Although there’s plenty of good evidence that the ACA reduced medical bankruptcy, it doesn’t necessarily answer another question debtors might have: whether they can be denied treatment for filing bankruptcy. The short answer for emergency room visits is no, which I’ll discuss, but in other cases the answer might be yes. For emergency care, debtors …
Can a Hospital Deny Treatment to Bankrupt Patients? Read More »
More than two-thirds of American households have pets, and sometimes they run into financial difficulties. For the most part, though, New York bankruptcy protects debtors’ pets, but there are additional considerations that should assuage pet owners. New York exempts pets. Section 5205(a)(4) of the New York Civil Practice and Law Rules exempts domestic animals from …
A while back I spent several posts discussing the means test in a chapter 7 New York bankruptcy. If debtors’ incomes are above the median family’s for their state, they must take the means test. Sometimes they fail it, but the Bankruptcy Code allows debtors an out: “special circumstances” that reduce their current monthly incomes …
What Are ‘Special Circumstances’ in the Means Test? Read More »
One of the most common questions a New York bankruptcy lawyer hears is: How does bankruptcy affect credit scores? The best response is that credit scores are trivial compared to debtors’ financial problems. Bankruptcy is about accepting sunk costs of bad debt, even if it’s triggered by unfair circumstances such as a job loss or …
How Does the ‘Bankruptcy Flag’ Affect Credit Scores? Read More »
The New York Times Dealbook blog reported that household debt has reached what appears to be an ominous milestone: As of the first quarter of 2017, American households now owe about $12.7 trillion, equal to what they owed in the third quarter of 2008—the previous peak before panic gripped the financial sector. So should New …
Household Debt Returns to Prerecession Levels! … So What? Read More »
A few months ago, the U.S. Supreme Court chose to hear a case deciding whether a chapter 13 bankruptcy debtor could sue a debt collector for violating the Fair Debt Collections Practices Act (FDCPA) for filing a proof of claim on an expired debt. For New York bankruptcy debtors, the answer already is no, but …
U.S. Supreme Court: Bad Proofs of Claim Do Not Violate the FDCPA Read More »
Debtors operating sole proprietorships can encounter disadvantages in a chapter 7 New York business bankruptcy as compared to more common no-asset, low-income, non-business debtors in the same chapter. They both face chapter 7’s income thresholds, yet non-business debtors need not worry whether a trustee will put a stop to their incomes or sell the assets …
Two Reasons to Incorporate Before a Business Bankruptcy Read More »
The business press has been hyping a new type of employee benefit: student-loan payments by employers on behalf of their employees. The benefit is so newsworthy that articles have dubbed it “hot” since late 2015. However, only 3 percent of businesses in a survey of 450 offer to help pay for their employees’ student debts, …
Going by a Bloomberg article, the City of Detroit has not learned about debt collectors that are adopting new technologies to target borrowers. Like cities in New York State, Michigan authorizes its municipalities to collect income taxes from its residents. Detroit concluded its chapter 9 bankruptcy in late 2014, and in the meantime nearly half …
Detroit Learns That Threatening Letters to Tax Debtors Gets Results Read More »
Before the Patient Protection Affordable Care Act (ACA), which Congress passed in 2010, medical bankruptcy was alarmingly common. Because many Americans could not afford health insurance, if they suffered an injury or were diagnosed with a serious illness, then they could face very large, unpayable bills. It doesn’t help that the U.S. has one of …
How Much Did the ACA Reduce Medical Bankruptcies? Read More »
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