Tag Archives: Chapter 7

Chapter 7 Bankruptcy

You DON’T Make Too Much Money to File for Bankruptcy

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People frequently tell me that they are afraid that they make too much money to file for bankruptcy. Hogwash. If you have more debt than you can pay, you are going to qualify for at least one chapter of bankruptcy — the question is which one.

Virtually everyone can file either a Chapter 7 Bankruptcy or a Chapter 13 Bankruptcy. There is an income and expense qualifier for filing, generally called the Means Test; but it can’t bar you from the Bankruptcy Court, and it is not just income, it also includes reasonable and necessary expenses.

If you can’t pass the Means Test you are still eligible to file a Chapter 13 Bankruptcy, which is a form of reorganization intended for individuals — as opposed to the more widely recognized reorganization Chapter, Chapter 11, which is really intended for businesses (although, individuals can and do file Chapter 11 cases).

So, if you are putting off saving for retirement or your kids’ college, if you are robbing Peter to pay Paul, or losing sleep over how you will cover the next unexpected expense; it may be time to swallow hard and give me, or another experienced bankruptcy attorney a call. You work too hard not to give yourself a brighter future.

Elaine

What Does Bankruptcy Actually Do?

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If you don’t know where to start or what to ask about filing for bankruptcy, start here.

First of all, if you have more debt than you can pay – you are probably eligible for some form of bankruptcy protection.

Second, that last sentence used the term, “bankruptcy protection”, because the idea that people who owe more than they can pay need to be protected from their creditors is at the very heart of the bankruptcy process. Filing a bankruptcy is absolutely the fastest way to stop harassing phone calls, bills in the mail, threats of lawsuits, wage garnishments. Ultimately, a bankruptcy filing can be the first big step towards peace of mine and a good night’s sleep.

Third, bankruptcy is a process that can last anywhere from a few months to a number of years – depending on the chapter of bankruptcy that you file. At the root of this process is disclosing all of your assets and liabilities, some basics about your financial condition and then a conclusion as to how best to put you (and, to a much lesser extent, your creditors) in the best position to move forward. The best part of this conclusion is that it is generally made by you and your lawyer before the case is even filed.

Fourth, the biggest part of filing a bankruptcy is figuring out what your specific options will be and how best to utilize those options to put you in the position you want to be in. This is where a good lawyer comes into play. You want to keep your assets and lose your debt, which is the goal of a well planned bankruptcy filing. The alternative, losing your assets and keeping your debt, does happen but not generally in cases filed by good counsel for clients who honestly and willingly disclose everything they are asked to disclose.

If you have more specific questions, there are hundreds of posts on this blog that should answer most of them. Otherwise, give me a call or send me an email. I am always happy to answer the questions that can really keep you up at night.

Elaine

Why Your Business Probably Won’t File for Bankruptcy

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Chapter 7 is the most commonly filed chapter of bankruptcy — but it is very rarely filed by a Corporation, Partnership or LLC.  We can all name lots of businesses that have filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy.  Traditionally, that has been a large, expensive, complex reorganization.  Exxon, most of the Airlines, General Motors, Sears, J.Crew.  It is a long list.  I will bet, however, that you can’t name a single Corporation that has filed a Chapter 7 Bankruptcy.

The reason for that is actually quite simple.  Lots of business owners would love to file a Chapter 7 for their wholly owned LLC and walk away from the business debt — except they can’t.  You see only an individual (that means a human being) can get a discharge in a Chapter 7 bankruptcy.  That means that if a corporation or an LLC files a Chapter 7 bankruptcy, it gets to turn over all of its assets to the Trustee to administer for the benefit of its creditors, but it doesn’t get out of its debt.  Now, it comes out of the bankruptcy with no assets with which to pay any of its bills — but it still legally owes the money.  So, you spend a lot of money, you turnover the business assets to the Trustee, you expose the owners and managers of the business to potential liability — and get absolutely nothing in return.  Not generally a great plan.

