the Good Old Days!), but these days, you'll need to explain to me in words of few syllables why you think you need a Chapter 13 Case instead of a Chapter 7 Case.
And don't get me wrong; a Chapter 13 is a perfectly good solution.
But only in a very few circumstances.
Yes, You List Even Charged Off Debts. Because Charged Off Doesn't Mean that the Debt Has Vanished.
Sometimes when I talk to people about bankruptcy, they tell me that they wonder if they really need to list a particular debt, because the entire six hundred thousand dollars in debt shows on their credit report as "Charged Off".
Whether it's six thousand, or six million dollars in debt, the analysis is the same: Charged Off doesn't mean very much at all to you or your bankruptcy.
It is an internal bank accounting term, and means a good deal to the bank as to how much it can lend.
But it means very little to you!
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
Sometimes You Feel Like a Chapter 13 Bankruptcy, and Sometimes You Don't!
While I've filed either hundreds or thousands of Chapter 13 Cases for my clients in Arizona (it's hard to keep track after thirty years), I don't love them nearly as much as I used to love them.
Why?
Well, Chapter 13 Cases don't have a "Superdischarge" anymore.
And that makes me sad.
And the amount of dough squeezed out of folks over the life of the Chapter 13 Plan seems far too large to me, these days.
But the "big advantage" of a Chapter 13, that it permits stripdowns of second and third mortgages, doesn't seem like a very big advantage to me.
That's because this year, instead of the usual 100,000 mortgage foreclosures and trustee's sales we usually have in the United States, we'll have more like 1.4 million.
That means (in my humble opinion) that when I strip down liens for a Chapter 13 Client, I may not be doing them any favor at all. Because when the second lien and third mortgage are stripped, finally, FIVE LONG YEARS down the road, the value of the house may well be far lower than the FIRST mortgage.
Get it?
And if I can avoid harming you, I'd rather avoid harming you.
Saturday, May 21, 2011
Top Ten EVER Arizona Bankruptcy Lawyer Blogposts!
Have a great weekend!
All Time Most Popular Bankruptcy Posts
- There are some questions that come up with great frequency. I've posted blog entries to address some of those, and the most frequently asked...
- This is designed to help my clients fill information into their forms. This is not legal advice for somebody in New York, or anybody else, b...
- Here's the deal: when you fill out your forms online in our computerized system, there will come a point when you are finished, and you will...
- Well, that depends. First, you have to sort of understand the process, and fill out the forms, and go over the forms to make sure they're ...
- Prior to your bankruptcy, suffer and worry a lot. You will, no matter what, and all that suffering will make you feel better when the overwh...
- I built a list a lot like this 30 years ago, so when I came back from a gigantic lunch I wouldn't forget to ask about important stuff. See...
- This is a post from a new blog I've started. It has one purpose in mind: it's designed to help folks who have small businesses bring in more...
- The first meeting of creditors may be the only hearing in a Consumer Chapter 7 Bankruptcy Case. Here's a video that explains it, and after...
- There's an old joke among lawyers: a bankruptcy attorney walks into a cocktail party, and the divorce lawyer asks, "How does a bankruptcy la...
What Happens in a Chapter 7 Bankruptcy if I Own a Business?
There are some small business Chapter 13 Cases, and sometimes those work well, although they take a long time to complete (three to five years).
There are cases in which a small business can be purchased back from the Chapter 7 Trustee; the advantage there is that it's a one-time transaction, and that's pretty fast.
Here I am, discussing the edges of that topic.
There are cases in which a small business can be purchased back from the Chapter 7 Trustee; the advantage there is that it's a one-time transaction, and that's pretty fast.
Here I am, discussing the edges of that topic.
Thursday, May 19, 2011
This Week's Top Ten Bankruptcy Articles from My Other AZ Bankruptcy Attorney Blog!
Every week, we have new bankruptcy attorney article winners! Here they are for this week!
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
My Other Chapter 7 Bankruptcy Blog, and My Other Chapter 13 Bankruptcy Blog
It always surprises me when a little orphan blog becomes a star on the internet.
But this little blogspot blog somehow started getting a lot of pageviews recently, and I thought that was interesting, and it also struck me that I ought to give you more to read if you were nice enough to drop over for a chat!
So here's a new Chapter 7 Bankruptcy Blog that Justia built for me, and here's a new Chapter 13 Bankruptcy Blog that Justia also built for me, and here's my old workhorse of a Blogger Bankruptcy Blog, which will be getting a facelift sometime soon.
When I get a Round Tuit.
Have a great day!
But this little blogspot blog somehow started getting a lot of pageviews recently, and I thought that was interesting, and it also struck me that I ought to give you more to read if you were nice enough to drop over for a chat!
So here's a new Chapter 7 Bankruptcy Blog that Justia built for me, and here's a new Chapter 13 Bankruptcy Blog that Justia also built for me, and here's my old workhorse of a Blogger Bankruptcy Blog, which will be getting a facelift sometime soon.
When I get a Round Tuit.
Have a great day!
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
Top Ten Bankruptcy Articles this week from My OTHER Bankruptcy Blog!
