Bankruptcy

1 Comment to “Bankruptcy for Consumers DVD”

1. 

   Joseph C. McDaniel

   1:57 am on May 31, 2010

   I was looking for a dvd to hand out to my consumer bankruptcy clients, and this looked ideal.

   The topics covered include a discussion of Chapter 7 vs. Chapter 13 vs. Chapter 12 vs. Chapter whatever, and the homestead exemption, and how to calculate equity in a house.

   It discusses vehicles and the way that some taxes can be discharged under some circumstances, and various exceptions to the discharge.

   The format is a simple one: two lawyers sit across a desk from each other and one asks questions about bankruptcy, and the other one answers. The lawyers work pretty well together in a question and answer format, and most of the discussion is pretty clear, if very general.

   THE PROBLEM WITH THE VIDEO is simple: it relates to the period PRIOR to the passage of the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005. And after the hour of q and a, there’s a very short appendix with short discussions of the changes in the law.

   Is the dvd useless? Absolutely not. It provides a potential debtor with an overview of vocabulary, a discussion of calculating equity in a house, a discussion of the way a trustee in bankruptcy might treat a car in a Chapter 7 case, and other valuable items of information.

   But the decision the producers made, to adapt to the changes in the law by just putting in a scrolling appendix at the end of the dvd which discusses in summary fashion the major changes in the post 2005 bankruptcy world is just plain….not perfect.

   There! I said it! I won’t equivocate on this!

   Still, if a potential debtor watches this prior to visiting with an experienced, board-certified, AV rated bankruptcy lawyer, or an[...] 10 rated bankruptcy lawyer, they’ll both save some time, and that is a good thing.

   For a potential debtor who wants to invest a couple of dollars and a little more than an hour in watching a discussion of major topic areas in bankruptcy law, this is not bad. It’s not precise enough for anybody to rely on as a serious reference, but as an overview, and a summary, and a first look at the law (assuming that the viewer watches and understands the scrolling update at the end of the dvd), it’s not bad.

   Note that the exemption list at the end of the dvd is both limited (to cars and houses) and obsolete. But information about exemptions is thick on the internet.

   Note: DO NOT rely on this dvd to make major life decisions; it’s not adequately detailed or precise. While it’s a pretty decent overview, and while I hope they come out with a sequal that squarely discusses the CURRENT version of the law, you should NOT rely on this for a bet-the-house decision-making session.

   p.s. as I write this postscript, there is a raging debate in Congress over a provision in the Bankruptcy Code that may, after amendment, permit the stripdown of some OR all mortages on residential real property. Will that statute pass? Listen, I’ve practiced bankruptcy law in Phoenix, Arizona for about thirty years, and I’ve watched a long series of amendments to the “New Code” of 1979; and I’ve watched as Congress debated in the past. The 2005 amendments took about a decade to work their way through Congress. So MAYBE the Bankruptcy Code is about to change a lot. And MAYBE it’s not. But if you’re contemplating bankruptcy in Phoenix, Arizona, or anywhere else, you should be aware that the law is currently MAYBE about to change in a way that could be helpful to debtors, IF they qualify and are willing to put up with a Chapter 13 bankruptcy (which makes a root canal look like fun).
   
   Rating: 3 / 5