All items from Drescher Law

New Bankruptcy Claims Transfer Fee Is Not A Tax

Here’s a shock: when you ask someone to do something for you, they usually charge you money. When that someone is a federal court and the something is accepting a document for filing, the charge usually comes in the form of a filing fee.The United States Courts website maintain a list of fees chargeable in bankruptcy, as authorized by a federal statute. The court will charge fees for filing bankruptcy cases, converting a case from one chapter to another, filing complaints, motions for relief from the automatic stay and notices of appeal. Usually, anytime a filing requires court personnel to do something (issue summons, send notice, etc.) there’s going to be a charge.The Judicial Conference of the United States has just added a $25 fee for transferring a claim in bankruptcy. This new fee eliminates a freebie that claims speculators used to enjoy, but certainly added to the labor burden of bankruptcy courts.



From Drescher Law
Posted 2 weeks 1 day ago

Save Your Core Business In Chapter 11 Bankruptcy

How did women's clothier Chadwick's emerge from a successful Chapter 11 case?  By focusing on its core business and shedding debt. Many companies attempt to grow too fast by pursuing ambitions in the marketplace.  Growth almost certainly involves taking on debt as companies add equipment, leases, employees and other infrastructure in order to accommodate the anticipated increase in revenues.  Many times the growth does lead to new business but the additional debt burden consumes the benefits of that growth and the debtor begins to drown in the sea of growing payables.  Even worse, the debtor may have taken on a secured line of credit that threatens to sink the good assets belonging to the company's previously profitable main business operation. By focusing on the core business operations of a struggling company the Chapter 11 bankruptcy process can frequently allow that company to shed its extraneous operations, reduce overhead, and trim debt-service payments to a sustainable level.



From Drescher Law
Posted 5 weeks 2 days ago

Casey Anthony To Testify Under Oath At Bankruptcy Meeting

Casey Anthony Will Answer Creditors' Questions Under OathInfamous alleged child killer Casey Anthony will testify under oath at her bankruptcy meeting with the trustee on March 4, 2013 at 1:30 p.m. This testimony will break Anthony's long silence. She did not testify at her murder trial, where she was acquitted of killing her toddler daughter Caylee.In the vast majority of bankruptcy cases, these meetings are short, routine affairs. The trustee has cursorily reviewed the debtor's schedules of assets and liabilities and other bankruptcy papers and simply asks the debtor to confirm that there are no assets for creditors. Creditors almost never attend.



From Drescher Law
Posted 11 weeks 1 day ago

Bankruptcy Buyer's Remorse: When Debtors Want To Dismiss Their Own Chapter 11 Case

Chapter 11 Debtor Dr. Michael BrownMichael Brown did not seem to be a good candidate for bankruptcy. A prominent Houston hand surgeon, he invented a surgical technique to treat carpal tunnel syndrome and franchised 6 surgical centers in the southwest. His Brown Medical Centers had earned between $25 million to $30 million a year. However, while trying to divorce his 4th wife Rachel, Dr. Brown and his companies racked up millions of dollars in unpaid bills at the same time he is reported to have bought an $8 million beachfront property in Miami before filing for bankruptcy (perhaps a bit too ostentatious way to try and justify venue of his case outside of the too-cozy confines of his Houston home?). Claiming that his prior lawyers misled him into beliving that reorganization under Chapter 11 would help bring a close to "divorce-related issues" Dr. Brown has hired a new legal team that wants to help the surgeon dismiss his Chapter 11 case only a month after filing.



From Drescher Law
Posted 11 weeks 5 days ago

Should Casey Anthony Be Denied A Discharge in Bankruptcy?

Casey Anthony, Bankruptcy Fraud?Famed child murder acquitee Casey Anthony has filed for bankruptcy in Tampa, Florida. Ms. Anthony's bankruptcy filing appears to list fairly minimal and routine assets and liabilities, such as:Cash on hand: $474Furniture and laptop: $200Jewelry: $200Woman's clothing and accessories: $100In the category for "Patents, copyrights, and other intellectual property" she marks "none". She also lists "none" for any income received in the last three years.These answers are ludicrous and may very well cause her to lose her discharge.Under the Bankruptcy Code, a debtor will not receive a discharge if the debtor knowingly and fraudulently, in or in connection with the case made a false oath or account. Most bankruptcy courts agree that a debtor's reckless act of failing to disclose a valuable asset is also grounds for denial of a discharge in bankruptcy.



