Bankruptcy Law Network

Some Assets Are More Protected Than Others: Bankruptcy Exemptions

As unemployment rates continue to rise, it is a good idea to try to bunker down and prepare for the worst so you can ride out the storm if you find yourself among the unemployed, or facing a pay cut. There was some good advice in an article in the Wall Street Journal on November [...]

Payoff High Interest Credit Cards In 7 Easy Steps

Here are seven easy steps to pay off high interest rate credit cards. In fact these tips show you how to eliminate high interest accounts entirely and how to perform simple regular maintenance adjustments to keep your credit accounts within reasonable limits. 1. Fingerprint your credit cards. On a simple word document or piece of paper [...]

Thinking Of Filing Bankruptcy? Don’t Give Anything Away.

Thinking Of Filing Bankruptcy? Don’t Give Anything Away. “I’ll just give my car to my niece.” I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard that or something similar from a client about to file bankruptcy. Sometimes the client has the best of intentions: “she’s about to graduate college and I always promised her a car for [...]

Bankruptcy and Security Clearances

So what happens to your security clearance if you file for bankruptcy protection? Is it revoked? Will you be terminated from your job? Will you be demoted? Does your salary decrease? While there are bankruptcy code provisions that regulate the public and private sector over discriminations in employment when one files for bankruptcy protection, most employers [...]

National Association of Consumer Bankruptcy Attorneys Convention Tuscon

All my bags are packed. I’m ready to go. Got my code in hand and I’m leavin on a jet plane. Don’t know when I’m coming back. Tomorrow I leave for Tuscon and the start of another National Association of Consumer Bankruptcy Attorneys Convention. You can always tell the NACBA Lawyer when they are heading to [...]

Bankruptcy Bill and BAPCPA Man: Cartoons Come to Bankruptcy

(This cartoon is posted on with the express permission of the creators of BAPCPA Man.) When I think of Steven Horowitz and Gideon Kendall, I can’t help but think of the Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup. What a perfect combination. Horowitz, a New York City bankruptcy lawyer, and Kendall, a professional illustrator and fellow New Yorker, met years ago [...]

Massachusetts Homestead Act Applies to Pre-Declaration Contracts

Any reader of the Massachusetts Homestead Act must conclude that it only protects homes from contracts incurred after the declaration is recorded. This is not true in the bankruptcy context. This reading was first confirmed by the Van Rye Massachusetts bankruptcy court decision in 1995. A different bankruptcy judge then ruled otherwise in the 1996 Boucher [...]

Chapter 13 Bankruptcy Is Not A Death Sentence

Clients who fail the bankruptcy “Means Test” and have to file a Chapter 13 bankruptcy case look at me as though they have been given a death sentence. I reassure them that Chapter 13 bankruptcy is not the end of the world. The fact of the matter is that they are almost always usually much better [...]

BLN Author Lauded by National Bankruptcy Group

Bankruptcy Law Network member and author, Craig Andresen of Bloomington, Minnesota, has been named Member of the Month for October 2009 by the National Association of Consumer Bankruptcy Attorneys. He is the tenth member of Bankruptcy Law Network to be recognized as member of the month for service to NACBA and the field of consumer bankruptcy [...]

My Chapter 13 Bankruptcy Got Dismissed, What Do I DO?

If you have received a dismissal in your Chapter13 you should immediately be in touch with your bankruptcy lawyer to go over your options. The dismissal mean you have not completed your Chapter 13 and the court has dismissed your case. You are almost back in the same situation as you were before you filed bankruptcy. [...]