Nov 29
One of the best reasons to file bankruptcy may be to plan for your retirement. If you’re paying the minimum amount each month on credit card debt, you can’t be saving for retirment. If you want to retire in any form, you have to start saving now. Suppose you have $20,000 in credit card debt […]
Nov 23
This is the time of year that many people start last-minute tax planning. This year, because the estate tax was repealed for 2010 and the gift tax was reduced to 35%, last minute planning is even more important, and may really be last minute. There is a lot of uncertainty about whether Congress will retroactively […]
Nov 10
We are fast approaching the end of 2010, and the end of the no-death-tax year. The estate tax went away on December 31, 2009, and hasn’t been in effect since then. It is scheduled to return in 2011, with a higher rate and a lower exemption. Most observers don’t believe that will happen, but Congressional […]
Nov 3
Under amendments to the Telemarketing Sales Act that took effect October 27, 2010, debt settlement agencies that offer to renegotiate or settle consumer debts for a fee are now prohibited from collecting advance fees from consumers. Before such an agency can collect a fee, three things must happen: The company has settled, reduced, renegotiated or […]
Oct 18
Elder law is a special area of the law that deals with the needs of the elderly or disabled. It encompasses several areas of law, including estate planning (wills, trusts, etc.); so-called “end of life” issues such as living wills, durable powers of attorney and guardianships; estate and gift tax planning; Medicare and Medicaid; nursing […]
Oct 13
Lindsay Lohan sued E-Trade, an online brokerage company, over a Super Bowl ad that featured talking babies. In the ad, one of the babies, a male, apologizes to a female baby for not calling her the night before. Suspicious, the female asks if he had been with that “milkaholic Lindsay.” Ms. Lohan claimed that she […]
Oct 11
With data through the second quarter of 2010, bankruptcies have reached highs not seen since the fourth quarter of 2005, just before the dreaded BAPCPA, which was designed to halt a perceived flood of bankruptcies, became effective. In the three month period ended June 30, there were over 422,000 filings in the United States, the […]
Sep 10
The term “unbundled legal services” or “limited scope representation” as it’s sometimes called is one of the hot new buzzwords in the legal profession. Simply put, unbundled legal services means that a client hires an attorney for a specific task and pays only for those services. For example, rather than retain an attorney to prosecute […]
Sep 1
We hear a lot about short sales these days. A “short sale” is a term that generally means a lender accepts less than what is owed on a mortgage loan and in return releases its mortgage. There’s a lot of confusion about the effect of a short sale. Is the borrower free and clear after […]
Aug 30
The Los Angeles Times reports that Blockbuster, the movie rental giant for the last decade, will file a “pre-planned” Chapter 11 as early as next month. A pre-planned bankruptcy is one in which most, if not all, of a debtor’s creditors agree to the reorganization plan before filing. The debtor is in and out of […]
