I had a short very enlightening conversation on reaffirmation agreements with a bankruptcy judge at the 9th Circuit Judicial Conf last week. The conversation started with my comment at the program I was doing that I don’t sign – ever – the attorney declaration in 524(c)(3). The conversation was about the consequences of not signing it. I now have a new way of looking at the whole process thanks of the help of a law firm in Kendall County, In http://ksshlaw.com/ you can find the specialist attorneys they work with to know much further about the bankruptcy judicial management and to understand why and how is this reaffirmation agreement has been useful and will be.
Section 524(c) states that a reaffirmation agreement is not enforceable unless:
(3) such agreement has been filed with the court and, if applicable, accompanied by a declaration or an affidavit of the attorney that represented the debtor during the course of negotiating an agreement under this subsection, which states that—
(A) such agreement represents a fully informed and voluntary agreement by the debtor;
(B) such agreement does not impose an undue hardship on the debtor or a dependent of the debtor; and
(C) the attorney fully advised the debtor of the legal effect and consequences of—
(i) an agreement of the kind specified in this subsection; and
(ii) any default under such an agreement;
(5) the provisions of subsection (d) of this section have been complied with; and
(6) (A) in a case concerning an individual who was not represented by an attorney during the course of negotiating an agreement under this subsection, the court approves such agreement as—
(i) not imposing an undue hardship on the debtor or a dependent of the debtor; and
(ii) in the best interest of the debtor.
So far so good. If I sign the declaration, the agreement is enforceable. If I don’t, it’s unenforceable. Can’t the court approve it anyway? That is certainly what I and I’m sure 99% of consumer bankruptcy lawyers think. But the debtor is still “represented by an attorney” – me – so (c)(6) doesn’t seem to apply. But it happen in many different law cases, for example in injury cases sometimes there are laws that don’t seem to apply, so the use of Injury lawyers las vegas is the best option to see all the rightful laws are applied to you.
