Bankruptcy filings skyrocketed in the weeks and days before the current bankruptcy laws took effect October 17, 2005. The perception was it would be much more difficult to file AFTER the bankruptcy laws changed. Well, it has not turned out the way that creditors hoped. Of course, filings were down after the 2005 rush,…
How to avoid filing bankruptcy? We should revert to the old rules of family finance, even guru Suzie Orman agrees. Remember, those Depression era folks? Some are still around, like my in-laws. They considered it damn near a sin to borrow money. Pay interest? No way. Never had a credit card or a car…
Hell, yes. Just because a person or company, or even a college, has filed bankruptcy, does not mean you are off the hook if you owe them money. Lon Morris College filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy, and expects to get as much as one million dollars by suing students for unpaid tuition. These are not…
General Motors filed the biggest Chapter 11 bankruptcy in history. Lots of corners were cut, laws and rules ignored for political reasons. Bondholders, among others, got zip. The president wanted it over quickly, wanted the unions to come out on top. Now, it seems, not all of the maneuvering was done in the open…
Chapter 13 bankruptcy, and Chapter 11 bankruptcy, are payment plan bankruptcies, unlike Chapter 7 bankruptcy, which is to wipe out debt. Being payment plans, you pay some of your debts in Chapter 13 or Chapter 11, but perhaps a small percentage. How much you pay depends, among other things, how much you make. But,…
It is expensive to be Batman, and, high expenses can lead to bankruptcy. In The Dark Knight Rises, bad investments lead to the bankruptcy of, well, it is not clear. Is it Wayne Industries? Or Bruce Wayne personally? It comes up at a board meeting, which makes it look like corporate bankruptcy. But, later on,…
DETROIT BANKRUPTCY COURT This is it! Home of the Detroit, Michigan bankruptcy court. Nothing marking it other than the address: 211 West Fort. The initial, usually, only, court date is held here on the third floor, for both Chapter 7 and Chapter 13 creditor meetings, or, 341 hearings. Well, for certain counties in the Eastern…
Michigan bankruptcy clients forget creditors all the time. Or, don’t even know they owe some body money, especially medical bills, which often show up months later. Some people panic: I already had my bankruptcy hearing, is it too late? How much trouble am I in? Will I have to pay this bill?
photo credit: dreamstime What the hell is Chapter 11? Just the name gives most people a headache. OK, maybe not as much of a headache as if you work for a company that files Chapter 11 bankruptcy, or, if a company that owes you money files under Chapter 11. Most Chapter 11 bankruptcies are filed…
Creditors may not all look like this. OK, probably none of them do. But that is what some of them make us think they are, on their way to bashing our heads in if we don’t fork over the loot. Loot that we don’t have. The bankruptcy code defines creditor as: (A) entity that…
