The North Carolina Bankruptcy Information Blog

We’ve written about many celebrity bankruptcies in the past several years. But few are more interesting than the bankruptcy of Charlie Batch.

According to the story in the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, Pittsburgh Steelers backup QB Charlie Batch filed for bankruptcy protection in December 2010, after his real estate venture defaulted on a $1.15M mortgage with Dollar Bank. Twenty-five properties held by Batch Development Company, Inc. associated with the mortgage default were placed into receivership. Court papers show that Batch was reportedly $6M in the hole at the time of his bankruptcy filing.

But the amount of debt Batch had managed to “batch together” at the time of his filing was not the newsworthy part of this personal bankruptcy story.…

If you are considering bankruptcy or are already bankruptcy bound, you likely understand some of what there is to know about the benefits of a bankruptcy filing, including the ability to discharge certain types of debt. What may be lesser well-known in the bankruptcy process is the need (or not) for reaffirmation agreements and their relationship with your debt, collateral and holding on to (or restoring) much-needed property.

In essence, a reaffirmation agreement is a voluntary contract between you and your creditor that promises you will pay all or a part of a debt that would otherwise be discharged in your bankruptcy.…

The main thrust of 2005’s Bankruptcy Reform Act (unceremoniously known as “BARF”), is a bankruptcy deterrent called the “Means Test”—a formula for determining your ability to pay back your debts. Your inability to pass this test limits your options to filing a Chapter 13 bankruptcy plan, which still discharges your unsecured debt, but takes longer to complete.

With March 2010 figures yielding the highest number of reported Chapter 7 bankruptcies since 2005 (the year the “Means Test,” caused a dramatic reduction in bankruptcy cases), the efficacy of this apparent obstacle to Chapter 7 protections may be of particular interest to many considering personal bankruptcy.…

It’s almost February and ‘tis the season for thinking about tax time—even more so if you find yourself considering the benefits of bankruptcy. So, if you believe bankruptcy is the right option to help you start fresh in 2010, in addition to trying to get your 2009 taxes filed in a timely manner, and wondering whether you can discharge any income tax debt in your bankruptcy filing, you may also be thinking about how you can protect your precious tax refund from creditor claims.

So it’s more than half way through the year now. You might be wondering how things are looking in the economy. Last year, many had predicted that the downturn would continue through the first quarter of 2009, but then we’d start to see stabilization in the second quarter and maybe even a return to growth by the summer. Well, we’re already into the third quarter, and a turnaround is still nowhere sight. The three major indicators of the economy’s condition are the rates of unemployment, bankruptcy filings, and home foreclosures. Here’s the rundown on those numbers, and it’s not pretty.

The overall unemployment rate was 9.1 percent at the end of May.…