Category Archives: Practical tips

Massachusetts bankruptcy cases increasingly require good service

By doug | Published: May 1, 2013

Massachusetts bankruptcy attorneys trying to help clients mired in the mortgage mess of the last few years are increasingly turning their attention to the notion of good service. By this I don’t mean fawning over clients or judges, but simply sending (“serving” in legal lingo) important court papers to the right recipients. As a prime […]

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Film gives debtors a taste of what a bankruptcy hearing is like

By doug | Published: February 27, 2013

The Oscars were given out in Hollywood recently (left), and that always get us thinking of what’s up at the movies. As far as bankruptcy law goes, the US government has recently produced a few short videos about how the process works. Government films are famous for either being snore-fests or propaganda, and these are […]

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Bizzare new question may face Massachusetts bankruptcy debtors

By doug | Published: February 22, 2013

I watched about an hour’s worth of “section 341” meetings recently, and was surprised to hear the trustee asking a question I don’t think I’ve heard before. The trustee showed the debtors their Schedule C, and then asked: “Have you purchased any of these assets within one year of filing the bankruptcy case? That’s a […]

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Bankruptcy rule changes in New Hampshire take effect February 1st

By doug | Published: February 1, 2013

Heads up for attorneys with a New Hampshire bankruptcy case to prepare: there has been a lot of tinkering with the local bankruptcy rules in NH, and the changes took effect on February 1, 2013. One of the rules with a lot of edits is local rule 1009-1 concerning making amendments to schedules that have […]

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New guidance on bankruptcy fees for adversary proceedings

By doug | Published: January 16, 2013

Can a bankruptcy judge force a lawyer to represent a client in an adversary proceeding? Stopping just short of deciding the answer to that question should be “yes,” Massachusetts bankruptcy judge Melvin Hoffman recently suggested that what an attorney can’t do is to refuse to handle adversaries as a matter of course. The Alaya case […]

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Bankruptcy rules allow debtors to pay filing fees in installments

By doug | Published: September 6, 2012

People who need to file for bankruptcy often struggle to do it; not just with the emotional decision to file, but it sometimes takes a mighty effort to pay for both a lawyer and the court’s filing fee — the latter stands at $306 for a Chapter 7 case as of this writing. Massachusetts bankruptcy […]

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Stripping liens in bankruptcy court . . . or maybe avoiding them

By doug | Published: July 20, 2012

If you are a debtor in bankruptcy court, stripping could be a very profitable thing . . . stripping off liens from your property, that is. But it might not be the only bankruptcy strategy to get rid of pesky liens. Avoidance could work well, too. California bankruptcy law guru Cathy Moran has written a […]

Also posted in Secured loans | Comments closed

Should your bankruptcy lawyer be working for a debt-relief group?

By doug | Published: July 18, 2012

Here’s a situation that I see coming up more and more in Massachusetts lately, sometimes with some ugly results: debtors who turn to “non-profit” debt-relief groups who “provide” them with a lawyer who prepares a bankruptcy case for them. So what’s wrong with that, you ask? First, the quality of the representation is usually extremely […]

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The most useless bankruptcy form

By doug | Published: July 17, 2012

Here’s my nomination for the most useless bankruptcy form that has to be routinely submitted to a court during the course of a bankruptcy case: The “Chapter 7 Statement of Intention.” In a Chapter 7 case, this is where the debtor makes a declaration of what he proposes to do about his secured debts — […]

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The Massachusetts bankruptcy court has been aggressively dismissing cases

By doug | Published: June 13, 2012

Here’s a heads-up call for Massachusetts debtors who have filed a bankruptcy case recently, are thinking about filing pro se, and for other Massachusetts bankruptcy lawyers: The bankruptcy court has been very vigilant recently in dismissing cases the very first chance they get — especially when all the paperwork has not been filed on time. […]

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