Due to another round of imclement weather, bankruptcy court hearings and 341 meetings  for February 8th, 9th and 10th in both the Eastern and Northern Districts of Oklahoma have been affected as follows:

Northen District of Oklahoma

Judge Rasure’s Chapter 13 docket for February 9th has been continued to February 16th, 2011 at the same times as previously scheduled.

Meetings of Creditors scheduled for February 8th (from 1:00PM – 3:30PM) are continued to February 14, 2011 at the same times as previously scheduled.

Meetings of Creditors scheduled for February 10th are continued to February 16th, 2011 at the same times as previously scheduled.

Eastern District of Oklahoma

341 Meetings set before Charles Greenough, Chapter 7 Trustee, on February 9, 2011 will be continued to February 16, 2011 at the same time as the originally scheduled hearing. The meeting will be held in the attorney-conference room on the 3rd floor.

341 Meetings originally set before Gerald R. Miller, Chapter 7 Trustee, on February 2, 2011 that were previously continued to February 9, 2011 will be continued until Wednesday, February 23, 2011 at the same time as the originally scheduled hearing. The meeting will be held in the attorney-conference room on the 3rd floor.

All Chapter 13 341 meetings originally scheduled for February 10th have been continued to the same time on February 17th. HOWEVER, the meetings will be held at the Courthouse in Okmulgee rather than the original location in McAlester.

Due to the inclement weather, Judge Cornish’s Chapter 13 docket on February 9 will be heard telephonically, therefore, it will not be necessary that you travel to Okmulgee and McAlester for these dockets. You will need to call in to participate in the docket.

The February 9th docket begins at 9:00 so you should call in a few minutes before 9:00 and remain on the call until your matters are heard. All reaffirmation hearings are continued to February 23rd so that debtors will not need to travel to Okmulgee during the inclement weather.

The February 9th Chapter 13 docket begins at 10:00 am so you should call a few minutes before 10:00 and remain on the call until your matters are heard. The Court will not plan to hear sworn testimony during these telephonic dockets so if you have a matter set for an evidentiary hearing it will not be necessary to have your witnesses available and the Court will provide you an alternate date for the evidentiary hearing during the telephonic docket. You may find copies of each of the dockets on the courts website so that you can follow along during the telephonic dockets.

Due to the inclement weather, the bankruptcy courts for both the Eastern and Northern Districts of Oklahoma will be closed Thursday, February 3, 2011.

The United States Trustee for the Northern District of Oklahoma has continued the February 3rd Meetings of Creditors to February 18, 2011. The meetings will be held at the same times as previously scheduled.

CM/ECF will remain available for electronic filing during court closure.

Due to the heavy snowfall, the Clerk’s Offices of the bankruptcy courts for both the Northern District of Oklahoma and Eastern District of Oklahoma have announced that the courts will be closed Tuesday, February 1, 2011 and Wednesday, February 2, 2011.

The United States Trustee for the Northern District of Oklahoma has continued the February 1st Meetings of Creditors to February 15, 2011. The meetings will be held at the same times as previously scheduled.

The United States Trustee for the Eastern District of Oklahoma has continued the February 2nd Meetings of Creditors to February 9, 2011. The meetings will be held at the same times as previously scheduled.

All hearings for Judge Cornish in the Eastern District and Judges Michael and Rasure in the Northern District have been rescheduled.

CM/ECF will remain available for electronic filing during Court closure.

I want to say thank you to Jay Fleischman for his recent recognition of this Tulsa Oklahoma Bankruptcy Attorney Blog as one of the ten best online resources for consumer bankruptcy law and information.

Jay is a nationally recognized consumer bankruptcy attorney from Brooklyn, New York who also coaches other bankruptcy attorneys in subjects ranging from the substantive issues of consumer bankruptcy law to the practical aspects of marketing and operating an efficient law office.

Jay recently revealed his 10 Best Online Resources For Learning About Consumer Bankruptcy and I’m honored to say that the Tulsa Oklahoma Bankruptcy Attorney Blog was included as one of those ten resources.

My goal in publishing this bankruptcy blog is for it to be both a trusted resource and interesting commentary on consumer bankruptcy issues for both the general public and the legal profession. I welcome you to become a regular reader of this blog and encourage you to sign up for a free subscription so that you will automatically receive each and every new post by either email or RSS feed.

Bankruptcy filings in each of Oklahoma’s three federal bankruptcy districts continued their upward climb in 2009.

