Tag: social security

social security income bankruptcy keep out

Social Security Income and Bankruptcy: What You Need to Know

Social Security Income and Bankruptcy: What You Need to Know

Does Social Security income count in a bankruptcy?  It may make the difference between a Chapter 7 “straight” bankruptcy where you don’t pay the debt, and Chapter 13, where you do.

In Chapter 7 bankruptcy, income is used to determine whether someone qualifies in two different places. The first is the Form B22, or “means test.” The second is the actual budget. So let’s look at whether Social Security factors in those one at a time.

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Welsh is a gift from the 9th Circuit for every bankruptcy attorney

Chapter 13, Social Security, & Luxury Debt: A Case you Must Know

Chapter 13, Social Security, & Luxury Debt: A Case you Must Know

Why Welsh is the greatest Chapter 13 case ever

Every now and then, courts pass down a ruling on a subject that is so practical and a decision so favorable to consumer debtors that it’s as if the heavens opened, angels sang, and cherubim hand-delivered a gift to attorneys far and wide on the wings of a unicorn. The Ninth Circuit’s In re Welsh is such a case.

Introduction

On this, the ten-year anniversary of In re Welsh, 711 F.3d 1120 (9th Cir, 2013), it seems relatively few attorneys know about this ruling, and how it can benefit debtors. Or at least, far fewer bankruptcy lawyers know about this than should. Yet we all should have it tattooed on the inside of our eyelids.

So, with the goal of getting the word out there, and celebrating a decade of relative anonymity, here’s a loud and triumphant commemoration as a monument to one of the greatest debtor cases in bankruptcy jurisprudence, and all of its varied folklore.

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