When filing bankruptcy the debtor is required to file a bankruptcy petition. The petition includes information about the debtor’s income, assets, creditors and other required disclosures. The debtor files the petition under the penalty of perjury that all the information contained in the petition in true and correct. 

When filing a bankruptcy petition the debtor must file a financial statement which includes a schedule of the assets that are part of the bankruptcy. This includes any current or future interests the debtor may have, including causes of action possessed by the debtor at the time of filing. 

Filing for bankruptcy is available to honest debtors to allow them respite from their creditors. Even those debtors that have previously filed for bankruptcy relief are allowed to file again for bankruptcy. For those debtors with previous bankruptcy filings, they may not be entitled to a discharge or other protections allowed to bankruptcy debtors depending on the status of their previous cases and when their previous bankruptcies were filed. 

Under section 523(a)(6) in the bankruptcy code, "any debt . . . for willful and malicious injury by the debtor to another [person]" is not dischargeable. 11 U.S.C. §523(a)(6). 

To determine “willful and malicious injury” the facts of the incident must be analyzed. The bankruptcy code itself lacks definition for these terms. 

Starting the bankruptcy process can seem like a lonely time. It can be defeating to feel like you have no other options, but the bankruptcy process is meant to provide individuals relief. And even though you may feel like no one you know has had to file bankruptcy, you may be surprised to learn all the people you know who have had to file bankruptcy in the past. 

Even if the studies show that reducing working hours per week is beneficial to both for employers and employees, how do we get there? The federal government-meaning your elected officials-will have to pave the way. Similar to the path of the 40 hour work week, and some states like California and Maryland have already proposed this legislation.

The need to limit the working hours per week was a necessity, but why was the 40 hour work week selected as the standard? 

The 40 hour work week was signed into law in 1940 as part of The Fair Labor and Standards Act, but should society continue to allow this standard? To understand if the 40 hour work week should remain, we must first discuss the origin of the 40 hour work week, and how we came to accept this standard for the past 70 years. 

Reduce, reuse and recycle. We have heard this mantra many times.  And the message is clear, continue consuming, and you can consume relatively guilt free, just recycle that old shampoo bottle and it will ultimately become part of someone’s tennis shoe or maybe new kid’s toy. An amazing feat, and what we know now, an amazing lie. 

A Chapter 13 plan must meet the requirements of section 1325(a) to be confirmed. 11 U.S.C. § 1329(b)(1). Plan compliance is discussed in section 1325(a)(6). That section states that "the court shall confirm a plan if the debtor will be able to make all payments under the plan and to comply with the plan." 11 U.S.C. § 1325(a)(6).

Student loans continue to be an issue for many Americans. The pending litigation surrounding the loan forgiveness of the Biden Administration is being watched carefully for those that may be eligible for loan forgiveness. 

Not all debts in a bankruptcy are treated equally, and some debts can be excepted from the bankruptcy discharge. Under § 523(a)(6), the creditor must demonstrate "willful and malicious injury by the debtor" to another person or their property, and if a creditor can successfully demonstrate a willful and malicious injury by the debtor the creditor’s claim can be excepted from discharge. 

Debtors should disclose all assets on the bankruptcy schedules, and failure to do so can result in the denial of discharge. If a debtor discovers or remembers an asset was not properly disclosed on the bankruptcy schedules, even if the asset is discovered years later, the debtor should amend the schedules to properly disclose the asset. 

A client may be judicially estopped from asserting a cause of action not disclosed on the bankruptcy schedules or otherwise mentioned in the disclosure statements. 

Lack of disclosure in a bankruptcy filing can negatively impact a debtor. Clients will often question why they need to disclose certain information or if it would be better to “hide” certain assets from the court.  

The U.S. Supreme Court held that inherited IRAs do not qualify for the section 522(b)(3)(C)  exemption.  

That opinion makes clear that a beneficiary faces a choice between (1) "rolling over" the IRA, thus making the IRA subject to the tax and bankruptcy rules for traditional and Roth IRAs, or (2) keeping the IRA as an inherited IRA subject to different tax and bankruptcy rules for inherited IRAs.