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!

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  Your Top Ten Bankruptcy Questions, Answered!

  There are some questions that come up with great frequency. I've posted blog entries to address some of those, and the most frequently asked...
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  Bankruptcy Arizona: How Do I Fill Out the Bankruptcy Schedules, Bankruptcy Statements, and Bankruptcy Lists: How Do I Fill Out the Forms?

  This is designed to help my clients fill information into their forms. This is not legal advice for somebody in New York, or anybody else, b...
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  Hey, Give Heidi a Break, Okay? Itemize your Furniture!

  Here's the deal: when you fill out your forms online in our computerized system, there will come a point when you are finished, and you will...
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  "So How Long is this Chapter 7 Bankruptcy Going to Take, Anyway?"

  Well, that depends. First, you have to sort of understand the process, and fill out the forms, and go over the forms to make sure they're ...
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  A Timeline for Your Bankruptcy Case; Usual Sequence of Events in A Chapter 7 Bankruptcy in Arizona

  Prior to your bankruptcy, suffer and worry a lot. You will, no matter what, and all that suffering will make you feel better when the overwh...
• I Swiped a Post from a New Blog I'm Building to Help My Small Business Clients AVOID Bankruptcy!

  This is a post from a new blog I've started. It has one purpose in mind: it's designed to help folks who have small businesses bring in more...
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  Play 20 Questions with a Bankruptcy Lawyer!

  I built a list a lot like this 30 years ago, so when I came back from a gigantic lunch I wouldn't forget to ask about important stuff. See...
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  What happens in a First Meeting of Creditors in a Consumer Chapter 7 Bankruptcy in the District of Arizona Bankruptcy Court?

  The first meeting of creditors may be the only hearing in a Consumer Chapter 7 Bankruptcy Case. Here's a video that explains it, and after...
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  How Will I Pay for a Bankruptcy if I'm Broke? How Much Will My Chapter 7 Bankruptcy Cost?

  There's an old joke among lawyers: a bankruptcy attorney walks into a cocktail party, and the divorce lawyer asks, "How does a bankruptcy la...
  
    

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.

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!).

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.

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.

A Chapter 7 Plus a Chapter 13 is a...Well, YOU Do the Math!

This is a discussion of a "Chapter 20" Bankruptcy in Arizona.

Enjoy!

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.

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!




 

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!