The family lawyer's guide to bankruptcy : forms, tips, and strategies

A unique resource written especially for the practicing family lawyer, this book presents an overview of bankruptcy law as it pertains to divorcing spouses. This third edition updates developing caselaw under the 2005 Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005 (BAPCPA) legislation which has made filing for bankruptcy more difficult and eliminates some of the benefits that used to be available. However, the need for family lawyers to know about this is pressing: a quarter of all bankruptcy cases are caused by divorce, often due to the costs of maintaining two households on a single salary, uncovered medical expenses, failing businesses, and job loss. Written by a bankruptcy lawyer and a family lawyer to seamlessly incorporate relevant information from both legal areas, the book focuses first on the discharge exception provisions applicable in the divorce arena, with an emphasis on the two most common exceptions: 523(a)(5), which provides for the automatic exception of "support" debts from bankruptcy cases, and 523(a)(15), which provides an automatic exception to discharge for non-support, divorce-related debts from Chapter 7, 11, and 12 cases. The second part of The Family Lawyer's Guide to Bankruptcy presents a general overview of the bankruptcy system and highlights the ramifications of bankruptcy in a divorce situation. Among the aspects defined and explained include the types of bankruptcy cases; case commencement; automatic stay; property of the estate; lien avoidance; priority of alimony, maintenance, and support debts; avoidability of transfers between married spouses; executory contracts; dismissal; closing the case; and revocation of discharge. Appendices provide useful materials for the practicing family lawyer, including guidelines for pre-bankruptcy planning, a definition of bankruptcy terms, tax and official filing forms, a bankruptcy court listing, and state exemption statutes.

• Section of family Law Publications Development Board p. iii
• About the Authors p. xi
• Acknowledgments p. xiii
• Part 1 Bankruptcy Law for the Divorce Practitioner p. 1
• I Inherent Conflict Between Bankruptcy and Divorce Law 1 p. 1
• II Bankruptcy 101 p. 3
• III Domestic Support Obligations p. 5
• IV Discharge p. 6
• V Nondischargeability of Divorce Obligations p. 9
• A Debts for Domestic Support Obligations p. 9
• B Debts for Property Settlements p. 11
• C How to Distinguish Between Domestic Support Obligations and Nondomestic Support Obligations p. 13
• D Treatment of Specific Obligations p. 18
• 1 Attorney's Fees p. 18
• 2 Retirement or Pension Funds and Other Awards of Property p. 18
• 3 Nondomestic Support Obligations p. 19
• 4 The Impact of a Hold-Harmless Provision in a Divorce Decree p. 20
• 5 Pleading and Standing p. 21
• 6 Litigation Shortcuts in the Adversary Proceeding p. 21
• 7 Attorney's Fees to Prevailing Plaintiff in § 523 Adversary Proceeding p. 22
• 8 Interest and Late Fees p. 22
• VI Bankruptcy as Change in Circumstances to Modify or Void Underlying Divorce Decree p. 22
• Notes p. 24
• Part 2 Bankruptcy 101 with an Emphasis on Divorce Ramifications p. 61
• I General Overview of the Bankruptcy System p. 61
• A History of BAPCPA p. 61
• B Bankruptcy: An Overview p. 63
• II Types of Bankruptcy Cases p. 64
• A Chapter 7: Liquidation p. 64
• 1 Means Testing p. 65
• 2 Debtor Education p. 66
• 3 Exemptions p. 66
• 4 Secured Obligations p. 66
• 5 Discharge p. 67
• 6 Time Line p. 67
• 7 Notices p. 68
• B Chapter 11: Reorganization or Liquidation p. 68
• C Chapter 13: The Wage Earner Plan and Chapter 12: The Family Farmer and Family Fisherman with Regular Income Plan p. 70
• D Post-petition Divorce While Bankruptcy Is Pending p. 75
• III Case Commencement p. 75
• IV Automatic Stay p. 77
• A Exceptions to the Automatic Stay Relevant to Family Law Practice 109 p. 79
• B Relief from the Automatic Stay p. 81
• C Sanctions for Actions Taken that Violate the Automatic Stay p. 83
• V Property of the Estate p. 83
• A Limitations p. 84
• B Exemptions p. 86
• C Community Property in Bankruptcy Court p. 88
• VI Lien Avoidance p. 90
• VII Priority of Alimony, Maintenance, and Support Debts p. 91
• VIII Avoidability of Transfers Between Married Spouses p. 93
• IX Executory Contracts p. 94
• X Dismissal p. 94
• XI Closing the Case p. 95
• XII Revocation of Discharge p. 95
• Appendix A Pre-Bankruptcy Planning for the Divorce Practitioner p. 131
• Notes p. 135
• Appendix B Pre-BAPCPA: A Discussion of Prior Law Under § 523(a)(15)'s Balancing Test p. 137
• Balancing Test p. 139
• Initial Application of § 523(a)(15) p. 139
• Rebuttable Presumption p. 140
• Burden of Proof on Creditor p. 140
• Bifurcated Burden of Proof p. 140
• The Disposable Income Test p. 140
• What Constitutes "Disposable Income" p. 141
• The Balancing Test p. 142
• Summary p. 144
• Notes p. 145
• Appendix C Dictionary of Bankruptcy Terms p. 161
• Notes p. 178
• Appendix D Official Forms p. 181
• Appendix E Tax Forms p. 281
• Appendix F Bankruptcy Court Directory p. 291
• Appendix G Exemption Statutes 1 p. 349
• Alabama Code p. 350
• Arizona Revised Statutes p. 352
• Arkansas Code of 1987 Annotated p. 357
• California Civil Procedure Code p. 358
• Colorado Revised Statutes p. 363
• Delaware Code Annotated p. 366
• Florida Statutes Annotated p. 368
• Georgia Code Annotated p. 371
• Idaho Code p. 373
• Illinois Compiled Statutes Annotated p. 376
• Indiana Code Annotated p. 378
• Iowa Code Annotated p. 381
• Kansas Statutes Annotated p. 384
• Kentucky Revised Statutes Annotated p. 386
• Louisiana Revised Statutes Annotated p. 388
• Maine Revised Statutes Annotated p. 392
• Maryland Code Annotated Courts and Judicial Proceedings Article p. 394
• Mississippi Code Annotated p. 396
• Missouri Annotated Statutes p. 398
• Montana Code Annotated p. 401
• Nebraska Statutes p. 403
• Nevada Revised Statutes Annotated p. 405
• Mckinney's Consolidated Laws of New York p. 408
• North Carolina General Statutes p. 413
• North Dakota Century Code p. 415
• Ohio Revised Code Annotated p. 417
• Oklahoma Statutes Annotated p. 420
• Oregon Revised Statutes p. 424
• South Carolina Code Annotated p. 427
• South Dakota Codified Laws p. 429
• Tennessee Code Annotated p. 430
• Utah Code Annotated p. 432
• Virginia Code p. 434
• West Virginia Code p. 437
• Wyoming Statutes 1977 p. 438
• Notes p. 440
• Index p. 441