Bankruptcy blog

April 30, 2007

Protective trust

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The Protective Trust is a form of settlement found in England and Wales and several Commonwealth countries. It has marked similarities to asset-protection trusts found in several offshore jurisdictions and US Spendthrift trusts.

In such a trust assets are ordinarily held to pay an income to the beneficiary. The beneficiary may also have access to capital of the trust with the trustee’s permission. The right to receive income from a trust would ordinarily be an asset in the hands of the beneficiary and could be sold, thwarting the intention of the donor to spread the gift over the recipient’s lifetime. Additionally on a bankruptcy the right to the income would be sold by the beneficiary’s trustee in bankruptcy.

To give protection to beneficiaries, a protective trust automatically converts into a discretionary trust, under which the beneficiary has no right to the income, if he or she does anything which breaches a condition specified in the document creating the trust.

The establishment of this discretionary trust is ordinarily exempt from the charge to UK inheritance tax on the establishment of discretionary trusts.

Such protective trusts have a longstanding history. To reduce the verbose definitions that had previously to be recited in the establishing documents of a protective trust, in England and Wales s33 of the Trustee Act 1925 (and equivalent legislation in other jurisdictions) provides that this protection will arise in any trust described as a “protective trust” in its trust deed.

Protective trusts are subject to challenge under creditor protection legislation as are any other forms of asset-protection. However many jurisdictions do not permit a trust to be broken where a debtor who remains a discretionary beneficiary only under a trust and cannot access the fund without the exercise of the trustees’ discretion in his favour.


See also

  • Asset protection

Disciplina

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In Roman mythology, Disciplina was a minor deity and the personification of discipline.

The word “disciplina” itself, a Latin noun, is multi-faceted in meaning; it refers to education and training, self-control and determination, knowledge in a field of study, and an orderly way of life. The goddess embodied these qualities for her worshippers. She was commonly worshipped by imperial Roman soldiers, particularly those who lived on the borders of the Roman Empire; altars to her have been found in Britain and North Africa.

Her chief virtues were frugalitas, severitas and fidelis—frugality, sternness, and faithfulness. In worshipping Disciplina, a soldier became frugal in every way: with money, with energy, with actions. The virtue of severitas was shown in his focused, determined, not easily dissuaded, and decisive behavior. He was faithful to his unit, his army, the officers and the people of Rome.

April 28, 2007

Petition mill

Filed under: Uncategorized — Tags: , — admin @ 1:15 pm

A petition mill is a fraud in which the perpetrator poses as a financial advisor, sometimes as a credit counselor or paralegal, filing hastily-prepared bankruptcy documents in the name of victims who come to the advisor as clients. The bankruptcy filing is often both incomplete and inappropriate for the victim’s condition; and, often, the victim does not even realize that a bankruptcy has been filed.

Victims are people in financial trouble who believe they are becoming clients of a professional operation. The fraudster promises to make the foreclosures, evictions, repossessions, high interest rates on loans, and other debt problems go away. The victim pays a large initial fee for the fraudster’s services, and the fraudster usually has the victim sign blank documents. Sometimes the victim is also told to make their usual payments directly to the fraudulent advisor instead of the real creditors, or to transfer their real estate to the fraudster. The payments are stolen by the fraudster instead of being used to pay victims’ debts, and real estate is often deeded in fractional shares to other victims unknowingly under bankruptcy, complicating ownership to make foreclosures even more difficult by having multiple (fraudulent) bankruptcies involved in the property.

In other petition mill schemes, the fraudster simply creates summary bankruptcy filings for the victim. The victim is then told to file pro se in court and deny that anyone helped prepare the documents.

According to the United States Trustee Manual, volume 5, chapter 5, the following are warning signs of a petition mill scheme:

  1. Pro se bankruptcy petition where the debtor says no one assisted him/her, but the debtor is clearly unfamiliar with the bankruptcy system
  2. Pro se petition filed despite the debtor denying filing bankruptcy
  3. Debtor failing to attend the section 341 meeting, where creditors and the United States Trustee first meet with the debtor
  4. “Face sheet” (suspiciously small) filing with a single creditor listed, usually the mortgagee or the landlord
  5. Debtor facing eviction, foreclosure, or repossession notice
  6. Pattern of pro se debtors with identical paperwork form, style, and general content
  7. Pattern of complaints from mortgagees or landlords
  8. Debtors or others being solicited by petition mills that stress stopping evictions, etc.
  9. Complaints by debtor that he/she has been making rent/mortgage/car payments to a third party (instead of to the original creditors)
  10. Advertising in budget papers and using flyers to advertise bankruptcy and divorce assistance at a low, fixed fee
  11. Implications that attorneys are supervising or approving the service
  12. Requests for payment of filing fee in installments
  13. Assets or liabilities not scheduled (filed in proper format)
  14. Failure to properly fill out or file schedules
  15. Use of chapter 7 (complete liquidation) when chapter 13 (reorganization) is clearly feasible


