Dunaway Law - November 2019
November 2019
DUNAWAY DIGEST
One Perimeter Park South, Suite 100 North, Birmingham, AL 35243 • 205.705.3590 • MatthewDunaway.com
Truth Be Told Losing Our Way on the Search for Truth
“The very concept of truth is under attack.”
Certain people in the media like to make this kind of statement a lot these days, and they’re not wrong. But the funny thing is that they act like this is new. As if it’s just in the last four years that truth has been undermined. If we look at the history books, this is not the case. Our nation was founded on the idea of truth, justice, and freedom, but in the last 100 years, the very notion of truth has been undermined by people seeking power. Truth is something I think about a lot. It’s very important in bankruptcy. When you file a bankruptcy petition, you’re filling out around 70 pages of information to be disclosed to the court. That information needs to be truthful for your sake, because the system is based on it being truthful. When you’re talking to your bankruptcy attorney, it’s important that you’re truthful with them, too. If the information you provide isn’t truthful, you could face harsh fines or even jail time. As a whole, our society is based on the idea that people should, and do, tell the truth. That we speak honestly and stick to our word. Unfortunately, this is rarely the case anymore. If you turn on the news to learn about some big event, you won’t be given the facts. You’ll see two different people arguing about events as they perceived them. One person could claim the sky is blue, one claims it’s green, and instead of going outside to check, the media will insist both of these statements are equally valid. But truth is not up for
But the truth is not up for interpretation.
interpretation. There are two sides to every story, but there’s only one thing that actually happened. When we stop the search for truth, we’re easily led astray. We live in a time when people can be incredibly ignorant. This isn’t an insult to anyone’s intelligence, but the reality is that there are a lot of things we simply don’t know. Just because we don’t know something doesn’t mean we aren’t impacted by it. We’re ignorant to so many things that we can’t tell truth from falsehood when presented with it. This makes it easy for someone with an agenda to tell outright lies about something in order to get us to react a certain way. It often works, because we simply don’t know enough about the topic to see through their lies. There’s no way we can know everything, and no one should be expected to. However, we still have a responsibility to read and learn more. It’s easier to spot a lie when we educate ourselves. Furthermore, we
should be willing to admit when we don’t know something and check information for ourselves. With the internet, it’s easy for falsehoods to spread like wildfire, but we also have the power to fact-check. When we hear a statement about something or someone that drives us to act, we should do our due diligence and make sure that the statement is accurate first. Acting on bad information can have dangerous consequences. On a personal level, I believe it’s not enough to teach our kids to tell the truth. We must also teach them to recognize falsehoods when they see them. The concept of truth affects us every day. It’s very important that we treat truth with the respect it deserves and stand up for truth when it’s being attacked.
–Matt Dunaway
1 Phone: 205.705.3590
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Engage Your Kids on Thanksgiving
With These Gratitude-Themed Games
Thanksgiving is an excellent time to teach children about gratefulness. By planning some fun, gratitude-themed games, you can impart a valuable lesson and spend some quality family time together. Get your kids in the holiday spirit by adding a Thanksgiving twist to these classic games. Pictionary Want to bring out your kids’ creative sides? Pictionary is the perfect way to encourage artistic expression and grateful thinking. Try adding a rule where players have to draw something they’re grateful for. This will get your kids thinking beyond turkey and stuffing and give them an imaginative way to express their gratitude. Plus, who doesn’t love a good art contest? Guess Who? To play gratitude-themed Guess Who?, have each participant write down their name and something they’re thankful for on a slip of paper and put it in a bowl. Then, at the dinner table, have each person draw a random slip and read what it says without saying the name while everyone else tries to guess who wrote it. While Pictionary may get your kids talking about what they are thankful for, Guess Who? will tune them into what others around them are thankful for too. Pick-Up Sticks Like regular pick-up sticks, the goal is to remove a stick from a haphazard pile without disturbing the others. However, by using colored sticks that represent different kinds of thankfulness — such as places, people, or food — you can make players think outside the box. This will ensure you get a wide range of creative, thoughtful answers whenever the kids pick up a stick. These modified games are great for helping your kids realize how much they have to be thankful for. Use these to spend some fun, educational, quality time with your family this Thanksgiving.
Apples Pie Pumpkin Harvest
Crops Thanksgiving Holiday Fall
Scarecrow Chilly Sweater
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Need to File for Bankruptcy?
Stop Using Your Credit Cards!
