Bankruptcy

Why Does My Lawyer Want Something Useless?

By Wendell Sherk, Missouri Attorney

Bankruptcy law used to make sense.  Then Congress and the previous Administration intervened and decided it needed to make a little less sense.

One of the ways it doesn’t make sense is in some of the paperwork we have to ask you to give us, as your lawyer.

For example, I spoke to an elderly woman living in an assisted living facility recently.  She hasn’t filed a tax return since the beginning of this century.  She was not required to do so because her income is too low.

There is absolutely no useful information on a 10-year old tax return for me, for the bankruptcy court, for the bankruptcy trustee, or for creditors in this situation.  Everyone knows that.

But the law requires that she provide the court and/or trustee with a copy of that return (or a transcript) of it or face dismissal of her case.

So, basically, the document is absolutely useless and it is absolutely critical to the success of her case.  In other words, I don’t need it at all except we’ll fail if we don’t have it.

And if you think that’s the way the law should work, then you have a profitable career ahead of you as a banking lobbyist!

Full post as published by Bankruptcy Law Network on March 19, 2010 (boomark / email).