See also

  • Credit counseling
  • Fraudulent conveyance

April 27, 2007

Robert S. Miller

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Robert S. (Steve) Miller;
Was hired as Delphi chairman by General Motors and Delphi Corp. to file bankruptcy. Miller was hired to slash costs and close unprofitable operations. Miller - a restructuring expert who was hired in July 2005 filed Saturday, October 8 2005. It was the largest auto industry bankruptcy filing to date. It was filed with Judge Arthur Gonzalez of New York. Delphi Corp. has 50,000 employees in the US and 185,000 worldwide.

April 26, 2007

Financial distress

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Financial distress is a term in Corporate Finance used to indicate a condition when promises to creditors of a company are broken or honored with difficulty. Sometimes financial distress can lead to bankruptcy. Financial distress is usually associated with some costs to the company and these are known as Costs of Financial Distress. A common example of a cost of financial distress is bankruptcy costs.


External links

  • Indicators and Souces of Financial Distress
  • Predicting Financial Distress of Companies: Revisiting the Z-Score and Zeta® Models by Edward Altman
  • Financial Distress, Bankruptcy Law, and the Business Cycle by Javier Suarez and Oren Sussman

Financial distress cost are divided into: direct costs

                                       :  indirect costs

Direct Costs
-changes the payout to debtholders if bankruptcy occurs. these include the direct expenses that a company inccurs; auditors’ fees, legal fees, management fees and other payments.

Indirect Costs
-changes the distrubition of firm value prior to bankruptcy. these include loss goodwill. which will result in less sales, hence revenue

Superintendent of Bankruptcy

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Superintendent of Bankruptcy (Canada)

The role of the Superintendent of Bankruptcy is to ensure that bankruptcies and insolvencies in Canada are conducted in a fair and orderly manner.

As stated on the Office of the Superintendent of Bankruptcy Website:

“Whether you are a debtor (you owe money), a creditor (you are owed money) or a trustee (someone who administers bankruptcies and insolvencies), our goals are equally simple: to make the bankruptcy and insolvency process easier for you to understand and provide you with the information you need to best manage your situation.”

CO - Commerce Officers work here as Assistant Superintendents, Senior Bankruptcy Analysts and Bankruptcy Analysts.
PM - Program Managers work here as Assistant Bankruptcy Analysts.

April 24, 2007

Little Office of Our Lady

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The Little Office of Our Lady or Little Office of the Blessed Virgin Mary is a liturgical devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary, in imitation of, and in addition to, the Divine Office in the Roman Catholic Church. It is a weekly cycle of psalms, hymns, scripture and other readings.

In the reforms following the Second Vatican Council, the Little Office has a lesser status than before. According to Apostolic Letter Ecclesiae sanctae of Pope Paul VI,

“20. Although Religious who recite a duly approved Little Office perform the public prayer of the Church (cf. Constitution Sacrosanctum Concilium, No. 98), it is nevertheless recommended to the institutes that in place of the Little Office they adopt the Divine Office either in part or in whole so that they may participate more intimately in the liturgical life of the Church….”

The Little Office has been revised since the Council to conform to the Liturgy of the Hours including uniform vernacular translation from the Latin and in the structure of each Hour in the Office. It is still used by some Religious and those who are enrolled in the Brown Scapular.


External links

  • The Little Office of the Blessed Virgin Mary
  • The Little Office of Our Lady (Catholic Encyclopedia)
  • A Hypertext Book of Hours

April 23, 2007

ACE Aviation Holdings

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ACE Aviation Holdings Inc. is a Canadian holding company that provides commercial airline service and technical support and is the parent company of Air Canada.

Contents


History

ACE Aviation Holdings Incorporate was created as Air Canada emerged from bankruptcy in 2004. One of the more significant changes was the merging of its 6 small airlines into Air Canada and Air Canada Jazz. The company holds a 6.1% stake in US Airways Group.