From Drescher Law
Posted 16 weeks 2 days ago

Are Americans Ready To Give Up Our Single Family Homes?

The foreclosure crisis in our country has prompted judges, legislators and lawyers to rethink deeply embedded beliefs about mortgages in default and loan modifications. Settlement agents classically advise borrowers signing loan documents that "to stay you have to pay," but both slowly and radically, practices are changing. New laws and procedures around the country are creating a developing culture of relief and forgiveness in the home mortgage environment.



From Drescher Law
Posted 18 weeks 2 days ago

Bikinis, McDreamy and Starbucks Bid for Coffee Company in Bankruptcy

Patrick Dempsey imdbAn auction for bankrupt Seattle based Tully's Coffee is heating up. Tully's sells coffee to consumers out of 47 retail locations in airports, downtown Seattle street corners and the Washington State Convention Center. Under the wieght of its corporate structure, Tully's filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in October, promptly shutting down several stores. Soon after, the coffee seller began soliciting bids for purchase of the assets valued at $4.3 million.Amongst the prominent bidders have been Patrick Dempsey, well known as "Dr. McDreamy" for his role in the TV hit series "Grey's Anatomy". Dempsey found himself competing against Barista's coffee chain, known as the Hooters of the coffee world.



From Drescher Law
Posted 19 weeks 4 days ago

Occupy the Hood Foreclosure Resistance Crumbles on New Year's Eve

Javi and Lupe EvictionFor many, the loan modification process is getting out of hand. Javier Hernandez lost his job, his father was deported and the value of the home he bought for his mother seven years ago plummeted. Despite all this grief, however, Javier appeared to still be current on his payments, according to this article in the Dissident Voice. Things started going wrong when "at the recommendation of the bank, he stopped making payments in order to receive a loan modification..."



From Drescher Law
Posted 20 weeks 1 day ago

Sussex County Sheriff Suspends Foreclosures For Christmas

Sussex County Delaware SheriffI recently received a letter from the Sussex County Sheriff regarding their December 2012 foreclosure schedule. Here is the text: TO: ALL ATTORNIES, NEWSPAPERS

The Sussex County Sheriff’s Office would like to inform the public, attorneys and newspapers that we will NOT be holding a Sheriff’s Sale in the month of December due to the fact that our office would like to issue compassion in these hard economic times.  
If you have any questions, please contact us at the above number.

Thank you.Delaware is a judicial foreclosure state, meaning that the lender must file a lawsuit and obtain a money judgment before earning the right to foreclose on a house. After obtaining the judgment the lender takes steps to arrange for the Sheriff to conduct a public auction at the Sheriff's office. In Sussex County Delaware, the Sheriff conducts foreclosure sales on the third Tuesday of each month. By that schedule, the date for the December 2012 sale would have been December 18, 2012, one week before Christmas.



From Drescher Law
Posted 21 weeks 5 days ago

Beauty Queen Cannot Discharge $5 Million Defamation Award In Bankruptcy

Miss Pennsylvania USA Sheena MonninFormer Miss Pennsylvania USA Sheena Monnin claimed that the 2012 Miss USA beauty pageant was rigged.  An arbitrator has disagreed and she has been ordered to pay pageant organizers $5 million for defamation.  Under the Miss USA pageant agreement signed by Ms. Monnin all disputes were to be resolved by an arbitrator, not the courts. Apparently the former Ms. Pennsylvania did not participate in the arbitration.  This was a grievous mistake.  By refusing to participate the beauty queen gave up her right to cross examine witnesses and introduce her own evidence in defense of her position.  It is also possible that by participating she may have been able to negotiate a settlement prior to entry of the award. At this point, the pageant organizers may enroll the arbitration award as an enforceable money judgment under either state or federal law, and then begin to seize Ms. Monnin's assets and earnings.



From Drescher Law
Posted 21 weeks 6 days ago