bankruptcy court

What is Chapter 7 bankruptcy?

Filing Chapter 7 bankruptcy is a serious financial decision for individuals who have large amounts of debt they likely won’t ever be able to repay. 

Though filing for Chapter 7 ultimately gives you a fresh financial start by eliminating debt, it may come with serious consequences, including negatively impacting your long-term personal credit health and the loss of valued personal possessions.

What is Chapter 7 bankruptcy? 

Chapter 7 bankruptcy is liquidation bankruptcy that will discharge most of your unsecured debts. 

“Among other actions, a bankruptcy court will issue a temporary stay on collection activities, so collectors will stop calling and wage garnishments will cease,” said Derek Jacques, bankruptcy attorney with The Mitten Law Firm in Southgate, MI.

Types of collection activities that may be halted temporarily include evictions, garnishments and repossessions.

“With Chapter 7, the court will take ownership of your assets, and assign a trustee to oversee the proceedings,” Jacques said. “The trustee will review your finances, debts, income, and assets.”

The court may sell non-exempt property to help pay back your creditors and also run a meeting between you and your creditors where you’ll answer questions about your filing. 

Certain types of debts can be discharged In Chapter

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November 23, 2023 by ATTORNEY

Bankruptcy Court OKs Terminating Santa Barbara News-Press Employee Retirement Plan | Local News

In another blow to former Santa Barbara News-Press employees, the bankruptcy trustee is terminating the company’s 401(k) retirement plan and will pay the fees out of their accounts.

When Ampersand Publishing owner Wendy McCaw filed for bankruptcy in July, the News-Press stopped publication, and Managing Editor Dave Mason told employees their jobs were eliminated.

McCaw claims in court documents that the parent company has about $5 million in debts, including payments to former employees and vendors, and much less in assets.

Last month, U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Ronald A. Clifford III approved terminating the Nationwide Financial 401(k) employee benefit plan because the business no longer exists.

Bankruptcy trustee Jerry Namba and his attorneys said former News-Press employees “have apparently been contacting (plan administrator Latitude Retirement) to inquire about the status of their 401(k) accounts and how the funds will be distributed.”

Requests to distribute the money couldn’t be processed because of the bankruptcy filing, bankruptcy attorneys wrote in court documents.

Former News-Press sports writer Mark Patton said he’s been trying to roll over his 401(k) into an IRA account “and have been getting nothing but a total run around from everybody,” including Nationwide, Latitude, and the bankruptcy attorneys.

“I’m

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November 17, 2023 by ATTORNEY

Top Texas Firm Entangled in Bankruptcy Judge’s Ethics Trouble

A Texas law firm tied to a prominent bankruptcy judge’s alleged ethical misconduct is seeking to keep its status as a go-to firm in one of the country’s busiest bankruptcy courts.

The Justice Department’s bankruptcy watchdog has accused Jackson Walker of failing to disclose potential conflicts of interest after a onetime partner at the firm, Elizabeth Freeman, was alleged to be in a romantic relationship with bankruptcy Judge David R. Jones, who regularly oversaw the firm’s cases. The allegations have put Jackson Walker in an unusual position for a firm that’s known in bankruptcy circles for its role as the right hand of corporate restructuring powerhouse Kirkland & Ellis for its Houston-based cases.

The US Trustee late last week challenged at least $13 million in fees the firm earned while representing clients before Jones in the US Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas.

Jones presided in at least 26 cases where Jackson Walker was awarded compensation and expenses while Freeman worked at the firm and lived with Jones in an intimate relationship, the US Trustee said in court filings. The firm has said it made sure that Freeman wouldn’t work on or bill for any cases Jones was

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November 11, 2023 by ATTORNEY

Parishes, schools to be shielded from lawsuits in Archdiocese of Baltimore bankruptcy for now

A federal bankruptcy judge on Tuesday agreed to shield the Archdiocese of Baltimore’s parishes and schools from lawsuits, at least for now, in order to protect insurance policies that are likely some of the archdiocese’s most important assets.

The decision means that childhood sexual abuse survivors will not be able to file lawsuits against an individual parish or school if the institution was covered by the same insurance policy as the archdiocese.

The judge’s order shielding those institutions is preliminary. A legal fight over the church’s assets is almost certain to come later as plaintiff’s lawyers seek compensation and other benefits for sexual abuse victims in the bankruptcy.

The archdiocese’s lawyers on Tuesday presented the move as an effort to shield assets that will later be distributed among victims with claims against abusive members of the clergy and church officials that protected them.

RELATED: Maryland’s Child Victims Act takes effect: What to expect in the days ahead

If survivors file lawsuits against individual parishes that are covered by the same insurance policies as the archdiocese, their potential winnings in court would diminish the total amount available for distribution from the policies later, they said.

U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Michelle M. Harner

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October 5, 2023 by ATTORNEY

Not a bribe, Modesto company’s lawyer says of job offer, $150,000 check for hospital CEO

Addressing a federal judge, a lawyer representing a Modesto-based hospital management company stressed that his client back in May wasn’t trying to “bribe” a Central San Joaquin Valley hospital executive when they handed her a $150,000 check and a job offer amid negotiations.

Hamid Rafatjoo, a partner with Raines Feldman Littrell LLP and lawyer for American Advanced Management Inc., told U.S. Judge René Lastreto II over Zoom in court on Tuesday that his client wasn’t trying to gain competitive advantage in a bidding process to take over operations of bankrupt Madera Community Hospital.

“Obviously, there were better ways of handling that process,” Rafatjoo said, “but it didn’t come from a place of trying to bribe anyone.”

“My client did what it did,” he said, adding that the actions took place before he was retained.

A business law expert contacted by The Bee said there was nothing illegal about the offer, though it looks “irregular” and “awkward” and the circumstances suggest it should have been fully disclosed in bankruptcy court.

Rafatjoo also took the opportunity Tuesday to tell the judge that AAMI’s offer to take over operations of Madera Community Hospital was superior to the current proposed partner and that it

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September 17, 2023 by ATTORNEY
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