Word: client
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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Thomas August, who is representing Burns, said that departmental charges against his client may have played some role in his not getting a promotion...
Slate's first move with a client is to determine whether a full, or straight bankruptcy is really necessary. "If you can feed your family and have enough to live on, you should pay your debts," he says. One practical reason: a court cannot discharge a bankrupt's debts again for six years, and if more serious financial troubles arise in that period, the debtor cannot escape his creditors. (About one in ten first-time bankrupts goes broke again...
...When a client can pay, Slate recommends a so-called Chapter 13 bankruptcy, under which debts are worked off on an agreed-upon repayment schedule. But when the customer is really flat broke, Slate recommends a straight bankruptcy, which is less painful than it sounds...
...example: a man about to go bankrupt owns a car worth $800. Because its value exceeds the allowable exemption, the car would normally be seized. A clever bankruptcy lawyer could avoid that by arranging for his client to borrow $800 from a finance company, using the car as collateral. If this is done, the car has no value except to the holder of the mortgage-i.e., the finance company-so it will not be taken away. To protect the borrowed $800, the client then deposits it in an S and L account, which is exempt from seizure. After being...
Slate takes pride in never refusing a client, and most of them leave his offices satisfied. Computer Designer Jerry Kiliszweski, for example, faced a $3,000 judgment for a faulty set of cabinets he had built, plus a host of unexpected medical expenses; creditors had garnisheed a quarter of his wages and attached his savings account, car and aged pickup truck. Within 24 hours after Kiliszweski saw Slate, the garnishment and attachments were ended. Recalls his wife Pat: "When I said I don't understand the judicial system very well, Mr. Slate just said, 'Well, honey, everyone...