| IRA Protection in Bankruptcy |
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| Social Security benefits, company pensions, and 401(k) plans are all shielded by law and are, therefore, not lost to creditors in bankruptcy. Whether that same protection extends to an individual retirement account (IRA) is not clear. The bankruptcy law, which was drafted in the 1970's before IRAs became such an important vehicle for retirement savings, is ambiguous. This has led to contradictory rulings in federal courts around the country. More... |
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| Property Interests of Debtor and Other Family Members Affected by Bankruptcy Case |
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| Analysis of the extent and nature of the bankruptcy estate is essential to determining what will happen to a debtor's property in bankruptcy, a subject that is often of enormous importance to the debtor's spouse or former spouse and to other members of the debtor's family. More... |
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| Chapter 7 Eligibility |
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| A petitioner must reside in or have a domicile, a place of business, or property in the United States in order to file a Chapter 7 bankruptcy. The petitioner must not have been granted a Chapter 7 discharge within the last six years or completed a Chapter 13 plan. More... |
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| Unsecured Claims |
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| Unsecured debt may be generally described as a debt where credit was granted based solely upon the promise or ability of the debtor to pay. Claims that are not secured by any collateral or subject to setoff are generally unsecured claims. For purposes of bankruptcy, unsecured claims are classified and paid based on a priority list described in the Bankruptcy Code. Each class must be paid in full before the next lower class is paid anything. More... |
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| Tax Claims |
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| The treatment of tax debts in bankruptcy proceedings is an attempt to reconcile two conflicting policies. The first policy concerns the government's interest in collecting taxes. The second policy concerns the fresh start that bankruptcy is to give honest debtors. Under the Bankruptcy Code, a debtor's ability to discharge any tax debt is based upon the classification of that particular tax debt. More... |
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