Instead, what generally happens, is that the business owners liquidate the assets themselves.  They have to stay within certain legal parameters, but they do have some control over how the assets are liquidated and how the proceeds are distributed.  Also, they can pay themselves a reasonable amount of money for doing it.  Then, they shut down the Corporation or the LLC.  Of course, since most small business debt is guaranteed by the owners (one way or another) the owners may then need to file their own Chapter 7 bankruptcy, but they are eligible for a discharge.  Also, this doesn’t mean that the owners inherit the unpaid business debts. If the owners weren’t originally liable for the debt, they don’t become liable for it.  It is just rare for small businesses to incur any significant debt without a personal guaranty from someone.

Of course, since February of 2020 there is now a viable small business reorganization subchapter.  So, it is now much more viable to reorganize a small business in a bankruptcy, if remaining in business is a viable option.  If it isn’t, however, it is rare to shut down a small business in a Chapter 7 Bankruptcy.  There are better ways to deal with the business entity outside of bankruptcy then inside.

Elaine 

Safer in Bankruptcy – Part 1

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One of the things I am working on this weekend is a demand letter to the attorney for a local credit union.  You see, someone at the credit union seems to have thought that taking advantage of an elderly man with early stage dementia was a profitable idea.  I will concede that under ordinary circumstances what they did might qualify as greedy and morally questionable; it should, however, be legal.

Not so fast.

In this case the elderly customer just happened to be in an active Chapter 13 Bankruptcy, and the Credit Union knew this.  They got checks from the Chapter 13 Trustee on this man’s loan accounts up until the events I am upset about happened.

It would be inappropriate and unnecessary to go into what actually happened or why I think it happened.  What is relevant is that when someone is in an active bankruptcy, they are under the protection of the Bankruptcy Court.  That means that there are orders in place that are designed to protect them from their creditors.  The credit union in the case I am currently working on appears to have violated several of those.

Over the next few days I am going to talk about what those orders are and how they can be used to keep you safer inside a bankruptcy than outside — particularly in uncertain times.

Elaine

The Paycheck Protection Program and Bankruptcy

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The SBA has a really amazing Corona virus relief program, the Paycheck Protection Program.   It is called a loan program, but it appears to be intended as grants.  Basically, the SBA will give small businesses money to make payroll for two months.  It looks pretty sweet.

There is one problem.  One of the questions on the application is:

Is the Applicant or an owner of the Applicant presently suspended, debarred, proposed for debarment, declared ineligible, voluntarily excluded from participation in this transaction by any Federal department or agency, or presently involved in any bankruptcy?  (Emphasis added).

Ignoring the obvious, which is what the heck does most of this even mean?  Declared ineligible by whom?  Disbarment?  I mean, a lot of lawyers are applying for this; but not that many.  Suspended by a Federal department or agency?  Suspended from what? I’m sorry, but nothing about this question really makes sense.  So, I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised to see this bankruptcy language tacked on to the end.

So, what the heck does “presently involved in any bankruptcy” mean, anyway?  I have no clue.  None.

Taken literally, this would exclude every business who is listed as a creditor in anybody’s bankruptcy.  Somehow, I don’t think that is what it means.  If you check the Statute this may mean that the debtor cannot be a debtor in possession in a bankruptcy.  For all intents and purposes that means the Debtor cannot be in a Chapter 11 reorganization, but the question on the loan application is broader than that.  Oh, and the application says on its face, that answering yes to this question means that your loan will not be approved.  So, getting comfortable with what you think it means might be important.

Regardless of what the statute is supposed to say, or what it means or what the question means; the consensus among lawyers I have discussed this with is that if the business, or the owner of the business, is a debtor in any chapter of bankruptcy at the time a PPP application is completed, odds are very good that the application will be denied out of hand.

So, now what?

An applicant who is a debtor in a chapter 7 or chapter 11 is probably out of luck.  There is no right to dismiss a chapter 7, and if you are in a chapter 11, dismissing it so that you can get two months payroll out of the SBA is almost certainly not a good idea.

