Inheritance and Bankruptcy The bankruptcy law has some specific rules about inheritance and a debtor's bankruptcy case. In a nutshell, if a debtor receives an inheritance within 180 days of filing bankruptcy, the bankruptcy trustee will take the inheritance and use it to repay creditors. Some debtors expecting the death of a family member may [...]

The recent bankruptcy of LTH Forum founder Gary Wiviott and the bankruptcy trustee auction of his online community has once again prompted discussion about the rights of intellectual property holders in bankruptcy. While the LTH Forum is not technically intellectual property in the sense that a book, recording or software is, the ownership of forums [...]

Home Equity Loan Laws in Texas In a recent Texas bankruptcy case, the court rejected the assertion of a creditor that it had a home equity loan that should be secured and nondischargeable. The bankruptcy court argued that because there was an pre-existing home equity loan on the property the second home equity loan was [...]

Judgement Vacated in Bankruptcy During the bankruptcy process a trustee may decide to file an adversary proceeding against a creditor.  The creditor is required to respond to the adversary proceeding within a certain amount of time or face a default judgment in favor of the bankruptcy estate. In a recent bankruptcy case, the creditor was [...]

Chapter 11 bankruptcy is one of the most common ways that businesses, small and large, shed debt and save themselves from collapse when facing financially troubled times.  Below are a few ways that Chapter 11 bankruptcy works to save businesses from shutting their doors because of debt. Chapter 11 bankruptcy allows the debtor company to [...]

In a recent Chapter 13 bankruptcy case, the debtors faced a challenge to their homestead exemption by the bankruptcy trustee because they sold part of their homestead and did not reinvest the proceeds within six months. The debtors in this bankruptcy case were in a situation where their home was damaged by Hurricane Ike. The [...]

Filing Bankruptcy for the Second Time Most Americans will face a serious financial crisis at least once every ten years.  When they're not prepared for the crisis or their emergency exceeds their resources, they consider bankruptcy relief. But what happens when a debtor who has already filed bankruptcy once is faced with a financial crisis? [...]

Facing zombie debt is similar to being caught on one of the "Night Of The Living Dead" movies except that instead of your life, your financial health is at risk. What is zombie debt? Zombie debt is debt which is dead, uncollectible, discharged or even paid off that simply won't go away. Zombie debt and [...]

A recent court decision allowing private companies to deny employment solely because of a past bankruptcy filing is a step in the wrong direction. In the bankruptcy discrimination lawsuit, Eric Myers alleged that TooJay's had discriminated against him because of his bankruptcy by refusing to hire him, and alternatively, by firing him after being hired. [...]

   When a Bankruptcy Case Ends Basically, a bankruptcy case comes to a close, either by a dismissal or a discharge; however, there are other ways that a bankruptcy case can close.Let's take a look at how bankruptcy cases generally end: The most common and most desirable way for a bankruptcy case to end is [...]