Latest Legal Insights for Bay Area Residents

Lien Stripping in Chapter 13 Consumers dealing with large debt and minimal prospects of repaying that debt often turn to bankruptcy to get a fresh start. Through the bankruptcy, the debtor can emerge debt-free and not have to live with collection calls and worries. The United States Bankruptcy Code (the “Code”) is confusing. What’s more,…

Criminal Proceedings and the Automatic Stay One of the most unique and perhaps most important features of the bankruptcy process is the automatic stay. The automatic stay, in section 362 of the US Bankruptcy Code, halts creditor collection of debtor assets. It is effective as soon as the debtor files for bankruptcy and provides the…

Creditors that hold debts secured by depreciating personal property, such loans secured by cars and boats, are entitled to receive “adequate protection” payments while a debtor undergoes the bankruptcy process. The underlying theme of adequate protection is designed to protect an entity from a decrease in value of its interest in property of the estate…

The U.S. Bankruptcy Code allows individual chapter 7 debtors to redeem certain tangible personal property, when such property is intended primarily for personal, family or household use, by paying the secured creditor the allowed amount of the secured claim. Congress created the right of redemption “to protect debtors against ill-advised reaffirmations and the high replacement…

Chapter 7 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code provides a liquidation process for consumer debtors. It accomplishes the twin objectives of bankruptcy, providing a fresh start to the “honest but unfortunate debtor” and ensuring an equitable and ratable distribution of assets to creditors. A chapter 7 debtor enters bankruptcy with an unmanageable debt load and insufficient…

The Bankruptcy Code provides debtors, unsecured creditors, and trustees the capacity to modify a chapter 13 plan, even after confirmation, due to changed circumstances. Modification, under of a Chapter 13 plan must be made post-confirmation of the plan and pre-completion of payments. A debtor, chapter 13 trustee or creditor holding an unsecured claim may request…

To confirm a Chapter 13 plan, the Bankruptcy Code requires, among other things, that a proposed plan can be confirmed if it “has been proposed in good faith.” The term “good faith” is ambiguous and has never been conclusively defined. Consequently, the good faith requirement is the most heavily litigated provision of a Chapter 13…

Generally, bankruptcy reorganization is applicable to prepetition debt, which refers to liabilities arising prior to the bankruptcy filing, not postpetition debt. Chapter 13 bankruptcy provides an exception to that rule. A Chapter 13 debtor, under certain circumstances, can include postpetitition consumer debt and taxes in the Chapter 13 plan. This requires trustee approval and that…

You were married with a family. Now you have finished a difficult divorce. The circumstances exhausted you and caused much heartache. Not only was it emotionally taxing, it was also financially draining. You and your spouse were living together under one roof and both of you contributed to the household costs. Then you split from…

When a debtor files a Chapter 13 case, section 1301 0f the United States Bankruptcy Code bars (or stays) creditors from collecting “consumer debt” from a non-bankrupt individual who is responsible for that debt along with the debtor. Generally, the stay is in effect until the case is closed, dismissed or is converted into a…