Occasionally, clients will ask me about whether their security clearance is at risk if they file for bankruptcy protection. This came up yesterday when I came across a comment from a reader who expressed real concerns over his fear of losing his clearance if he filed. Why? The simple reason is this: no security clearance = no job. Yet the answer to the question is not an easy one to paint with one large generalized brush. But I’ll do my best.
Archive for the ‘Chapter 11’ Category
Honesty and Bankruptcy, Part III: The Reality Check and the Boy Scout
Monday, November 2nd, 2009
In the last two entries, I shared my observations of honesty and dishonesty in the bankruptcy process. It has been an issue that has been crawling under my skin for many months now. And in this last installment of Honesty and Bankruptcy, I explain why that is.
Honesty and Bankruptcy, Part II: Feeling Dishonest
Sunday, November 1st, 2009
It seems that many people are hypersensitive over H1N1. I was at the market yesterday and an older man sneezed, and by the looks on the faces of those standing around him, you’d have thought someone nearby was pointing and shrieking that he was a leper. Just because someone is sneezing or coughing doesn’t mean they have the swine flu. Just because someone is in bankruptcy or needs bankruptcy protection doesn’t mean they are dishonest. And just because someone feels like they did something dishonest does not mean that they don’t deserve bankruptcy protection. In other words, feeling dishonest is not the same as being dishonest.
Honesty and Bankruptcy, Part I: Day of the Living Dishonest
Saturday, October 31st, 2009
When rapper Chris Brown beat up his then girlfriend Rhianna, there was an odd reaction from much of Hollywood. As Adam Carolla and Dr. Drew were recently discussing on Carolla’s podcast, Hollywood’s reaction – especially at red carpet events – seemed less than honest and at times downright pathetic. Some were praising Brown for being a “good person” who was going through a difficult time. But only a few stood forward and publicly denounced Chris Brown as a pathetic loser who viciously assaulted his girlfriend… something no one can legitimately justify. The podcast echoed in my mind this week when I was faced with a debtor who was – to put it mildly – outrageously dishonest. So much so that I was forced to look this person in the eye and say “you know, you’re not coming across as an honest but unfortunate person entitled to bankruptcy protection.” I thought I was being polite. Their response left me thinking even more.
I cannot share the details. Instead, let me share this clever allegory that I believe aptly illustrates exactly how things went in my meeting with this debtor.
When You Discover that You Are a Creditor in a Bankruptcy Case…
Monday, October 12th, 2009
Last week, I was in the clerk’s office and overheard two people ask the clerk which forms needed to be filed in a bankruptcy case. But this person was not a debtor – they were a creditor. Their landlord had filed bankruptcy. The former tenant was looking for their security deposit back, and was going to sue the debtor in small claims. I couldn’t help myself – and I butted in.
“You need relief from the automatic stay.”
“The stay applies even to me?” one asked.
“It applies to everyone.”
After that short exchange, I thought I would put together a short checklist of things to do when your landlord – or someone else you know who also happens to owe you money – files a petition seeking bankruptcy protection.
Social Networking Sites and Bankruptcy: The Intersection is Dead Ahead
Wednesday, September 30th, 2009
There are a growing number of social networking sites out there on the world-wide-interwebs that people are latching onto. In fact, both the firm and I have latched onto Facebook (we just lauched our Fan page this week!). So I was intrigued after recently reading that a growing number of domestic relations attorneys were beginning to scour sites like Facebook in an effort to get information on opposing parties. At first, I found it merely interesting as I once practiced domestic relations law. But the subject gnawed on me for several days. Then, earlier this week, I read that collection agencies are trolling sites like Facebook looking for debtors. Then it dawned on me: if collectors are doing it, and divorce attorneys are doing it, there really is nothing stopping any party in any legal case from looking into Facebook or other social networking sites in an effort to gain a legal advantage of any opposing party. And this rings true in the world of bankruptcy.
Thinking About a Consult?
Tuesday, July 21st, 2009
Today, as I found myself on the phone repeating myself – a lot. It then occurred to me that I could probably explain how our consult process works here on the website. In other words, how do you get from reading this website and digesting the information to getting some face-time with a lawyer (i.e., me).