I have more than one bankruptcy blog, because I want to see which approach to explaining a difficult subject works best.
Here are the top ten articles (chosen by reader popularity) from my other bankruptcy blog!
Here are the top ten articles (chosen by reader popularity) from my other bankruptcy blog!
Top Ten Bankruptcy Articles of the Week!
- An article at KTAR.com asks the question, do rising gas prices threaten the recovery? It's a very nice article by reporters Sandra Haros ...
- This is designed to help my clients fill information into their forms. This is not legal advice for somebody in New York, or anybody else, b...
- There is little sense of humor these days as to bankruptcy fraud. The indictments don't take long. Even if you're a former County Offici...
- You won't believe this. I know a lot of poor, starving lawyers who are going to go back to school to learn this job !
- It's one thing when a bank sends you a letter that says it's going to "charge-off" your debt (note: you'll still get sued for it, eventually...
- Has anybody else tried to post a pdf on a blog, whether it's an Arizona Bankruptcy Blog, or anyplace else? For a simple back-country Arizo...
- I've seen Airline Chapter 11 Cases, up close and personal. They tend to be very large, and they're fairly high-impact cases, because they'...
- If you go to THELAW.TV , you get to watch a lot of bankruptcy videos. And they have this to recommend them: they're short!
- I was recently shocked by an implication in an article in the West Virginia Record. The lead sentence was "Though wanting custody of her ...
- Good advice from Pamela Yip . My favorite line from the article? "The ideal situation for retirement is to enter it debt-free." And eas...
Saturday, January 8, 2011
Trying to Make Sense of Bankruptcy in Arizona: Chapter 7 and Chapter 13
Making Bankruptcy Simple in Arizona
Now, just so you know, I've been working to make bankruptcy simple for my clients for about thirty years.It's not as easy as you might think.
While at some levels, bankruptcy is simple, at some levels it's...not. Not very simple at all.
Because while I can say that bankruptcy is a Federal Remedy, and that the Federal Government has exclusive jurisdiction over bankruptcy relief in Arizona, then I have to talk about the fact that a goofy compromise meant that Arizona was able to "opt-out", so that those filing in Arizona usually don't get to use the Federal Bankruptcy Exemptions located at 11 USC 522.
Except sometimes.
And no matter how much I want to explain that there are four relatively common types of bankruptcy, and they include Chapter 7, Chapter 13, Chapter 11 and Chapter 12, once I'm about halfway into explaining the difference between the various Chapters, an ordinary person is usually deeply unconscious.
Kinda like when my mechanic tries to explain that funny noise in the car to me.
So I've experimented over the last thirty years with various tools to make Arizona bankruptcy cases simple to explain to debtors, and I think I'm finally making some progress.
Now there are these things called blogs! And I've been building blogs to try to explain how bankruptcy works here in Arizona, whether it's in Phoenix, Scottsdale, Mesa, Chandler, Tempe or Casa Grande. Or anyplace else where people need to file bankruptcy in Arizona.
The blog you're reading is one of my most recent online bankruptcy projects. But I built more!
For instance, I built a Bankruptcy Video Blog to help explain bankruptcy to folks who prefer to pick up their information from tiny talking heads!
And I built an Arizona Bankruptcy Homework Blog, so that when people came in to visit with me for a half hour, our time together could be productive! See, otherwise, folks would waste their time asking the same round-one questions that folks always ask. So I answered those frequently asked bankruptcy questions in the Bankruptcy Homework Blog, and I even gave folks a sort of organizer, so they could easily put together the information I needed to analyze whether bankruptcy was a good idea for them, or not!
Then I thought, maybe there are people out there who would like to do analysis on their own, to determine whether a bankruptcy was a good idea, and they would like bankruptcy calculators and similar tools to help them make good bankruptcy decisions (which is not as easy as it sounds, when you are being dive-bombed by relentless creditors!).
So I built an Arizona Bankruptcy Resources Blog, and that's short, and fairly sweet, and includes a means test calculator, a median income calculator, and a credit card payoff calculator (so you can see how long it will take you to pay off your credit card debt, if you decide that a bankruptcy is not the correct option for you!). I also talk about a great bankruptcy resource, which is the U. S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Arizona website, which also has bankruptcy videos, bankruptcy faqs, and discussions of bankruptcy law as it relates to Arizona. Here's a taste of what awaits you on the District of Arizona Website, and it's a very useful bankruptcy resource itself, although you should always check that it's current:
Arizona Exemptions
The baby of the Joseph C. McDaniel Bankruptcy Blog Family is the Chapter 7 Bankruptcy Blog for Arizona, and I built that because the overwhelming majority of bankruptcy filings in Arizona are under Chapter 7, so I figured that was a topic that could use some attention.
The Granddaddy of the Bankruptcy Blogs I've built is here, and it has about a thousand entries.
Now, I've built a few other blogs; the one I beg my friends to read is my little health and longevity blog, called "Getting Older Beats the Alternatives". In that one, I talk about stuff I've picked up about healthy living, because that's important. So take your Vitamin C, Vitamin D and Selenium, but before you do anything I tell you to do about your health, check it out with a real doctor, not an Arizona Bankruptcy Attorney!
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