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I am honored to have been invited to give a Free MCLE Accredited Chapter 7 Bankruptcy Training for Attorneys licensed (or willing to become licensed) in the Southern District of Texas who agree to accept 2 Pro Bono cases through Lone Star Legal Aid in 2012.



This is a nuts and bolts training and refresher regarding Chapter 7 consumer bankruptcy filings in the Southern District Bankruptcy Court in Texas.

Event Information
Date: Friday April 20, 2012
Time: 10am - 3pm
Location 1415 Fannin St. Houston, Texas

Technically you are not allowed to save money while you are in bankruptcy. Although you are allowed to have a reasonable living budget, if you were able to save money, that money should technically go to pay back your creditors.

This is a collaboration between me, Adam Schachter, a bankruptcy attorney in Houston Texas, and Michael Plaks, a specialist in IRS Audits in Houston Texas.

Home Foreclosure Legal Questions

1. Can I transfer my home to a friend or family member to avoid foreclosure?

One of the most common concerns of people considering bankruptcy is the effect that it has on their credit. I am going to write a series of articles that dive more deeply into each of the general concepts I present here.


In our opinion, there are three very important concepts people must focus on when considering the impact of a bankruptcy filing on their credit. The frightened and stressed brain usually jumps to only one concept or thought and stays there. The brain screams, “I’LL NEVER GET CREDIT AGAIN!!” The brain is wrong.

Technically, everyone qualifies to file bankruptcy. What people really want to know when they ask that question is 'can I successfully file for bankruptcy?'. First you need to figure out why you think you need to file in the first place. Are you overwhelmed by credit debt? Behind on a house or a car? Is the goal simply to wipe out overwhelming debt or to save that car or house from repossession or foreclosure? Once you have the answers to those questions you can then start the analysis of which bankruptcy makes sense for you and whether you can successfully complete it.

Almost every client asks:  what happens if I leave off a creditor?

As with nearly every legal question, the answer is “it depends.”  If you file chapter 13 bankruptcy, you are almost certainly out of luck and the debt is not going to get discharged.

Thanks to Attorney Tobias Licker in St. Charles for this guest post.

What is an Automatic Stay

As soon as a bankruptcy is filed, with a couple of narrow exceptions, something called the “automatic stay” goes into effect. The automatic stay is found in the bankruptcy code at 11 U.S.C. § 362(a) and it stops most collection efforts. Once a bankruptcy is filed, the automatic stay prevents repossessions and foreclosures and stops lawsuits. It ends the harassing phone calls and letters and provides an immediate sense of peace.

Bankruptcy fees can be a hot topic. It can also get a bit complicated, so let’s start with the easy stuff first.


Most of the time, most lawyers charge a flat fee for doing a bankruptcy. This means that you are not paying by the hour and that you and the lawyer agree on a set amount of tasks for a set fee.

Cost of Chapter 13 Bankruptcy in Texas