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The federal bankruptcy laws promise a fresh financial start for the honest but unfortunate Oregon debtor.  Any Oregon consumer considering bankruptcy should take care to avoid making any of the following mistakes.
Mistake #1: Incurring Debts Close to Filing Bankruptcy
Some people decide to charge up credit cards or take payday loans just before filing bankruptcy. Big mistake. If you have decided to file bankruptcy in Oregon, take care to avoid incurring additional debts. Taking loans with no intention of repayment on the cusp of filing bankruptcy could result in you not getting the full discharge of all your debts.
Mistake #2: Paying an Insider
The bankruptcy laws attempt to treat creditors fairly. One concern is that the debtor will pay loans back to either friends or family before filing bankruptcy. The thought is letting debtors do so deprives other creditors from receiving their fair share.
Family, business partners, friends and other creditors who have close relationships with the debtor are called insiders. Transfers to insiders can be avoided by the bankruptcy trustee if the transfer occurred within one year before the bankruptcy filing.
For example, lets say an Oregon debtor takes $1,200 from her income tax refund and repays her father for a short term loan, and then filed bankruptcy a month later. The result is that the bankruptcy trustee would be able to sue her father to recover the $1,200 or make her pay that amount for distribution to her creditors. Making matters even worse, normally the debtor could have waited until the bankruptcy was filed and then repaid the debt to her father without incident.
Fortunately, if you have made such a transfer, there are ways of undoing them that may help you avoid the negative impact of an insider payment, but you have to let us know about these payments for us to help you.
Mistake #3: Cashing out Retirement Accounts
Most retirement accounts are completely protected during bankruptcy. Unfortunately, many Oregonians are unaware of these protections and cash out their retirement accounts out of fear that it will be taken during the bankruptcy.  In doing so, the debtor converts what was an exempt asset into a non- exempt asset.
 
Mistake #4: Transferring Property
Debtors often give away or sell property to avoid losing it in bankruptcy. This is unnecessary as almost all property can be protected under Oregon and Washington’s extremely generous exemptions. The problem with transferring property is that once you have transferred an item it is no longer eligible for protection under the bankruptcy code.
For instance, a truck worth $3500 is completely protected from turnover during your bankruptcy. But if you transfer title of this vehicle to your sister before the bankruptcy, the trustee can avoid the transfer, take the car, and sell it to pay your creditors.
Mistake #5: Failing to Be Honest
Failure to truthfully disclose all of your debts, income, expenses and assets are grounds for dismissal. Moreover,  you may face allegations of bankruptcy fraud.
Mistake #6: Owing your Credit Union or Bank and Filing Bankruptcy with Money in Your Account.
If you do owe money to your bank or credit union and you are going to be filing bankruptcy, it’s time to open a new account with a bank that is not also your creditor. Why risk having your current bank freeze your account and take your money as soon as they find out that your bankruptcy has been filed. The reality is that you can extricate yourself from your creditor bank easily. Changing over your automatic bill pays and deposits is just not that hard.
If you are experiencing financial difficulty and are considering bankruptcy, discuss your situation with us. Set an appointment at any of our offices in Portland, Salem or Vancouver. We have an ‘A+’ rating from the Better Business Bureau. We are the only firm in the Portland or Salem metro area offering real payment plans to help you get your bankruptcy filed more quickly.
The original post is titled Six Bankruptcy Mistakes for Oregon Debtors to Avoid , and it came from Portland Bankruptcy Attorney | Northwest Debt Relief .

In today's Wall Street Journal, Jacob Gershman (lead writer of its Law Blog) wrote an article on about the various views, including by Supreme Court and Appellate Court Judges' on the use of adverbs in the law.  He noted that their use suffers much "adversity" and are the "grammatical equivalent of cheap cologne or trans fat."

Use of Adverbs in the LawMr. Gersham wrote that the use of adverbs "not only flourishes but wields power" in the American legal system. He asserts that they of late have taken on an "increasingly important - and often contentious - role in courthouses" helped by the fact that lawmakers fill new law with them. Mr. Gersham makes reference to the following court decisions:

• "Knowingly Aim" - the 8th Circuit's presented with the question as to the meaning of the the phrase containing an adverb "knowingly aim"  ["knowingly aimed a laser pointer at an aircraft] U.S. v. Smith, 756 F.3d 1070 (2014). Does "knowingly" modify both "aim" and "aircraft"? The Court looked at a common use of the word "aim" when a "ceremonial commander" orders "Ready, aim, fire!"   