Corporate governance

Current members of the board of directors of ACE Aviation Holdings are:

  • Bernard Attali
  • Robert E. Brown
  • Carlton Donaway
  • Michael Green
  • W. Brett Ingersoll
  • Pierre-Marc Johnson
  • John T. McLennan
  • Robert A. Milton
  • David I. Richardson
  • Marvin Yontef.


Operating divisions

  • Aeroplan - air mileage agency
  • Air Canada - airline
  • Air Canada Cargo - (AC Cargo Limited Partnership & AC Cargo General Partner Inc.) - air cargo operator
  • Air Canada Ground Handling Services
  • Air Canada Jazz - regional airline
  • Air Canada Technical Services
  • Air Canada Vacations - travel company
  • Touram Limited Partnership - Travel and vacation packages


External links

  • ACE Aviation Holdings Inc. Insider Holdings and Transactions

April 21, 2007

Green Light Wiki

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The Green Light Wiki is not actually a wiki, but a homepage for several wikis made with “Green Light Wiki Software”. These wikis are:

  • The Carl Jung Exegesis Wiki - (website) - For exploring unusual books about Jungian psychology.
  • The Improv Wiki - (website) - All about improvisational comedy.
  • The Heuristic Wiki - (website) - The art and science of discovery.
  • The Lenore Thomson Exegesis Wiki - (website) - (an attempt to explore and understand Lenore Thomson’s ideas, as expressed in her book )
  • The Practical Wisdom Wiki - (website) - For sharing what we’ve learned about how to live well.
  • The Sophistry Wiki - (website) - An attempt to understand sophistry.
  • The Test Wiki - (website) - (for testing the software) - For testing the Green Light Wiki software.
  • The Travel Stories Wiki - (website) - A wiki for sharing your great and small adventures while traveling. Hosted by Robert Abitbol.

The host of these wikis is Ben Kovitz, who invented Wikipedia.


External links

  • The Green Light Wiki

Jeff Douglas

Filed under: Uncategorized — Tags: , — admin @ 8:47 am

Jeffrey Douglas (born June 8, 1971 in Truro, Nova Scotia, Canada) is a Canadian actor, likely most famous for his role as Joe Canada in Molson’s ad I Am Canadian. Ironically, after the commercial’s success kick-started his career, Douglas relocated to Los Angeles but now lives back in Toronto, Canada. He now hosts the History Television show Things that Move. He can also be seen hosting a new show on History Television, in association with Alliance Atlantis, called “Ancestors in the Attic”.

Douglas also attended Cobequid Educational Centre (CEC) in Nova Scotia

He has had starring roles as Professor Zachary in Strange Days at Blake Holsey High and as Cubby in The Famous Jett Jackson. He had a small role on the movie John Q beside Denzel Washington in 2002.


Strange Days At Blake Holsey High

Jeffrey Douglas plays Professor Noel Zachary in the television series Strange Days At Blake Holsey High. “Professor Z”, as he is referred to is a really good role model for kids the age of 13-18. He teaches high school science in a fun and easy way.


External link

April 20, 2007

Bruce Beehler

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Dr. Bruce Beehler (born October 11, 1951 in Baltimore) is an ornithologist and vice-president of Conservation International’s Melanesia Center for Biodiversity Conservation (CBC).

With an international team of 11 scientists, the majority from the Indonesian Institute of Science (LIPI), Beehler conducted a major survey of biological diversity in the Foja Mountains of Papua – the largest nearly pristine tropical forest in Asia.

Beehler’s findings expanded on previous research conducted in the region by Dr. Jared Diamond in the late 1970’s and early 1980’s. Beehler, however, returned with the first ever photographs of two famed bird species, the Berlepsch’s Six-wired Bird of Paradise and the Golden-fronted Bowerbird.

Beehler graduated from Williams College and received his Masters and PhD at Princeton University.


External links

  • Birder’s Paradise (Article about Dr. Beehler)

United States bankruptcy court

Filed under: Uncategorized — Tags: , — admin @ 9:29 pm

The United States Bankruptcy Court is a federal court that has subject matter jurisdiction over bankruptcy cases. Bankruptcy cases cannot be filed in state court. Each of the 94 federal judicial districts handles bankruptcy matters.

The bankruptcy judges in each judicial district in regular active service constitute a “unit” of the applicable United States district court (see ). The bankruptcy judge is appointed for a term of 14 years by the United States court of appeals for the circuit in which the applicable district is located (see ).

