Several months ago, I was invited by my colleague Marvin Solomiany to speak at a Family Law seminar presented by the Atlanta Bar Association. Marvin explained that my role would be to discuss bankruptcy at the "hot tips" part of the seminar. It turns out that the "hot tips" presentation is where five lawyers take seven minutes each to brief the family lawyers (i.e. divorce) about our areas of specialty. Besides myself, there was an immigration lawyer, a real estate lawyer, a criminal defense lawyer and a business lawyer. As I commented to the crowd, if there is if there is speed dating in hell, five lawyers in 35 minutes is what you would get!
At first I thought that the idea of speaking for seven minutes was kind of silly, but the more I thought about this, the more it made sense to me. The point of the "hot tips" presentations was to expose family lawyers to two or three points about another area of law and to introduce them to lawyers who practice in those areas. This was a chance for me to gain exposure before 75 or 80 lawyers who I otherwise might not meet.
Because I only had seven minutes, I was forced to focus on three or four points that would be most relevant to a family law attorney. Here is what I said:
1. a family lawyer ought to think about whether a joint bankruptcy – prior to the entry of a final divorce decree – makes sense. Since financial disputes can be the source of many divorces and settlement agreement arguments, there are some circumstances when a joint divorce while the couple is still married can make sense to eliminate issues. Bankruptcy can allow a divorcing couple to cancel leases, break contracts, surrender secured collateral and reduce or eliminate credit card debt. A joint bankruptcy does not always makes sense, but sometimes it does.
2. divorce lawyers need to be aware of Bankruptcy Code Sections 523(a)(5) and (a)(15). These Code Sections talk about what divorce related debts are dischargeable. Under the current (post October 17, 2005) law, pretty much any divorce related debt cannot be discharged in bankruptcy. However, cases filed prior to October 17, 2005 are governed by the old version of Code Section 523(a)(15) which provides that some divorce/separation related debts may be dischargeable. This means that family law attorneys need to be aware that two different versions of the same statute might apply – depending on when the debtor/spouse filed for bankruptcy.
3. financial disclosures are a big part of domestic relations litigation. I pointed out to the family law lawyers that bankruptcy schedules are public record and that the financial information within a petition could be used to evaluate the accuracy of financial disclosures in divorce litigation. Family law lawyers should know how to access bankruptcy paperwork and should know how to read the schedules.
4. my final suggestion was that family law attorneys should find blogs (like this one) and subscribe to those blogs. In my view, a good legal blog will include case studies, case law updates and other observations that can help a non-specialist keep up with developments that might affect his practice. News alerts are another good way to keep current. It still surprises me that so few lawyers use blogs, much less publish them. I strongly believe that my participation in the blogosphere has made me a better lawyer and I encourage my colleagues at the bar to take advantage of this powerful and free resource.
[tags] divorce and bankruptcy law Georgia, 523(a)(5), 523(a)(15), lawyer blog, bankruptcy schedules [/tags]