Oklahoma bankruptcy filings set all-time highs in 2005 as thousands upon thousands of Oklahomans raced to file bankruptcy before new bankruptcy laws took effect in October 2005 setting tighter income limits and new standards for measuring a debtor’s ability to repay creditors.

In 2006, after the new bankruptcy laws went into effect, bankruptcy filings dropped precipitously, mainly because many of the people who would have filed bankruptcy in 2006 had already filed in 2005 in an effort to beat the new laws known as the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act (BAPCPA).

According to Michael Williams, bankruptcy court clerk for the Northern District of Oklahoma in Tulsa, “At the time, people thought they needed to file because they’d never be able to file for bankruptcy again.”

“Filings have risen, and we expected it,” said Michael Williams, bankruptcy clerk for the Northern District Court. “We expected it, not because of the economy, but because the filings went so low after the new rules went into effect.

“We expect it to grow back to the level where it was before the new rules were passed. It will probably be at least another 30 percent next year.”

Source: Tulsa World

With 2010 quickly approaching, many of you are resolving to do things differently in the new year. It’s always a good thing to examine our lives, evaluate our strengths and weaknesses, and set specific, measurable and realistic goals for the future.

Here are a few of my New Year’s resolutions:

1.  Read, read, read and study, study, study. Bankruptcy law is one of the most complex and evolving areas of the law that exists and staying up-to-date takes much time and effort. That is why why most of the general practice lawyers (those who take whatever case walks in the door whether it be divorce, criminal, personal injury, real estate or bankruptcy) have realized that there is no way they can be competent in bankruptcy law. And knowing that there is now increased attorney liability for errors (sanctions, costs and legal fees), most general practice attorneys have made the wise decision to stop dabbling in bankruptcy and instead refer those cases to a lawyer who limits his or her practice solely to bankruptcy. My clients can rest assured that I regularly read and re-read the Bankruptcy Code and Rules, the local rules of the bankruptcy courts in which I practice, new bankruptcy cases as they are decided, as well as commentary about them.

2.  Attend several of the best bankruptcy Continuing Legal Education (CLE) seminars offered in 2010. The 2005 Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act (BAPCPA) was the most complicated overhaul of the Bankruptcy Code in several decades. And even though it’s been four years now since the BAPCPA became effective, there are still many areas of the law that are unclear. Bankruptcy judges, bankruptcy trustees, and bankruptcy lawyers continue to disagree on how much of the new law should be interpreted and applied. And bankruptcy judges do not even agree with each other as court rulings vary drastically from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. Therefore, I’m resolving to take as many Continuing Legal Education courses as possible on bankruptcy.  The National Association of Consumer Bankruptcy Attorneys (NACBA), of which I have been a member since 1997, provides the best educational seminars for consumer bankruptcy lawyers that exist. I plan on attending both NACBA’s 18th annual convention which is a 3-day event with multiple tracks of educational seminars covering a broad swath of bankruptcy topics. I also hope to attend NACBA’s fall workshop which is a smaller conference offering advanced level bankruptcy seminars.

3.  Stay on the leading edge of incorporating new technology into my law office. As most of my readers know, after years of operating a traditional brick-n-mortar law office with its staff and high overhead and which was not designed for client convenience, I now operate as a true solo attorney with no staff and a practice designed to offer clients both convenience and quality. My commitment to use the latest technology allows me to maintain a paperLESS office that is 99% digital which means that my bankruptcy office travels with me wherever I and my MacBook Pro and my iPhone go. I can do whatever is necessary to work on a client’s case, and my clients can reach me by email or phone, wherever I am. I will continue to evaluate new technology and incorporate whatever new technology will benefit my clients.

4. Increase the number of pro-bono cases I take. The current economic recession has increased the number of people who need to file bankruptcy but cannot afford to hire a bankruptcy lawyer. And because the bankruptcy laws are complex, the vast majority of individuals do not have the ability to represent themselves competently in bankruptcy matters. Therefore, I will take on more cases in 2010 where I represent for free deserving clients who do not have the ability to pay my attorney’s fee.

Thanks for being a reader of the Oklahoma Bankruptcy Lawyer Blog in 2009. I hope you’ve found this blog to be both interesting and informative. I invite you to become a regular reader in 2010 and if you aren’t receiving a FREE subscription, please to do so by going to the top of the page just to the left of my picture and clicking on the link to receive blog posts either by Email or RSS feed.

These days, it’s ordinary middle-class Americans, not a marginalized underclass or high-stakes gamblers, who are most apt to experience financial failure.