The real issue is if the applicant (or the owner of the applicant) is a debtor in a chapter 13 bankruptcy.  In that case it should be possible to dismiss the chapter 13, collect the PPP, spend the PPP on approved expenses, apply for forgiveness of the amount spent on appropriate expenses, and then refile a new Chapter 13 in order to finish out your plan of reorganization.  How much time this will take depends in large part on the local rules for your court.  However, if the money is worth it to you, talk to your lawyer.  You may be able to get a dismissal in a few days.

Elaine

Afraid to File Your Taxes?

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Trust me. I get it. Lots of us are afraid to file our tax returns – well, ok, afraid to prepare them may be closer to the truth; but, trust me, I get it.

– and it just got worse.

Not filing your taxes has always been bad. Filing late has always had some consequences, but most of them were manageable. Now, there is a new one.

In the last week of 2014 the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals handed down an opinion agreeing with an earlier decision from the 5th Circuit. So far, they are the only two circuits to hear this particular issue; and they agree. This is not good.

Here is the problem. Generally, speaking income taxes are dischargeable in a bankruptcy proceeding provided that they meet certain requirements. Like with anything involving either the Bankruptcy Code or the Tax Code (let alone both), there are more rules, limitations and exceptions to the basic rules than holes in Swiss cheese. Still, generally speaking, if the taxes meet certain age tests they are dischargeable in a bankruptcy filing – any chapter. Well, the 10th Circuit, following the 5th, has added a new wrinkle.

According to these Courts if the returns were filed so much as a day after they are due, the taxes on those returns are never dischargeable in a Bankrutpcy. Of course, if they are filed before the expiration of a properly granted extension, they are not late. If they are filed after the extension expires, however, or if no extension is granted; then, we have a whole new problem.

I have a case right now where a client has filed a bankruptcy, and taxes are a major part of the debt. I just went through every one of her tax transcripts. One of those returns was filed late. Anywhere inside the 5th or 10th Circuits the taxes on that return are not only not dischargeable in this Bankruptcy – they will never be eligible for a discharge. Oh, and the date on that return? Filed less than two weeks after April 15, and no request for extension was filed.

This seriously sucks.

Elaine

What If I Didn’t List Something. . . .

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First of all, there is a huge difference between failing to list an asset, like that mineral interest you inherited from your Grandparents, and failing to list a debt, like a car loan. Either one is perjury, if the omission was intentional; and either one can be grounds for a finding of bankruptcy fraud or even a denial of discharge if the facts are right. So, you really do need to put some time and effort into making sure that your Schedules include all of your assets and all of your debts.

So, what happens if you missed something? Assets are a whole different issue, I will touch on another time. Let’s talk about not listing a debt. It can be easy to forget an old medical bill or there can be debts you don’t even know about. Let’s say you had a car repossessed a few months before the bankruptcy filing. You scheduled the repossession on your Statement of Financial Affairs, but you didn’t list the Creditor; because you didn’t realize that you were still going to owe them money.

The creditor doesn’t get notice of the bankruptcy, and a year or two later the creditor sues you for the difference between what you owed at the time the car was repossessed and the amount they got for the car (after subtracting repo fees, sale fees, reconditioning fees, etc, etc., etc.). So, a year or two after your bankruptcy you are being sued for thousands of dollars. Now what?

That depends. The first issue is which chapter you filed under. This assumes that you filed a Chapter 7 bankruptcy. The analysis for a Chapter 13 is quite different. The second issue is whether or not your Bankruptcy was an asset case or a no-asset case. In other words, whether or not your Trustee managed to distribute any money out to your creditors. Most Chapter 7 Bankruptcies are no-asset cases. The biggest variable, believe it or not, is where you filed your Bankruptcy.

