Blogs

As many of you may be aware, for years now I’ve kept tabs on our celebrities who have sought bankruptcy relief in the past.  One of the most prominent bankruptlebrities is Teresa Guidice, one of the stars of the Real Housewives franchise.

In several of my blog posts I have examined what symptomatology the Social Security Administration (SSA) looks for when reviewing medical records for the purposes of awarding disability benefits.  In today’s blog post I’m going to talk about another common ailment that I see a lot of in my disability practice, Chronic Heart Failure (CHF), and how the SSA determines the severity of their impact on a claimant

If you are facing a money crisis, you are probably one of the millions of Americans getting phone calls and letters from debt collection companies and law firms. Too often, these phone calls and letters are rude, abusive, and threaten actions against a consumer that cannot be lawfully taken.

In the past three weeks, I personally have encountered the confusing maze of prescriptions drug prices and discovered I don’t understand it and probably never will.  My family is healthy for the most part.  As a consumer, mom, and bankruptcy attorney, I became very disheartened by three things in the last three weeks.

It's probably safe to say that most of us were raised with the adage: "If you create a debt, you had better pay it. You're a bad person if you don't pay your bills." But, most of us when we are making decisions do not intentionally set out on a course to simply skip out on paying our bills.

Credit scores…we all have them but most of us do not understand how our scores are calculated.  Regardless, effective immediately, your credit score may experience an increase as high as 30 points.  This could help you when applying for credit or trying to negotiate a better interest rate.

Political consulting firm Cambridge Analytica announced last week that it was planning to cease its operations and file for bankruptcy.   The announcement follows growing concerns of its business practices and its work during the 2016 presidential campaign.

Recently, I have seen a number of individuals who have been instructed by their facility security officer (FSO) that they need to fill out and submit a SF 86 form through the e-Qip (Electronic Questionnaire for Investigation Processing). This is all done online through the JPAS  (Joint Personnel Adjudications System).

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) determines the standard mileage rates each year to be used when calculating the deductible costs of operating an automobile for business, charitable, medical or moving purposes.

Dating back to the beginning of the year (January 1, 2018) through December 31, 2018, the standard mileage rates for the use of a car (also vans, pickups or panel trucks) will be:

The Means Test became a part of bankruptcy along with a raft of other changes in 2005 through an amendment called BAPCPA (the “Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Creditor Protection Act”). Since then it has caused problems even for experienced bankruptcy practitioners.