Loan modifications in the commercial context usually yield better results than in the consumer world. This is because there’s usually a loan officer who is assigned to a troubled credit and has responsibility over collecting information, making fundamental decisions, reporting to committee and finally closing a loan modification or forbearance deal. Unlike the consumer world […]
Coupons, discounts and two-for-the-price-of-one deals assault consumers in print, over the airwaves and on the web. Almost every business will offer a new customer special value to bring them in the door. Bankruptcy lawyers are no strangers to this reality: nearly every bankruptcy lawyer I know offers a free initial consult to prospective clients. Even a […]
Howrey LLP was a global law firm that practiced antitrust, international litigation and intellectual property law. According to Wikipedia, at its peak Howrey had more than 500 attorneys in 16 locations worldwide. About 60 attorneys departed from Howrey in the year before January 2011, crippling the firm and prompting its creditors to force it into involuntary bankruptcy. Those partners took client work […]
Chapter 11 cases are frequently struggles between a debtor and its creditors over the fate of the debtor’s operations and its assets. At the center of this struggle is time: debtors want more time under bankruptcy protection to settle or restructure their affairs, while creditors want their money now. The Bankruptcy Code builds in early […]
Real estate agents and brokers may believe that they don’t truly earn their commissions until settlement, but that’s not the controlling law in Maryland and many other states. Maryland Real Property Article Section 14-105 states that in the absence of a special agreement to the contrary, a listing agent earns their commission when a binding agreement […]
Since 1935, when the U.S. passed its first Social Security Act, protection of the elderly has been a national priority. By 2009, according to this Wikipedia article, the U.S. Social Security plan became the largest government program in the world and the single greatest expenditure in the federal budget, with 20.8% for Social Security, compared […]
The bankruptcy process is filed with obstacles and milestones: hiring an attorney, filling out complicated forms and pulling the trigger to file the case itself. On top of all this is at least one public appearance: meeting with the trustee. In Chapter 7 the trustee’s meeting should follow careful planning and execution. In Chapters 11 […]
Kraken Investments consigned the classic “Madonna and Child” painting by Botticelli to crooked NY gallery owner Lawrence Salander in 2006. The painting is valued at $9.5 million. Kraken, an Israeli company, probably thought it had dotted its “i’s” and crossed its “t’s” when it had Salander sign a consignment agreement agreeing that any disputes would […]
Two stories tell different sides of the US housing crisis. In Philadelphia, a struggling homeowner tells her story of a tortured loan modification nightmare: at one point it appears she is to be forced from her home because her payment was short thirty-five cents. With no accountability and no predictability, banks who offer loan modification […]
Debtors have options when their assets exceed exemptions. They can file chapter 11 or chapter 13 and make a stream of payments to buy back their property’s surplus equity. They can file chapter 7 and negotiate a buyback from the trustee, or else just release the assets outright. They can stay out of bankruptcy and […]