If you filed your Chapter 7 Bankruptcy in Oklahoma (and this blog is always restricted to Oklahoma issues, since that is the only State in which I am licensed to practice), and it was a no-asset case; you’re almost home free. As long as the failure to list the debt was truly unintentional and in good faith, your liability for that debt was included in your discharge. That does not mean, however, that you can sit back and do nothing. The creditor has incurred collection costs as the result of your failure to give them notice. So, you need to take action ASAP to let them know about the Bankruptcy. The best way to do this is to contact your Bankruptcy attorney and have them send a letter to the creditor’s collection attorney explaining the facts, providing information about the bankruptcy filing and providing information on the law in Oklahoma as to the inclusion of omitted debts in a no-asset discharge. You can expect to pay for that service, but in my opinion it is money well spent. The last thing that you want to do is wind up facing a wage garnishment that could have been avoided or find that you may have waived some rights by allowing the creditor to continue acting out of ignorance of your bankruptcy filing. Remember, you have a duty to give notice of the bankruptcy filing to everyone you owe money to. Failing to do so does not necessarily leave you at the creditor’s mercy; but that does not mean it is completely without ramifications.

Elaine

What if the Trustee Wants My STUFF?

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I explain to my clients that a Chapter 7 Bankruptcy is a deal. If you (the debtor) have any non-exempt property of any value that the Trustee wants, the Trustee is entitled to it; and my clients are expected to put it on the front porch, with a red bow on it and invite the Trustee in for a celebratory drink when he comes by to pick it up. Why? Because, in exchange for whatever non-exempt property the Trustee chooses to administer, you get out of that pile of debt that drove you to my office in the first place. That’s the deal, and if that deal isn’t worth doing – then, don’t file. Bankruptcy is the old Pearl of Great Price story told in a different setting.

Sound harsh? It really isn’t. I practice exclusively in Oklahoma, and Oklahoma has very generous exemptions. Remember, the deal is only for non-exempt property and most of what we own is exempt in Oklahoma. The vast majority of all people who file for Bankruptcy in Oklahoma have no non-exempt property of any real value; and when they do there are generally enough legitimate pre-bankruptcy planning techniques to protect those assets.

Sure, occasionally, a client loses something. They always know the risks. We go over that extensively and in great detail. Sometimes, though, when going over the possibilities, I can’t quite get past the, “BUT THAT’S MINE” response.

So, here is the story I tell. I had a client who had a $2,000 red toolbox. It held specialized tools that really didn’t qualify as household goods (which are exempt), and they were from a former career, so they didn’t qualify as tools of the trade (which are also exempt), but the toolbox was red, and it was really spiffy. Client loved this toolbox, and he really didn’t want to think about any mean, old Trustee taking it. Now, this client also had over $70,000 in unsecured debt that he needed to get out of.

So, I asked him. “If someone offered you $70,000 for that tool box, would you take it?” He looked at me like I was crazy. Seventy grand for a $2,000 tool box? Well, of course, he would take it. That is a fabulous deal! Then his brain made the connection, and the previous look of worried panic turned into a grin.

Turns out his Trustee wasn’t nearly as impressed by that toolbox as the debtor was, and the debtor wound up getting out of the $70,000 in debt and keeping the toolbox; but I have used this story (details have been changed, of course) for years.

So, first of all, remember that most people who file for bankruptcy in Oklahoma lose no assets. Just about everything that any of us owns of any real value is exempt if you are using Oklahoma exemptions, but even if you do own something that isn’t exempt – is it worth a discharge of all of your debt? If yes, then congratulations on driving such a great bargain – $70,000 in debt in exchange for a shiny, red toolbox. If, on the other hand, it isn’t the best deal you’ve had in a long time; then, talk to your lawyer about other options. Remember, you always have choices; and it is your lawyer’s job to help you find them.

Elaine

What if the Trustee Wants My STUFF?!?

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I explain to my clients that a Chapter 7 Bankruptcy is a deal. If you (the debtor) have any non-exempt property of any value that the Trustee wants, the Trustee is entitled to it; and my clients are expected to put it on the front porch, with a red bow on it and invite the Trustee in for a celebratory drink when he comes by to pick it up. Why? Because, in exchange for whatever non-exempt property the Trustee chooses to administer, you get out of that pile of debt that drove you to my office in the first place. That’s the deal, and if that deal isn’t worth doing – then, don’t file. Bankruptcy is the old Pearl of Great Price story told in a different setting.

