I had to smile when I read the news that the banks were now lobbying to keep former Harvard bankruptcy professor and Senator-elect Elizabeth Warren from getting appointed to the Senate banking committee.

Lobbying is not cheap. It runs into the millions of dollars for a campaign. And, like most good businesspersons, I am sure the banks did some cost-benefit analysis in making this decision.

Q:  I keep hearing about debt settlement companies.  Are they a legitimate way to avoid bankruptcy? – John L.

Q:  I keep hearing about debt settlement companies.  Are they a legitimate way to avoid bankruptcy? – John L.

The National Association of Consumer Bankruptcy Attorneys (NACBA) recently published a consumer alert report entitled “

Everybody is telling Twinkie jokes this week. Hostess Brands was limping its way through Bankruptcy Reorganization when its bakers heeded the call of their union and went on strike on November 9. As part of the reorganization effort Hostess had proposed wage and pension cuts.

The 8th Circuit Bankruptcy Appellate Panel has ruled that a Chapter 13 debtor may not create a special class of unsecured creditors for nonpriority, nondischargeable tax debts at the expense of other unsecured creditors.  In the case of Shawn & Lauren Copeland v. Richard V.

Here is a good article about credit scores.Adam Brown is a bankruptcy attorney for Dexter & Dexter, a debt relief agency helping people file for bankruptcy.

In an about face from former policy the U.S.

In a recent Opinion, Judge Opperman from the Eastern District of Michigan Bankruptcy Court held that a Chapter 13 debtor cannot exclude voluntary post-petition retirement contributions from disposable income.  This Opinion is significant for debtors, trustees, and creditors as it systematically changes the way the Eastern District of Michigan will treat post-petition voluntary retirement contributions in a Chapter 13. Read More ›

Reading the opinion just issued by the Bankruptcy Appellate Panel for the 8th Circuit in the case of Shaffer vs. Iowa Student Loan Liquidity Corporation, I am wondering if we are now witnessing a greater willingness of the bankruptcy courts to discharge student loans.