Here’s how.
The Sunday News
Sunday, June 14th, 2009
A fellow bankruptcy attorney shared this article that appeared in last month’s New York Times Magazine. I see in it some of the same difficulties I see in clients. It also makes me question how “half-empty” the glass really is. Although in the interest of full disclosure, the writer has a book coming out. In other news…
ONE FLAG! Six Flags Amusement Parks files for Chapter 11 protection.
Nashua NH Telegraph: Welcome to the New Consumer Economy.
Boston Herald: Consumer spending may never be the same as it was.
South Coast: Home values could take years to recover. We also could be hitting bottom (I’m not being sarcastic, it says the market “could be a reading a valley”). I could also be a ledge (ok, that was sarcastic).
Nantucket foreclosures. I wonder if these homeowners claim their loan was predatory? I also have to question whether it was.
A bad apple is removed from the barrel: Brockton lawyer settles fraud suit with the Massachusetts Attorney General’s office.
Why Bankruptcy Lawyers Require Fees Before Filing
Tuesday, November 25th, 2008
There really is a good reason. And to help prove my point, I turn to an October 2008 decision out of the US Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania: In re Mansfield. In that case, the court was called upon to ask what it viewed as a “deceptively simple question:” may an attorney who charges a “flat fee” for services pursue the uncollected balance due?
In this case, the attorney charged a flat fee for preparing the necessary documents and schedules, but also for attending the first meeting of creditors (which occurs after the case is filed). The fee was paid in one large installment, with the remaining balance divided into smaller installments which were paid or due after the case was filed.
The US Trustee sought a review of the fee practice as well as disgorgement of the fees collected after the case was collected. The attorney claimed there was no authority supporting the relief sought by the US Trustee, and he was entitled to collect at least the value of the services he rendered.
The court did not agree. Under Section 727(b) of the Bankruptcy Code, a “debtor’s obligation under a fee agreement to pay a fixed or flat fee to his attorney for legal services rendered pre- and postpetition in a Chapter 7 case, regardless of how the fee is scheduled to be paid, is a prepetition debt that is dischargeable. The attorney avoided having to return the fees paid because there is a difference of opinion among Bankruptcy Courts throughout the country as to whether the practice of collecting fees post-petition is permissible….and if permissible, the circumstances they are permissible.
In flat fee cases (and it is fair to say most, if not all consumer Chapter 7 cases are flat fee), the court found that the “division of a flat fee arrangement into prepetition and postpetition parts to be conceptually inconsistent and therefore untenable. The Court therefore joins those other courts which hold what when a flat or fixed prepetition agreement is at issue, the fee must be paid in full prior to the commencement of the debtor’s case or the fee is discharged under Section 727(b).”
So in reality, when an attorney requires fees and costs prior to the filing of the petition, it’s because they need to get paid…unlike creditors in a Chapter 7 who in many cases do not get paid at all. There’s case law all over the country that supports it, and other case law that suggests that it can be done. While the current code and the case law leave room for creative argument, debtor’s attorneys can be expected to be wise and take the path of least resistance: earn the fee and serve the client. Certainly, there are bigger battles for debtor’s attorneys to engage in for their clients other than fighting for a fee for postpetition services.
In re Mansfield, US Bankruptcy Court, Eastern District of Pennsylvania, No. 08-11648 SR (Ocobter 2, 2008)
The Elephant in the Room: Married Same-Sex Debtors
The decision to seek bankruptcy protection is never easy, and when two people are involved, it is not necessarily easier. Married opposite-sex debtors have the option of seeking bankruptcy protection jointly in one case. But as a growing handful of states recognize same-sex marriages or its legal equivalent (“unions”), and as the legitimacy and constitutionality of the Defense of Marriage Act (or DOMA) continues to be litigated in courts across the country, same-sex debtors seeking bankruptcy relief face even tougher decisions.
(more…)
Tags: Commentary - Legal, Consumer Rights, Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), Joint Debtors
Posted in Bankruptcy, Chapter 11, Chapter 13, Chapter 7, Consumer Rights | No Comments »