GENESEE FLINT .COM
04/23/13
WHAT SHOULD BE DONE WITH CLOSED SCHOOLS
No critical comment is here made about the hard decision to close which schools. That is clearly for the Flint Board of education. But what can be done with the empty building? Assumption, a vacant building with no utilities will end up with plaster, pipes, windows and water damage. Roofs will leak, vandals will savage the building and further deteriorate the neighborhood. What can be done?
1. put the building for sale for a dollar to any group that will meet strict criteria.
2.What should the criteria be.
a.electrical
b.heat.
c.windows in repair
d.outside lawn and equipment maintained.
e. district gets the first right to repurchase the building at market rate.
f.appropriate bond
GUN CONTROL
It is inescapably ironic that while Boston was under siege last week, the Senate was busy rejecting a measure that would have mandated near-universal background checks for gun purchases nationwide — legislation prompted by the massacre of 20 first-graders and six adults last December at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn.
Gun violence costs 30,000 lives in this country each year. Other steps proposed after Newtown — such as reimposition of a ban on military-style assault weapons and large-capacity magazines — were deemed too much to hope for. But expanded background checks once had the support of the powerful National Rifle Association, and experts considered them potentially the most effective way of keeping deadly weapons out of the wrong hands. They might not have prevented the last senseless mass shooting, but might prevent the next.
However, the NRA changed its position on background checks to “never” and dug in its heels, threatening to punish senators who voted in favor. And so, despite polls showing that up to 90 percent of Americans support universal background checks, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid could not muster the 60 votes needed to move the legislation forward.
Some critics say President Obama didn’t push hard enough for action on gun violence, didn’t twist enough arms or slap enough backs. Some say Reid could have done more to keep red-state Democrats in the fold. Some say the barrier arises from the architecture of the Constitution, which gives Montana’s 1 million residents the same number of senators as California’s 38 million.
DIVORCE PROPERTY DIVISION
Mandatory Judgment Provisions
Property division must be discussed in the judgment of divorce in a separate paragraph prefaced by an appropriate heading. MCR 3.211(A). The judgment must address these property interests:
- Property division. A division of the real and personal property brought to and acquired during the marriage as well as the parties’ debts. MCL 552.19, .23, .101, .103, .401; MCR 3.211(B)(3); Yeo v Yeo, 214 Mich App 598, 543 NW2d 62 (1995).
- Insurance. A statement confirming that the divorce judgment terminates each spouse’s interest as a beneficiary in life insurance on the other spouse’s life or providing otherwise. MCL 552.101(2)–(3); MCR 3.211(B)(1).
- Dower. A statement that the divorce judgment satisfies the wife’s dower claims in the husband’s property. MCL 552.101(1); MCR 3.211(B)(1).
- Pension, annuity, and retirement benefits. A determination of the rights of both spouses in pension, annuity, or retirement benefits. MCL 552.101(4); MCR 3.211(B)(2).
A consent judgment of divorce provision releasing each party’s rights to the life insurance proceeds of the other party waives a party’s right to a late former spouse’s life insurance proceeds. Sweebe v Sweebe, 474 Mich 151, 712 NW2d 708 (2006); MacInnes v MacInnes, 260 Mich App 280, 677 NW2d 889 (2004).
A divorce or an annulment revokes a will provision naming the former spouse as a beneficiary unless the will specifically provides otherwise. MCL 700.2806–.2809.
SEE
Michigan Family Law Benchbook ch 8 (ICLE 2d ed 2006), at http://www.icle.org/modules/books/chapter.aspx?lib=family&book=2006553550&chapter=08
(last updated 04/05/2013).
CREDIT AFTER BANKRUPTCY
Obtaining Credit After Discharge
A. How to Rebuild a Credit Score
§3.127 Rebuilding a credit score is often easier than anticipated. According to the major credit reporting agencies, a consumer must take the following steps:
- Make sure all listings on the report are accurate.
- Be sure to review all three major credit reports (Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion).
- Dispute inaccuracies pursuant to the dispute resolution process afforded the consumer by the credit reporting agencies.
- Be sure to monitor all three credit reports for inaccurate information annually and continuously dispute inaccuracies.
- Be sure to make payments on all remaining lines of credit in a timely fashion.
- Make all rent/mortgage payments on time and pay by check.
If the consumer ever wishes to purchase or refinance via HUD, he or she will need proof of timely rent payments. Receipts will not suffice, only cancelled checks. Be sure to advise your client of this subtlety.
B. Monitoring Credit Reports
§3.128 It is a wise idea for your client to obtain a copy of his or her credit report annually to make sure that proper reporting is reflected on the report so as to avoid having improper negative information cause the credit score to be improperly low.
C. Financing a Motor Vehicle
§3.129 As quickly as the day after your client’s Chapter 7 case is discharged, there are lenders who will be willing to lend the debtor sufficient funds to purchase a car. Most major auto dealerships have relationships with finance companies that will provide financing to parties who have just been discharged in a bankruptcy. In purchasing a vehicle, your client should make sure that both the purchase price and monthly payment are within his or her budget. The closer in time to the issuance of the discharge order, the higher the interest rate that will be charged. Unfortunately, this is a factor of the market conditions and the economic situation the client has previously faced.
The key to success with the first car one finances after the filing of a Chapter 7 bankruptcy case is making sure the payment is low and that the debtor stays within realistic financial boundaries.
D. Financing a Home
§3.130 Historically, buying a house after bankruptcy requires that a debtor improve his or her credit score and have a sufficient down payment. With the collapse of the subprime mortgage industry in 2007 and 2008, it has become much harder for a discharged bankruptcy debtor to obtain financing for a home, but it is not impossible. The best suggestions counsel can make to his or her client to obtain financing include
- not doing anything to harm the client’s credit,
- paying current lines of credit on time,
- saving money for a substantial down payment,
- living within the client’s means, and
- making sure the client’s debt-to-income ratio stays low.
In other words, a debtor who presumably will eventually qualify to borrow money for a home purchase should keep other credit lines and new debt limited so that other debt payments will not interfere with the client’s ability to stay current with mortgage payments.
SEE
Handling Consumer and Small Business Bankruptcies in Michigan ch 3 (Richardo I. Kilpatrick et al eds, ICLE 2009), at http://www.icle.org/modules/books/chapter.aspx?lib=bankruptcy&book=2009550820&chapter=03
(last updated 04/12/2013).
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