You’ve doubtless heard the term “attorney-client privilege” if you’ve ever watched any TV crime show.  We’ll probably never know what O. J. Simpson told his lawyer Johnnie Cochran (R.I.P) about the events in the wee hours of June 13, 1994.  If O. J. confessed the murders to Mr. Cochran, that confession would have been considered privileged and confidential.

For a communication to be considered privileged, it must be in the pursuit of legal advice and be made in a confidential manner.  The privilege belongs to the client, and it can be waived if the client so chooses.  However, it can also be voided if the client is careless in sharing the information with other parties, which is easy to do in this age of email and social media.  Note particularly that pure business advice, even if rendered by an attorney, does not fall under the definition of privilege.  Specifically with respect to bankruptcy cases, the courts have held in some instances that the bankruptcy trustee can...

As an Austin bankruptcy attorney I see many situations where my clients have accumulated tax obligations.  There are some circumstances where relief can be obtained in a Chapter 7 filing, but the rules, like all bankruptcy matters, are very specific and fact based. 

Generally your personal state and local income taxes in arrears can be discharged.  If you have unpaid obligations from a prior tax return due to insufficient withholdings or a shortfall in estimated payments, those can be erased.  However, if, for example, you have a household childcare employee to whom you have paid W-2 income and have withheld taxes “in trust” for government entities, you remain liable for those until fully paid. Similarly, if you run a small business and have collected sales taxes from your customers, those too remain your liability....

Bankruptcy is not a process to be entered into lightly or without careful attention to all the rules.  Once you’ve filed a bankruptcy petition, you are headed down a path that will remain on your credit report 10 years.  For most people this is a stressful and emotional ordeal.  However, here are some things to keep in mind:

1.  My job as your lawyer is to guide you through the legal steps that give you the best possible outcome for your particular circumstances.  I can’t help but have a great deal of empathy and personal concern for all my clients, but you will want to rely heavily upon friends, family, and any other support available to you.  You will be amazed...

Bankers will tell you that loans are based on the 3C’s – character, credit, and collateral.  People who retain me as their Austin bankruptcy attorney are nearly always people of good character who have tried to maintain good credit, but, for one reason or another, they have fallen into difficultly in their financial lives.  Their lenders at that point are looking to collateral, if any, as a source of repayment for a delinquent loan.  

Collateral is a specific pledge of an identifiable asset against a loan.   For example, your home and its associated land are the collateral for your mortgage.  Your car and boat are the collateral for those loans.  If you cannot pay the debt, your lender has the right to repossess your collateral and sell it to recover as much as possible, after which you are still responsible for any deficiency (shortfall) on that loan.  In a Chapter 7 bankruptcy, as I have discussed in a previous post, there is a special provision in the law whereby you can...

The rule is pretty straightforward that you can’t file a Chapter 7 bankruptcy if you have previously been discharged from a case filed within the previous eight years.  Note that it’s the filing date that is relevant, not the discharge date.

If you filed a Chapter 7 that was dismissed, rather than discharged, then you can file again, but there are some rules that guard against abuse.  Just to clarify, your goal if you file is to get a discharge of your debts, wiping the slate clean and giving you the intended fresh start.  A dismissal accomplishes nothing...

An important reason for you to use an experienced bankruptcy attorney is that the entire process revolves around very specific and quantifiable rules.  Bankruptcy trustees are charged with verifying that you are indeed eligible to take advantage of bankruptcy relief and to collect from you any assets that they determine should go to your creditors.  A portion of the trustees’ compensation is a function of the amounts so collected.  The trustees have to abide by the rather intricate rules but are not your friends.  Your own attorney is your only advocate in the proceedings.  The goals are to get all your qualifying debts discharged and and to get a letter acknowledging that the trustees will make no further attempts to recover assets from your estate...

Yes the laws do change periodically, and my job as your Austin bankruptcy attorney is to stay on top of those changes. There was a major revision to the bankruptcy code in 2005, but every year Census Bureau data is used to recalculate state median income by family size. This year the new data becomes effective on November 1, and the changes are in...

Many of the clients I see as an Austin bankruptcy attorney have arrived at the need to file a Chapter 7 as a result of a business failure.  You may have done your best to make your venture succeed, but sometimes markets shift quickly, competitors prevail, technologies change, and things just plain don’t work out.  You may choose to put your business through a bankruptcy proceeding, or, as is more often the case, you may just wind it down informally.  If your business has little in the way of assets to repay creditors, bearing the added expense and time of a business bankruptcy serves no good purpose...

