Housing and Credit Counseling, Inc.
Offers Property Management Training

In celebration of Fair Housing Month this April, HCCI is offering Property Management Training for landlords, property managers, social workers, social service providers and any other interested parties.  Training on how to handle common mistakes property managers and landlords encounter.  Get an overview of the Kansas Residential Landlord/Tenant Act regarding tenant and landlord rights and responsibilities.

Visit www.hcci-ks.org/Propmangtrain.pdf for details.

Bankruptcy Code

Bankruptcy Rules

Local Bankruptcy Rules

How to Get Started Filing Bankruptcy

The room used for Topeka bankruptcy meetings of creditors has been moved to 515 S. Kansas Ave., Suite 402, from the U.S. Post Office on the corner.

Starting January 27, 2011, the section 341 hearings conducted by Topeka bankruptcy trustees will be held in a four-story downtown office building across the street from the Bankruptcy Law Office location in the Bank of America Tower at 534 S. Kansas Ave.  The sign on the gray and tan building says Goodell Stratton Edmonds and Palmer for the law firm on the first floor of the building.

515 S. Kansas Avenue, Topeka, KS

The bankruptcy law was tweaked by technical amendments signed into law on December 22, 2010, by President Barrack Obama.

H.R. 6198, the Bankruptcy Technical Corrections Act. The Act primarily makes truly technical changes, such as correcting cross-references in the statute where the numbering of an existing provision was changed (e.g., to section 521 or 704). It also does clarify that pre-petition credit counseling can occur on the same day as the petition is filed. It also changes “delay, hinder, and defraud” in section 362(d)(4) to “delay, hinder, or defraud”, conforming the phrase to other parts of the Code, according to Maureen Thompson, Legislative Director for the National Association of Consumer Bankruptcy Attorneys (NACBA). You may find the text of the legislation at http://thomas.loc.gov.

Kansas Health Institute reports that more and more Kansans cannot pay their medical bills. Hospitals are receiving more people who have no health insurance or other benefits.  The amount of uncompensated care provided by Kansas hospitals is rising.

Here is an interesting map that shows the bankruptcy filings per capita.  There were 6.55 filings in Shawnee County for every 1000 persons in the year ending September 30, 2010.  This tops Johnson, Wyandotte and Sedgwick Counties.

The means test will get meaner for most Kansas consumer debtors.  Ironically, more debtors may be required to file chapter 13 payment plans instead of chapter 7 bankruptcy.

Today, the U.S. Trustee Program announced new income figures to use on the bankruptcy means test for cases filed on or after November 1, 2010. Three person households in Kansas will be allowed slightly more income, while one, two and four person households will be allowed less income on the bankruptcy means test.

Median family income for Kansas bankruptcy cases filed November 1, 2010, or after:

* Add $7,500 for each individual in excess of 4.

Median family income for Kansas bankruptcy cases filed March 1, 2010, or after:

* Add $7,500 for each individual in excess of 4.

Georgia, Virginia, Maryland, North Carolina and other states also have meaner means tests with lower income guidelines.

CBS story on mortgage foreclosure robosigners