What to Do if You Can’t Make Your Chapter 13 Bankruptcy Payment – Part 2

Posted on July 7, 2015

Filing a chapter 13 bankruptcy can often be the perfect solution to your debt issues, especially if you’re way behind on mortgage or auto loan payments, or if you need to protect some piece of property (such as a home with significant equity) that you might lose if you filed the more simple,...

What is a Chapter 7 Bankruptcy Discharge?

Posted on June 20, 2015

There’s a pretty simple short answer to this one: The chapter 7 discharge is the reason you file chapter 7 bankruptcy in the first place. The discharge is actually a court order doing two separate, but related things: 1) Giving you complete forgiveness of any dischargeable debt you owed...

Supreme Court Sets a High Bar for Drug-related Immigrant Deportations

Posted on June 2, 2015

Imagine this scenario: You’re a 19 year old college student and resident of the Denver Metro area. Your family immigrated to the U.S. several years ago, and while you are a lawful permanent resident of the U.S., you are not yet a citizen of this country. One Friday night at...

Supreme Court Disallows Lien-stripping in Chapter 7 Bankruptcy Cases

Posted on June 1, 2015

More on this later, but for now, I wanted to share the U.S. Supreme Court’s latest big bankruptcy decision, Bank of America v. Caulkett, issued by the Court today. The decision prohibits debtors from “stripping” their “wholly unsecured liens in chapter 7 bankruptcy cases – something which had been...

What is a “No Asset” Chapter 7 Bankruptcy Case?

Posted on May 30, 2015

When you file for bankruptcy protection under chapter 7 of the Bankruptcy Code, you have to tell the court and your trustee about all property you own. You list all “real property” (your home if you own it; your rental property; land, etc.) on Schedule A of your bankruptcy schedules,...

What to Do if You Can’t Make Your Chapter 13 Bankruptcy Payment – Part I

Posted on May 29, 2015

Unless there’s a good reason for doing otherwise, it’s very important to make your chapter 13 bankruptcy payment each month. Section 1307 of the Bankruptcy Code allows for dismissal of a bankruptcy case for a “material default by the debtor with respect to a term of a confirmed plan.” The biggest “term” of...

What is a Meeting of Creditors and Why do I Have to Go?

Posted on May 23, 2015

Bankruptcy can be a life saver to someone who is drowning in debt, but to take the plunge and file a chapter 7 or chapter 13 takes work and effort from both you and your attorney. One crucial requirement with which every debtor in bankruptcy must comply is attending his or her

Supreme Court Allows for Debtor Refunds in Converted Cases

Posted on May 18, 2015

Picture this scenario: You’re a Colorado homeowner fighting to save your home from foreclosure, paying several hundred dollars each month to a chapter 13 trustee to get caught up on your mortgage. Through no fault of your own, you lose your job and must let go of your home. You see your...

Study: Bankruptcy Improves Life; Improves Society

Posted on May 14, 2015

I feel like I’ve seen these facts demonstrated in real life on hundreds of occasions, but it’s great to see some solid research backing it up. The paper published by Will Dobbie of Harvard University and Jae Song with the Social Security Administration looks at the lives...

10 Reasons I Love Bankruptcy. No, Seriously

Posted on March 31, 2015

When I was in law school, I had NO thought that I would ever practice bankruptcy law for a living. To be honest, I thought my class on bankruptcy was pretty boring, and I didn’t connect with it. But over the course of the last several years, while helping thousands of individuals...

Why file Chapter 13? Keeping the Stuff You Would Lose in Chapter 7

Posted on March 31, 2015

I’ve found over the years that if folks know they need to file bankruptcy, and have learned a little about their options, they usually want or hope to file a chapter 7, or “straight bankruptcy.” After all, chapter 7 means you don’t have to make any more payments on your dischargeable debts....