Sound harsh? It really isn’t. I practice exclusively in Oklahoma, and Oklahoma has very generous exemptions. Remember, the deal is only for non-exempt property and most of what we own is exempt in Oklahoma. The vast majority of all people who file for Bankruptcy in Oklahoma have no non-exempt property of any real value; and when they do there are generally enough legitimate pre-bankruptcy planning techniques to protect those assets.

Sure, occasionally, a client loses something. They always know the risks. We go over that extensively and in great detail. Sometimes, though, when going over the possibilities, I can’t quite get past the, “BUT THAT’S MINE” response.

So, here is the story I tell. I had a client who had a $2,000 red toolbox. It held specialized tools that really didn’t qualify as household goods (which are exempt), and they were from a former career, so they didn’t qualify as tools of the trade (which are also exempt), but the toolbox was red, and it was really spiffy. Client loved this toolbox, and he really didn’t want to think about any mean, old Trustee taking it. Now, this client also had over $70,000 in unsecured debt that he needed to get out of.

So, I asked him. “If someone offered you $70,000 for that tool box, would you take it?” He looked at me like I was crazy. Seventy grand for a $2,000 tool box? Well, of course, he would take it. That is a fabulous deal! Then his brain made the connection, and the previous look of worried panic turned into a grin.

Turns out his Trustee wasn’t nearly as impressed by that toolbox as the client was, and the client wound up getting out of the $70,000 in debt and keeping the toolbox; but I have used this story (details have been changed, of course) for years.

So, first of all, remember that most people who file for bankruptcy in Oklahoma lose no assets. Just about everything that any of us owns of any real value is exempt, but even if you do own something that isn’t exempt – is it worth a discharge of all of your debt? If yes, then congratulations on driving such a great bargain – $70,000 in debt in exchange for a shiny, red toolbox. If, on the other hand, it isn’t the best deal you’ve had in a long time; then, talk to your lawyer about other options. Remember, you always have options; and it is your lawyer’s job to help you find them.

Elaine

Filing Fees – and They Say There is No Inflation

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There are three things that you have to pay for when you file for bankruptcy. They are: the attorneys fee, the filing fee and the credit counseling fee. The attorneys fee is pretty self-explanatory. The filing fee is paid to the Court at the time that the case is filed. It will probably look like you are paying this to your attorney; because you will pay it by handing your lawyer the money; but your lawyer will then pay the Court when he files your case. The credit counseling fee is ultimately paid to the pre-petition credit counseling company that you use to do your mandatory pre-petition credit counseling course. This you may pay directly, and you may pay it to your lawyer so that your lawyer can pass it on. Regardless, ultimately, you are the one paying for these things.

What brought this subject to mind this week is that the Administrator of the Courts just announced an increase in filing fees. A bankruptcy filing fee is generally divided between the Court for services provided by the Court and its clerk and the Trustee for services provided in administering your case. This increase is all going to the Courts.

The two most common filing fees for consumer debtors both went up $29 apiece, which is a substantial jump. What makes this a bit of a shocker is that fees just went up in November, 2011. Here is how fees have changed over just the last few years.

………………..  3/2006                Pre 11/2011                          2011 – 5/31/2014                      6/1/2014
Ch. 7                   $209                         $299                                         $306                                          $335
Ch. 13                 $194                          $274                                        $281                                           $310

There are all kinds of reasons and explanations for the increases, but the bottom line remains that it is becoming more and more expensive to file for Bankruptcy. I’ve practiced in many areas of law during the last 24 years, and I remain very proud of the Bankruptcy bar’s dedication to keeping attorneys fees as low as possible. When you file a Bankruptcy, you are filing a highly specialized, Federal Court case; and in most cases it will be substantially cheaper than any other significant legal event you have ever been a party to.

Bankruptcy attorneys were the first to really embrace automation. We have gotten very good at efficiently explaining complex legal concepts to our clients. That is not to say that Bankruptcy attorney fees haven’t gone up. The 2005 Bankruptcy Reform Act pretty well doubled the amount of work required to file a Bankruptcy and sent the lawyer’s liability soaring. Needless, to say – fees went up. Although I will say that they haven’t gone up in this office since then.

Elaine