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Saturday, May 28, 2011

Here are a Lot of Additional Bankruptcy Videos!

Walk yourself right over here and you'll see a large number of additional bankruptcy videos!

For Those of You Who Prefer Reading to Watching Videos...

Here are a bunch of the most-viewed Arizona Bankruptcy Articles of all time from my original (not the extra-crispy) bankruptcy blog.

And thank you for watching and reading; we appear to be headed for all-time highs in readership this month!


The Best of the Best Articles of All Time from my Other, Other, Other Bankruptcy Blog!

Friday, May 27, 2011

Can I Dump a Box of Bills and Run, and You'll Make a Bankruptcy Happen by Magic and Telepathy?



That would be a big no.

Back in the old days, I would sometimes accept a client for a "big box bankruptcy", which involved a debtor dropping off a box of demand letters, judgments and bills, and bailing out of the process.

These days, I won't do that, because the consequences of failing to list a creditor are too great; I want my clients to pull their three credit reports, as a safety net, and then to list their creditors and account numbers, and all their assets.

It is a lot of work; about the only thing that would be worse would be a bankruptcy filed with incorrect account numbers, missing creditors or unlisted assets.

Putting it another way, I don't want to file your bankruptcy right now; I want to file it right.

p.s. I recently talked to a nice young man who, when I explained that he would be listing all his debts, exploded "That's b..lsh.t! Some paralegal should just find them somewhere and do it all for me!"

And I explained to him that we'd be happy to do it that way, if there were a perfect, absolutely complete listing of his debts, with zip codes and addresses and account numbers, floating out somewhere in the ether.

But there isn't, so if you want all of your creditors to get notice, and you want the full benefit of your bankruptcy discharge, you'll at least consider pulling three credit reports as a safety net, and getting out your stack of bills, mean letters and lawsuits, and getting your debts listed on our intake system.

But only if you want the debts to go away, of course!

p.s. Yeah, he didn't make the cut to be my client. Nice guy, though! And I wish him well.

Thursday, May 26, 2011

What Happens To a Lien or a Mortgage or a Security Interest in a Bankruptcy Case?



Liens, mortgages, and security interests (which are all essentially the same sorts of things) are tough little guys, and manage to hold onto things even when washed by the Discharge Order, unless they are acted upon by a different Court Order.

That's an important piece of bankruptcy information in Arizona, or anyplace else.

A Guide to Finding the Best Bankruptcy Lawyer for Your Personal Bankruptcy Situation



There are a lot of bankruptcy lawyers in Arizona, and you get to decided on the lawyer of your choice. Of course, if you're outside of Arizona, your choices don't include me, because I'm a bankruptcy lawyer who has a practice limited to AZ!

Here are some guidelines to finding and deciding on a bankruptcy lawyer who may help make you more comfortable during the one to five years your bankruptcy case may be open (if it's a no-asset case, it will probably be closed for administrative purposes in a year or so after you file; a case with assets to administer may well be open for five years, because bankruptcy trustees are very busy these days!).

Wednesday, May 25, 2011

The Right to Convert a Chapter 7 Bankruptcy to a Chapter 13 Bankruptcy to a Chapter 11 Used to be a Bit More Predictable.



Changing varieties of bankruptcy used to be very easy, and very predictable.

Not perfectly predictable these days.

Why Do I Like to Talk About Debt and Zombies? Why Not Bankruptcy and Vampires? Or Complaints and Drop Dead Dates?



I think the reason I like this video so much is simply that Zombie Debt Collectors are not very nice, in my opinion.

And there's also the fact that I get to say "Mwah-haaa-haaaaa" during the course of the educational bankruptcy video, which is only a little bit educational in this case.

Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Outsourcing is Funny as All Get Out! On Television.




Bankruptcy and Outsourcing in Arizona go together like ham and eggs.

I get to talk to a lot of nice people who trained their replacements in India or China or Saudi Arabia.

So, because I don't like to watch people suffer, I don't like outsourcing jobs in general.

On the other hand, I love the television show "Outsourced". Because it is funny!

I just don't like the reality of outsourcing.

Saturday, May 21, 2011

My Bankruptcy Will Last HOW Long? A Frequently Asked Bankruptcy Question in AZ!

A lot of people want to know how long their bankruptcy will take, from start to finish.

The answer is a little confusing for most folks. Heck, it was confusing for me to figure out how to explain it to people.

Here's the Reader's Digest Version: your Chapter 7 Bankruptcy has two different timelines. They start at the same point, but they don't end at the same point.

And here I am, as a talking head, explaining how it works.

Friday, May 20, 2011

Tell Me Again Why I Want to Pass the Bankruptcy Means Test in Arizona!

There are three different reasons that passing the Means Test is a good idea.

Actually, there are probably thirty.

But here are three reasons that jumped out and bit me recently when I was filming educational bankruptcy videos for folks in Arizona!




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Thursday, May 19, 2011

Collection Agencies are Scary, But Talking to Them Doesn't Have to Be!

Most folks would rather have a knee replacement than a conversation with a phone collector, but it's not really all that difficult.

Here are some thoughts I've had about talking to bill collectors when you don't have the dough to pay them, based on my last thirty years of talking to collectors, and payors, and everybody in between!