Game Stop: Dismissals with Prejudice

Game Stop: Dismissals with Prejudice

Faced with abusive and serial bankruptcy cases, courts have fashioned various sanctions to put a stop to gaming the system. The favored sanction of the majority of courts is to enter an order of dismissal with prejudice under Section 349(a) of the Bankruptcy Code that adds a condition prohibiting refiling another bankruptcy case for a set period of time. See Lundin on Chapter 13 Sec. 153.3 “Court-Imposed Conditions and Restrictions […]

Estate Planning During a Pandemic

Estate Planning During a Pandemic

A recent study has shown that the number of Americans who have actively engaged in estate planning over the last three years has decreased by almost twenty-five percent. Intriguingly, the same study shows that while sixty percent of the people polled consider estate planning valuable, fewer than one-third of the same respondents indicated that they actually had a will or other vital estate planning documents established. While it has been […]

What Should You Consider When Forming an Estate Plan?

What Should You Consider When Forming an Estate Plan?

Though estate planning is one area of practice that rarely succumbs to the political whims, we are currently heading down a path that suggests critical changes, particularly in the area of estate tax law, are looming over us without the necessary preparations being undertaken by those tasked with safeguarding the country’s well-being. More specifically, without Congressional intervention, the lifetime exemption will be cut in half in less than 5 years, […]

Ferry Joseph, P.A. Prevails in Equitable Forfeiture Case

Ferry Joseph, P.A. Prevails in Equitable Forfeiture Case

This estate action originated in the Court of Chancery with the filing of a Verified Petition for Review of Proof of Will and for Equitable Relief on July 16, 2019. The decedent, Tracy M. Ricks, Jr., passed away on December 20, 2018. A dispute arose regarding the distribution of the decedent’s estate. The Petitioner believed that the decedent passed away intestate. Respondent attempted to open an estate for the decedent […]

Divorce and Estate Planning

Divorce and Estate Planning

Current research has shown that Americans fifty-years-old and above are divorcing at an increasingly higher rate. As a result, estate planning professionals have begun to sound the alarm so that others might take note of the recent indirect uptick in estate planning issues concerning the very same population. Divorcing later in life often acts to further confuse many Americans when it comes to the estate planning process, due in some […]