• "Substantially Burden" - the U.S. Supreme Court was presented with the use of "substanially" in the context of "substantially burden[ing] a person's exercise of religion"  Burwell v. Hobby Lobby Stores, 134 S.Ct. 2571 (2014) 
• reference made to the "Dictionary Act of 1871" - 1 U.S.C. §1 (interesting states that "insane" includes "every idiot, insane person, and person non compos mentis")

• "Designed Quickly" - that is whether the taxpayer quickly designed to place property beyond the reach of the government, Fumo v. US, 2014 WL 2547797 (E.D. Pennsylvania 2014) 

Views CitedJacob Gerham notes various views as to the use of verbs: 

• "superfluous generally" - legal anthropology professor 
• "use has surged since the 1980s ... especially in the criminalization of white-collar and regulatory offenses" - Professor Lawrence Solan
• "legislators and adverbs need each other ...[s]tatutes have to be hyper-literal and generic" - Bryan Garner (editor of Black's Law Dictionary)
• "we have no problems with the use of adverbs" - Attorney General Eric Holder
• "tempting to use an adverb ...it says exactly what you mean" - Judge Gregory K. Orme
• "I don't think any of us can follow the rule as religiously as Hemingway did. I wish I could" - Chief Judge Alex Kozinski of the 9th Circuit
• "Caustic Exploitation" - Justice Antonin Scalia's "unapologetic" use of adverbs - a legal linquist
• "More likely to lose an appeal" - lawyer's excess use of adverbs in briefs - 2008 study by law scholars
• "Work in your favor" - if judge likes their use
• "I do not like adverbs...there use is a cop-out"  - Justice Anthony Kennedy
• "The road to hell is pave with adverbs" - Stephen King ("One Writing - A Memoir of the Craft")

Adverbs The dictionary defines "adverbs" as used to "modify the sense of a verb, participle, adjective, or other verb."  Examples are: as to a verb - he drove slowly (how did he drive?), as to an adjective - he drove a very fast car (how fast was his car?), as to another adverb - she moved quite slowly down the aisle (how slowly did she move?)  Adverbs often

• tell when, where, why, or under what conditions something happens 
• frequently end in -ly, but many words ending in -ly are adjectives
• have two forms, one ending in -ly and one that does not (late and lately) 

Three Functions: More, Less or Describe"Adverbs often functions as intensifiers, conveying a greater or less emphasis to something" and serve three different functions: 

• to emphasize  (I really don't, She simply ignored me) 
• to amplify (I so wanted, I know this city well) 
• to down tone (The employee almost quit, He sorta felt betray) 

Further ReferencesOxford Online English A Letter to Stephen King from the American Adverb Association
Jordan E. Bublick is a Miami Bankruptcy Lawyer

Believe it or not, there are certain circumstances where you are too broke to file. You simply don’t have the means to even come up with the filing fee which is $335. Just yesterday, a potential client walked 45 minutes to see me in my office. Not only was he unemployed, but he had his+ Read More
The post Can You Be Too Broke To File Bankruptcy? appeared first on David M. Siegel.

Cannot Overrule Prior Panel In McNeal v. GMAC Mortgage, LLC, 735 F.3d 1263 (11th Cir. 2012)(wholly underwater liens still avoidable in chapter 7) the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals was presented with the issue whether it could recede from its prior decision in Folendore v. Small Business Administration, 862 F.2d 1537 (11th Cir. 1989), in view of the subsequent Supreme Court decision in Dewsnup v.Timm, 502 U.S. 410 (1992).  The Court held that it was bound to follow its decision in Folendore based on the "prior panel precedent" rule. Under the prior precedent rule, "a panel cannot overrule a prior one's holding even though convinced it was wrong." United States v. Steele, 147 F. 3d 1316 (11th Cir. 1998)(en banc).
Clearly Contrary Opinion RequiredThis article explains that the 11th Circuit in the case of Main Drug, Inc. v. Aetna U.S. Healthcare, Inc., 475 F.3d 1228 (11th Cir. 2007), held that “‘[w]ithout a clearly contrary opinion of the Supreme Court or of this court sitting en banc, we cannot overrule a decision of a prior panel of this court.’” To constitute and "overruling", the Supreme Court decision "must be clearly on point." Garrett v. Univ. of Ala. at Birmingham Bd. of Trs., 344 F.3d 1289, 1292 (11th Cir.) and "actually abrogate or directly conflict with, as opposed to merely weaken, the holding of the prior panel." In re Provenzano, 215 F.3d 1233, 1235 (11th Cir. 2000).

Applies Also to Decisions Based on State Law The Court in Broussard v. Souther Pac. Transp. Co, 665 F.2d 1387 (5th Cir. 1982) related that "[t]his rule applies with equal force to cases in which state law provides the substantive rule of decision" and that the Court is therefore bound by this Court's prior decisions on what is the law of a state in a diversity case."  Provenzo  noted that the "prior panel precedent" rule would also not apply if there was an overruling in an intervening case  by the Florida Supreme Court.

Jordan E. Bublick - Miami Bankruptcy Lawyer - Kendall & Aventura Offices - (305) 891-4055 - www.bublicklaw.com