As your Austin bankruptcy attorney my goal is help you restart your financial life and look forward to better times ahead.  But, part of the process that traps many people is what are called “lookback” periods.  These are of varying lengths and apply to financial transactions you have made prior to your filing.  Their purpose is to keep people from abusing the bankruptcy code by trying in advance to shuffle around or hide assets that rightfully should be made known to a Trustee and be available to your creditors.  If you are entering a Chapter 7 and erasing all allowable debts, you are exposing all your assets beyond certain prescribed exemptions.

As your Austin Bankruptcy Attorney I generally see damaged credit scores as my clients have fallen into situations that require my services. A Chapter 7 filing won’t help, and it remains on your credit report for ten years. But, normally within a year or less after discharge, your score will be higher than it was before you entered the process. I have written previously on this topic, but today I want to recommend an online service that can take some of the guesswork out of repairing your credit after you are discharged.

That service is Credit Karma. It’s free to use, and it provides you constant tracking of your score from one of the major credit reporting agencies. Among its features is a scorecard that shows you exactly what elements of your overall credit picture are good or bad for you...

For those who hire me as their Austin bankruptcy attorney, often the most pressing issue is what happens to the family home. If there are young children in the household who are comfortable with nearby friends and school districts, being forced to move adds immeasurably to the other stresses associated with a bankruptcy filing. And, there may be quite a bit of equity at stake...

Keeping your current vehicles following a Chapter 7 proceeding may involve what is called a “reaffirmation agreement.” It is a post-filing promise to remain personally bound on the secured debt, and it is an agreement that is additional to your bankruptcy statements and schedules—a reaffirmation agreement is one drafted by the creditor. In the event of a subsequent default, the agreement allows the creditor to sue you for any deficiency if it seizes and sells the collateral for less than what is owed. A reaffirmation agreement can be sought for any debt that is secured by a lien on tangible or real property. Though bankruptcy discharges most unsecured debts, most liens will remain in place. There are other options, about which I have previously written...

Unfortunately, obligations to the IRS cannot be discharged in a Chapter 7 Bankruptcy. However, the IRS since the Great Recession of 2008 has shown some compassion in compromising amounts due to them. Their formal process is explained pretty clearly here, and I recommend you review that page. As your Austin bankruptcy attorney, I can help you through what is called the Offer in Compromise (OIC) process...

As an Austin bankruptcy attorney, I occasionally see cases where the debtor is the ultimate beneficiary of assets held by a trust. This can create complex issues, and it always is best to have professional guidance in resolving them. You do not want to expose assets to your creditors that you think are protected by a trust.

Someone may have set up for you what is called a “spendthrift” trust. For example, a family member with money to bequeath upon his or her death may make some of that available to you, but under the absolute control of an independent trustee. This instrument, for example, is often used to allow offspring to reach an age where they are deemed capable of managing their own affairs. ..

As an Austin bankruptcy attorney I often see cases where payments have been made recently to certain creditors but not all.  A “squeaky wheel” collector may have persuaded you to send a check, or you may have repaid a debt to your cousin, but, unless defined amounts of time have passed, these will cause you problems in a Chapter 7 filing.  The Trustee may in fact be able to recapture these funds from those you repaid.  There will be no penalty to you, but the recipients of the money probably won’t look very kindly on such a circumstance...

Given the large number of college students in Austin, many of my bankruptcy cases are with individuals who have a significant amount of student or parent loan debt. Unfortunately, based on changes to the bankruptcy law in 2005, the answer to the question posed above is “almost nothing.” Student loans are no longer dischargeable in a bankruptcy proceeding, unless you pass the “Brunner Test” which I will describe below...

As part of the process of filing a Chapter 7, I as your Austin bankruptcy attorney will help you determine the correct information to put on what are labeled as Schedules I and J.  Read on for a bit of explanation of these forms.

Schedule I is a statement of your current income.  Both you and your spouse must provide detailed income information, unless you are separated and are not filing jointly for bankruptcy.  However, even if you are separated and are jointly on the hook for any of the debt you are seeking to discharge, you will both have to fill out the form.  This schedule is pretty matter-of-fact.  It’s looking for average monthly income going forward as best you can calculate it...

As you can see from my website and my many favorable reviews, I try to give all my clients the best possible service in determining whether bankruptcy is the right course of action and, if so, in getting it accomplished efficiently.

There is, however, much you can do to speed the process and to minimize the associated legal fees. Please note the straightforward 2-page form that you should complete and bring to our first consultation session. That will allow me to quickly assess your overall situation and focus on the questions that are most important. It will also enable me to give you an informed estimate of potential costs and time if bankruptcy is the right step for you. And, it will alert me to any matters like pending foreclosures or repossessions that may require immediate attention...

A question I often hear as an Austin bankruptcy attorney is this: “ What should I do about my car and its loan? I need a vehicle to commute to my job.” Almost always my clients will have zero or negative equity in their vehicles.

There are three choices...