Maryland Bankruptcy Blog » Bankruptcy Information

Bankruptcy Law, Obama and McCain

Brett Weiss, Esq. — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 00:41:07 +0000

Over on the Bankruptcy Law Network, I have been writing a series of blogs on Senators Obama and McCain’s positions on bankruptcy. The results may surprise you.

The articles may be found by clicking on the links:

Obama vs. McCain on Bankruptcy
Obama and McCain’s Votes on Bankruptcy Amendments
Barack Obama on BAPCPA
Barack Obama on Bankruptcy/Credit Reform

US Trustee Audits to Resume May 12, 2008

Brett Weiss, Esq. — Tue, 13 May 2008 20:56:02 +0000

According to an article on the US Trustee website, random debtor audits, which were halted in January 2008 due to budgetary problems, will resume on May 12, 2008. The only change appears to be that instead of randomly auditing one out of each 250 cases filed, the UST will audit one out of each 1,000 cases filed.

What We Do For You In a Chapter 7 or Chapter 13 Bankruptcy…

Brett Weiss, Esq. — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 19:51:04 +0000

We’re often asked by new clients what we actually do for them. I thought I’d put a list together:

We let you answer your phone without your heart seizing with fear that it’s someone calling to collect a bill.
We give you room in your mailbox for birthday cards instead of bills.
We let your answering machine be empty when you come home from work.
We let you know your kids will be going to the same school next fall, because you’ve saved your home from foreclosure.
We let you know you’ll keep your job because you’ve saved your car from being repossessed.
We let you sleep at night.

Oh, and we also deal with creditors and the Court, prepare and file pleadings, argue on your behalf, and do all of the other “lawyer work.”

But what our clients remember is the important stuff above. *That* is what we really do.

Do I Need a Lawyer to File for Bankruptcy?

Brett Weiss, Esq. — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 01:08:44 +0000

I’ve taken over a number of cases where a debtor prepared and filed the various bankruptcy documents without the help of an attorney–what is called filing pro se or pro per. Apart from the fact that the schedules generally have to be completely redone (the exemptions are usually wrong, debts are not listed, assets are not listed or are listed or valued incorrectly, the Means Test uses the wrong figures, the Statement of Financial Affairs is incorrect, and the budget is generally wrong), a number of these people lost their homes as a result of not being advised about what was required, how the process worked, how to value assets, how to deal with various types of debts, etc.–something an attorney is required to do.

Others ran into severe problems at the Meeting of Creditors, where they have no one to turn to for preparation or advice, Generally, pro se debtors don’t know what the Trustee is looking for, or how to properly deal with the Trustee’s questions and concerns. One ended up being charged with bankruptcy fraud–all because she didn’t understand the effects of what the information put in their schedules meant.

Finally, under the new bankruptcy law, there are a number of new deadlines that, if missed, can result in the automatic dismissal of your case, and a potentially very complex means test computation. Many bankruptcy attorneys are no longer practicing in this area of law as a result of the changes.

Bankruptcy is a very tricky area of the law (even to attorneys who don’t regularly practice it). Interestingly enough for a federal system, it is very state and locality specific. What will work in California, for example, probably won’t fly here in Maryland.

Do yourself a big favor—see a lawyer.

Maryland Foreclosure Taskforce Issues Report

Brett Weiss, Esq. — Sat, 17 Nov 2007 21:23:24 +0000

While traditionally, Maryland has not been the most homeowner-friendly state in terms of its foreclosure procedures, things have gotten far worse with the deepening of the mortgage crisis. According to State officials, Maryland has jumped from No. 40 to No 15 in foreclosures nationally. A recent article in The Washington Post summarizes the recommendations of the Maryland Homeownership Preservation Task Force. (I haven’t been able to read the full report yet, and my comments below are based on the Post’s summary. If it proves that the summary is wrong or incomplete, I’ll revise this blog.)

It’s always nice to look as if you’re doing something in response to a problem. It’s even nicer to actually do something. Unfortunately, the task force’s recommendations sound a lot more like window dressing than actual improvements in the current foreclosure system in Maryland.

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Collection of Debts Discharged in Bankruptcy

Brett Weiss, Esq. — Sat, 03 Nov 2007 02:45:25 +0000

BusinessWeek published online (and will publish in its magazine) an amazing article, “Prisoners of Debt.” This major story talks about the increased selling and collection of debt discharged in Chapter 7 cases. A must read.

BusinessWeek has two companion articles: “Conveniently Not Updating,” about improper credit reporting of discharged debt, and “Whose Second Chance,” about improper collection of discharged debt.

The fact that BusinessWeek (of all magazines) is doing stories about creditor abuse is a clear reflection of just how rampant this sort of thing is.

“Why Do You Need All This Information?”

Brett Weiss, Esq. — Fri, 02 Nov 2007 12:55:03 +0000

My friend, California State Bankruptcy Attorney Cathy Moran, wrote a recent blog titled, “To Tell the Truth,” talking about the information that is now required from clients to file under the new bankruptcy law (BAPCPA).

Cathy correctly notes that, “Calling for gobs of only marginally relevant information was one strategy that creditors included in the bankruptcy “reform” legislation to deter people who needed bankruptcy relief from getting it. They claimed it was to deter fraud; in reality, they counted on the debt ridden to be disorganized, stressed, and discouraged.”

Many people thinking about bankruptcy are indeed stressed and discouraged. Asking them to try and find information that, even if available, is likely to be irrelevant to their case, just adds to their discomfort and confusion. (My favorite is the question asking whether the filer “owns or has possession of any property that poses or is alleged to pose a threat of imminent and identifiable harm to public health or safety.” Asking this question usually results in the response, “Huh?”) But the name of the game here is “Disclosure, Disclosure, Disclosure.” Disclosure, even of irrelevant but required information, serves a number of purposes:

It’s required by the law.
It shows that you have nothing to hide and makes you look truthful.
It makes the Trustees less likely to dig at the Meeting of Creditors.
It helps your lawyer be informed—and things you don’t think are important may be. What your lawyer doesn’t know CAN (and probably WILL) hurt you.

In short, the more detail you provide your lawyer, the better and more smoothly your case is likely to go.

Latest Foreclosure Numbers…It’s Getting Worse

Brett Weiss, Esq. — Fri, 02 Nov 2007 09:57:03 +0000

During the third quarter of 2007, more than 635,000 foreclosure filings were reported nationwide. This works out to one foreclosure for every 196 households. The filings include everything from default notices to auction sale notices to actual bank repossessions.

According to Realtytrac, a foreclosure tracking service, “August and September were the two highest monthly foreclosure filing totals we’ve seen since we began issuing our report in January 2005,”

And the big interest resets from loans closed in 2006 still haven’t started.

How Can I Qualify for a Chapter 13 Bankruptcy?

Brett Weiss, Esq. — Sun, 21 Oct 2007 21:56:28 +0000

Just about everyone, regardless of how much debt they have, can qualify for Chapter 7 bankruptcy (so long as they are eligible under the Means Test). But Chapter 13 bankruptcy is different. In a Chapter 13 case, you have to owe less than a certain amount of debt to qualify.

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Changes to Maryland’s Chapter 13 Local Rules and Form Plan

Brett Weiss, Esq. — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 22:49:37 +0000

On October 19, 2007, the Bankruptcy Court announced changes to Local Rules applying to Chapter 13 cases and to the form Chapter 13 Plan. These changes take effect on November 1, 2007, and are fairly significant. (The new/changed language is in italics):

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