Technically, the United States district courts have subject matter jurisdiction over bankruptcy matters (see ). However, each such district court may, by order, “refer” bankruptcy matters to the bankruptcy court (see ). As a practical matter, most district courts have a standing “reference” order to that effect, so that all bankruptcy cases in that district are handled, at least initially, by the bankruptcy court. In unusual circumstances, a district court may in a particular case “withdraw the reference” (i.e., take the case or a particular proceeding within the case away from the bankruptcy court and decide the matter itself) under .

The overwhelming majority of all proceedings in bankruptcy are held before a United States bankruptcy judge, whose decision in all matters is final, subject to appeals to the district judge or a Bankruptcy Appellate Panel (”BAP”) for review of the decision.


External links

  • Official site of the U.S. bankruptcy courts

Buchanan Dam

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Buchanan Dam () was constructed from 1935 to 1939 and was the first dam to be completed in the chain of Texas Highland Lakes on the Colorado River of Texas. It was named for U.S. Representative. James P. Buchanan, who was involved in funding the project after the original contractor declared bankruptcy. The dam forms Lake Buchanan and is used for generating hydroelectric power and for flood control. The dam is located about 12 miles (19 km) west of Burnet, Texas.


External links

  • LCRA Website

Michael Schur

Filed under: Uncategorized — Tags: , — admin @ 2:31 pm

Michael Schur is a television producer and writer. He wrote for six seasons on NBC’s Saturday Night Live until 2004. Soon after, he became producer and writer for The Office on NBC, for which he has written ten episodes so far. He is a graduate of William H. Hall High School in West Hartford, Connecticut and of Harvard University (class of 1997) where he was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa. He is married to Jennifer Philbin, who is a writer on The O.C. and Regis Philbin’s daughter. He appeared on The Office as Dwight’s cousin Mose in the episodes “Initiation” and “Money”, when Dwight takes Ryan to his beet farm. He also co-wrote The Office: The Accountants webisodes with Paul Lieberstein.


The Office written episodes

  1. The Alliance (April 12 2005)
  2. Office Olympics (October 4 2005)
  3. Christmas Party (December 6 2005)
  4. Valentine’s Day (February 9 2006)
  5. Branch Closing (November 9 2006)
  6. Traveling Salesmen (January 11, 2007)
  7. The Return (January 18 2007)
  8. The Negotiation (April 5, 2007)
  9. The Job (May 17, 2007)
  10. Dunder Mifflin Infinity (October 4, 2007)


External links

  • Michael Schur at the Internet Movie Database

April 18, 2007

Concord Rangers F.C.

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Concord Rangers F.C. is a football club based on Canvey Island in Essex, England. They were the Essex Senior Football League champions twice in their history. They have also reached the 4th round of the FA Vase twice. They are currently members of the Essex Senior Football League.

Please see club website for all info - www.concordrangers.co.uk

Personal bankruptcy

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Personal bankruptcy is a procedure which, in certain jurisdictions, allows an individual to declare bankruptcy. In other jurisdictions, bankruptcies are reserved for corporations.


Personal bankruptcy (Canada)

The concept behind bankruptcy in Canada is that an individual assigns (surrender) everything they own to a trustee in bankruptcy in exchange for the elimination of their unsecured debts.

Exemptions

The rules for filing personal bankruptcy in each province and territory differ slightly. In some areas of Canada individuals may be permitted to keep (exempt) certain property. Common items for exemption include clothing, furniture, appliances, motor vehicles, medical and dental aids, a home, family heirlooms, and some insurance. In basic terms, any property the debtor might require to survive can be exempt. Personal Bankruptcy will eliminate most, if not all, of an individual’s debt, but it also impacts their future ability to obtain credit.

Costs

The cost of personal bankruptcy in Canada depends on the individual’s monthly family income, the size of the family, and their assets (such as RRSPs). An alternative to personal bankruptcy (in Canada) is a Consumer Proposal.

April 16, 2007

River Thyamis

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The River Thyamis is a river in the Epirus region of Greece. It is also known as the Kalamas River.

Some renaissance scholars believed that the English River Thames owed its name to the River Thyamis, as early Celtic tribes are thought to have migrated from the Epirus region to England. Whilst this belief influenced the modern spelling of the English river’s name, it is no longer regarded as credible.


External links

  • Web page on the River Thyamis, from Greek Travel Pages website