In re: Bearup, No. A10-00565-HAR (Bankr. D. Alaska, June 1, 2011) In Chapter 7 bankruptcy, the trustee, whose job it is to administer your case, will compile all your property to pay creditors.  If the trustee believes you are hiding property or disguising property to avoid it being used in the case, he or she […]

When you file for Chapter 13 bankruptcy, you propose to the court a plan to repay your creditors.  During the course of this plan, the court must approve many of your decisions, including the decision to hire a realtor to sell property.  The court will want to look at how much you will pay the […]

Considering filing for Arizona bankruptcy?  Need a new car?  These two things may seem odd to do together, but for many bankruptcy filers, it makes sense to buy a new car before filing for bankruptcy.   One reason is that once you file for bankruptcy, it will be difficult to get a loan at all, […]

It is the trustee’s job to administer your bankruptcy case.  He’s the one who will try to figure out how much property you own, what can be sold, and how much to pay creditors.  He challenges anything in the case he does not agree with, and he holds the all-important creditor meeting.  So what’s in […]

Although the point of garnishing wages is to make sure creditors get paid, states that permit it have a higher bankruptcy rate than states that do not.  What can you do to prevent or stop wage garnishment? If you do not pay your bills, a creditor can sue you to collect what you owe.   If […]

Does Higher Consumer Spending Amount to Increased Bankruptcies? A June report from the Arizona Department of Revenue, which keeps track of consumer spending that the government can tax, put the total expenditures on taxable items in May of 2011 at $4.01 billion.   This is a return to pre-recession levels, and for many businesses is a […]

When you file for bankruptcy protection, can you “cancel” or “change” your case once you have submitted your petition to the court?  That may depend. Unfortunately for many filers, there is no way to undo a filing.  Whether you can dismiss your case depends on the Bankruptcy Chapter within which you file. After filing, you […]

According to the Census Bureau, 7% of divorce decrees include a provision for alimony or spousal support.   When your spouse, who owes you alimony or support files for bankruptcy, it may lead you to wonder whether you can still collect. For the party receiving alimony, those payments are considered income under your bankruptcy estate.  When […]

There are hundreds of thousands of bankruptcy petitions filed every year in America.  A major disagreement in the area is whether or not many of these bankruptcy filings are fraudulent. About 95% of all bankruptcies are filed by individuals every year.  Most consumer bankruptcy filings are Chapter 7 filings, usually about 65%.  Additionally, many filers […]

In February, the Department of Justice announced its decision to not enforce Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act (“DOMA”), which bars the federal government from recognizing same-sex couples as married.  The President concluded that this section is unconstitutional and ordered the Department to halt its defense of DOMA.  This policy has caused confusion […]