A new study by Elizabeth Warren, Harvard Law School Leo Gottlieb professor of law, and Deborah Thorne, Ohio University associate professor of sociology, finds that personal bankruptcy has become a largely middle-class phenomenon led by filers who are college-educated and owners of homes. According to the study, “The Vulnerable Middle Class: Bankruptcy and Class Status,” the shift occurred even before the Great Recession.

“The bankruptcy filings are a warning about the risks now facing middle-class Americans,” says Warren, chair of the Congressional Oversight Panel on the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP). No longer can they count on a college education, a good job and home ownership to protect them from financial collapse.

At age 40 and with such accomplishments, Schubert is Middle Class America. She and those like her have long been the nation’s backbone, because their steady jobs and purchasing power have helped drive our economy.

But Middle Class America has two faces, a new study shows. Schubert is that other Middle Class America, too.

After earning $275,000 annually, Schubert used most of her savings to start her business in 2003. The earliest days of the recession in 2007 slowed sales, and she fell behind on business and personal bills. Credit card debt reached $65,000.

She tried to find a full-time job without much luck, because the job market was saturated. Temporary freelance design work couldn’t cover her bills.

So last year, she filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy along nearly 1.1 million other individuals.

“I’m a highly educated, middle-class woman,” says Schubert, who is the single parent of a 2-year-old son, Lincoln. “Until now, I have never in my life been unemployed.”

“I graduated from a top art design school in the country,” she says of the Rhode Island School of Design. “Opportunities always came.”

After filing for bankruptcy, Schubert hasn’t found a full-time job but has been doing freelance design work. She says she has designed a new handbag line and is looking for investors to help recharge her business.

Home ownership, like higher education, guarantees little, the study finds.

“For decades the middle class counted on homes as an economic lifeboat,” Warren says. With a fixed-rate mortgage and a home that appreciated in value, families had a financial nest egg they could rely upon.

Now, homes are sinking families instead of stabilizing them, as home values plummet. When Diane and Nicholas Spano of Long Island, N.Y., ran into financial problems, they thought that the home they have owned for 29 years could save them.

Diane had a kidney transplant, and Nicholas temporarily couldn’t work at the post office because of a back problem. Diane went back to work at a drug and alcohol center, but it closed.

They applied for a home-equity loan, without realizing that there was no way they could afford the payments. House payments totaled $3,200 a month, and Diane had $200 a month in medical bills.

This summer the couple, who are both 66, filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy.

“I feel bad,” she says. “But if we had not filed for bankruptcy, I don’t know where we’d be.”

The home went into foreclosure, but the Spanos are trying to work out a loan modification. Diane is working part time at CVS; Nicholas has retired.

And plummeting home values are impacting not only homeowners but also many others who work in the housing industry. Builders, roofers, concrete workers, real estate agents and mortgage lenders are among bankruptcy filers now.

If this article resonates with you because you yourself are a member of the American middle class who is struggling with serious debt problems, and you have questions about how filing bankruptcy would affect your specific situation, I’m happy to offer you a FREE telephone consultation during which I’ll answer all of your questions. Just complete the “Contact Dan” form on the right side of this page, click the “Submit” button, and I’ll get right back with you. Or simply pick up the phone and call me at 918-615-8260. I look forward to hearing from you.

Source: USA Today

Ever wonder just who is filing bankruptcy?

In 2008, more than 1 million consumer bankruptcy cases were filed. Here’s a look at the demographics behind those numbers to help give us a better understanding of just who is being affected by the most recent economic downturn.

Source: FancyStats.com, Institute for Financial Literacy, and USCourts.gov.

Personal bankruptcies show no sign of slowing after rising more than a third this year and may hit 1.4 million by year’s end as more jobs are lost and loans become harder to get according to the American Bankruptcy Institute (ABI).

More than 126,000 consumers filed for bankruptcy in the United States in July 2009, an increase of 34% from July 2008 according to the ABI. The increase came after a 36.5% rise in personal bankruptcies in the first six months of 2009 compared to the same time period last year.

“Rising unemployment on top of high pre-esixting debt burdens is a formula for higher bankruptcies through the end of this year” said ABI Executive Director Samuel Gerdano.

And incrasing debt loads isn’t a problem reserved only for average Americans. Celebrities filing bankruptcy in July 2009 included television and movie actor Stephen Baldwin, who sought protection from his creditors after foreclosure proceedings were started against his home, and former major league baseball All-Star Lenny Dykstra.