Our Johnson County, Kansas law firm located in Leawood is a veteran-owned business. One of our attorneys and owners, George Thomas, had a prior career as an officer in the U.S. Marine Corps before attending law school and becoming an attorney. He attended Massachusetts Institute of Technology (M.I.T.) on a Naval Reserve Officer Training Corps (NROTC) scholarship from 1986 to 1990.
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We have moved our bankruptcy, criminal defense, and traffic law firm to a new location in Leawood, Kansas. After spending the past 22 years located in Prairie Village, Phillips & Thomas, LLC, will now be located in beautiful Park Place in Leawood, Kansas. Park Place is located just one block north of Town Center Plaza Shopping Center and also is close to the former Sprint Campus. We are also near the busy intersection of 119th Street and Nall and are also just a few minutes south of I-435. The new address is:
Our phone number of 913-385-9900 and email addresses will remain the same. We look forward to serving you at our new location!
We have received many calls lately asking how bankruptcy can help during the financial crisis triggered by the the Covid-19 virus outbreak. As everyone knows, recent months have seen unprecedented events disrupt the normal patterns of life all across the globe in the wake of the pandemic. This turbulence has left many of us feeling apprehensive, uneasy, and insecure. It has also caused a great deal of financial hardship for both businesses and individuals. Many people are out of work, or have seen their incomes go down dramatically.
The “means test” Form 122A in a Chapter 7 bankruptcy case is surrounded by myth, flawed perceptions, and misinformation. For many people it can be a scary prospect. You hear a lot of conflicting talk in the media about the means test, and everyone seems to have an opinion about one thing or another. Some people say it means one thing, and some people say it means something else. A book says one thing, a website says another. Everyone’s an expert, right? Wrong.
Distressed homeowners in Kansas and Missouri should be aware that there are major differences in how the foreclosure process operates in their respective states. The procedures and processes are very different. We will sketch the general outlines here of how things works in both states.
The official bankruptcy forms and schedules underwent significant changes to their appearance, layout, and presentation on December 1, 2015. It was one of the most important overhauls of the forms in their history.
What does this mean for you? Or does it make any difference at all? We will explore some of the answers here.
You want your case to be a success, and we want your case to be a success. And to ensure that this happens, I wanted to go over some tips and pointers that experience has shown to be some of the best ways to make sure that success happens.
I’ll start with the pre-bankruptcy phase of things, then talk about things to be aware of during the case. And then I’ll talk about things to be mindful of after your case. OK?
All right. Here we go.
Health savings accounts (HSAs) have gained some popularity in recent years. The idea is that a person can deposit money in an account and receive tax benefits for doing so. The funds can then be used for the payment of medical expenses when and where needed. The idea seems to be a good one, but it is not without potential pitfalls.
When a bankruptcy case is filed, however, unused money sitting in a health savings account may not be exempt. A recent case from the Eighth Circuit Bankruptcy Appellate Panel (BAP) considered whether certain funds held in a “health savings account” (HSA) could be exempted in a bankruptcy case. The case was In Re Leitch, BAP No. 13-6009, from 2013.
Life can take unexpected twists and turns. We can have all sorts of problems. Some of them are medical problems. Some of them are accounting problems. Some of them are family or relationship problems.
And some of them are legal problems.
But we don’t often find many step-by-step guides on how to solve legal problems. Why is this? Well, there are a lot of reasons: not diagnosing the problem, being misled by the media, or not acting fast enough.
Can an IRA (individual retirement account) inherited from a relative be exempted by a debtor in bankruptcy? No, says a recent Kansas bankruptcy judge’s decision. The case was In Re Mosby (14-22981), decided in June 2015 by Judge Dale Somers. The facts were interesting.
The debtor filed a voluntary petition under Chapter 7 on December 29, 2014. The debtor claimed Jackson Life IRA valued at $15,015.50 as exempt under various Kansas statutes, including K.S.A. 60-2308, 60-2308(b), and 60-2313(a)(1).
Kansas City Bankruptcy And Criminal Case Defense Information 