A credit card company cannot stop you from being able to file for bankruptcy. However, there are circumstances in which they may be able to ask the bankruptcy court not to discharge the debt you owe them specifically. Your credit card company may file an adversary proceeding (AP) to prevent you from discharging your credit card debt if they believe fraud is involved. If this happens, you won’t be able to wipe out that particular debt during your bankruptcy. It is extremely rare for a credit card company to be able to prevent your debt from being discharged. However, there are two reasons why the court may side with the credit card company: 1. You lied on your credit card application. 2. You incurred a lot of debt knowing you wouldn’t be able to pay it back. When is fraud presumed?
days of filing bankruptcy, the court may issue a judgment stating that debt is nondischargeable.
What can I do?
In order to prevent the credit card company from filing an AP against your bankruptcy case, always be honest about the debt you take on. The best rule of thumb is to not use your credit card for at least 90 days before filing for bankruptcy. If you are in a situation where you have no choice but to use your credit card, be prepared to wait up to three months before filing for bankruptcy. Bankruptcy exists to help give people a fresh start, but reaching that fresh start can be tricky. Get help navigating these confusing waters by calling an experienced bankruptcy attorney at 205.705.3590. Matthew Dunaway can help you get through this difficult time and start your financial future on a brighter note.
After the credit card company files an AP to determine discharge eligibility, it will fall on you to prove the debts were not incurred fraudulently. If you only used your credit card to pay for gas or groceries shortly before filing for bankruptcy, you probably don’t have anything to worry about. However, if you charged at least $725 in luxury purchases (nonessential goods or services) from one creditor within 90
RECIPE:
Burnished Potato Nuggets
There are countless ways to prepare potatoes, but not all are created equal. For irresistibly crunchy outsides and deliciously creamy insides, try this recipe. The result is sure to be the star side at your Thanksgiving table.
John 14:6
INGREDIENTS:
“I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
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5 lbs russet potatoes, peeled and cut into 2-inch pieces
• • • •
1/4 cup vegetable oil 8 cloves garlic, crushed
2 sprigs rosemary
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1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
Kosher salt, to taste
DIRECTIONS:
1. Heat oven to 425 F. 2. In a large pot, pour water over potatoes to cover by 2 inches. Salt water and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce heat and simmer gently for 10 minutes. 3. Thoroughly drain potatoes and let stand for 10 minutes. Toss gently and season with salt. 4. Meanwhile, combine both oils in a large pan and heat in oven for 10 minutes. 5. Remove pan from oven and add potatoes, turning to coat thoroughly. Return to oven and cook for 30 minutes, turning every 10. 6. Toss in garlic and rosemary and finish cooking for 8–10 minutes. 7. Drain and serve.
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Inside This Issue
Can You Spot a Falsehood? Page 1 Gratitude-Themed Games for Kids Take a Break Page 2 Can the Credit Card Company Stop My Bankruptcy Case? Burnished Potato Nuggets Page 3
When Truth Is Expendable Page 4
‘The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich’ byWilliam L. Shirer What’s on Matt’s Bookshelf?
When we first learned about Nazi Germany and the Holocaust as school children, the first question many of us asked was, “How?” How did such a terrible person come to power? How could the Nazis kill millions of Jewish people? How could their neighbors stand by and let it happen? Journalist William L. Shirer tried to answer that question when writing his book “The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich.” In addition to his own experiences reporting on Nazi Germany from 1934–1940, Shirer did extensive research, utilizing Nazi documents, diaries of high- ranking officers, British Foreign Office reports, and evidence from the Nuremberg trials. What he found was a period of history when truth didn’t matter.
WWI, the horrible crimes the Nazis committed during WWII, and how it finally ended after the war. What struck me about this book was the complete disregard Hitler and his goons had for the truth. They knew what they were doing was wrong; we
This was nothing new, of course. Adolf Hitler and the Nazi party didn’t invent lying to gain and hold power. This has been the case throughout human history, which is why it’s so important that we recognize truth from lies.
There are still people who want to win at any cost, who are willing to tell any lie for personal or political gain, no matter who they hurt. “The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich” is one of those books most people have heard of but tend to run away from when they see it because it’s so massive. I myself only recently listened to it on audiobook. But this is a book everyone should read or listen to. We all need to understand what happens when truth becomes expendable.
have documents proving this. Likewise, there are documents showing they knowingly lied in order to justify sending Jewish people to concentration camps or getting rid of political rivals. Meanwhile, other people went along with their lies. Everything the Nazis got away with happened because the truth had no meaning anymore.
Shirer’s book covers Adolf Hiter’s childhood, his rise to power, the reality of Germany after
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