My staff and I spent an hour today with a webinar about the new and "improved" Official Forms which we will be required to use starting December 1, 2015.

The forms have much of the same information, but they are arranged differently and named differently.  There will be a steep learning curve when we are required to file new cases with these forms.

On four different times in the last few months, I have come across the following situation. Fortunately, only one of these was originally my own client;  another person's lawyer was no longer practicing, so I helped that person out, although could not protect all of the value in question;  two other cases are being handled by different lawyers, and I am waiting to  see how those cases are handled.

You may have seen this headline in today's news:

"Supreme Court says homeowners underwater on loans can't void second mortgage in bankruptcy"

HOWEVER, this decision was issued in a Chapter 7 case. The case is entitled: Bank of America N. A. v.. Caulkett, and was issued June 1, 2015.

People who have to file bankruptcy often have judgments against them from before their bankruptcy case was filed. Bankruptcy discharges the personal obligation, but  does not remove the judgment from the state court records.

The United States Supreme Court may give us an answer to the following question: If you have a home with a first mortgage that exceeds the value of the home, can you use a Chapter 7 bankruptcy to "strip off" a second mortgage?

Most of the judicial circuits around the country do not permit this in a Chapter 7, although most cases DO permit a person to do this in a Chapter 13 payment plan bankruptcy.