Richard J. Cole, III

Richard J. Cole, III

Email: rc3@colecolelaw.com

Practice Areas

• Probate & Trust Litigation
• Business & Commercial Litigation
• Bankruptcy & Insolvency Litigation
• Business Law
• Estate Planning & Probate

Admitted

• 2008, Florida (Fla. Bar No. 0059708)
• 2009, U.S. District Court and U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Middle District of Florida
• 2010, U.S. District Court and U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Southern District of Florida
• 2010, U.S. District Court and U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Northern District of Florida
• 2010, U.S. Court of Appeals, Eleventh Circuit
• 2010, U.S. Tax Court

Education

• J.D., cum laude, University of Florida, Fredric G. Levin College of Law, 2008 (Florida Law Review, Research Editor)
• LL.M., International Banking and Finance, with Merit, University College London, 2009 (Dissertation with Distinction)
• B.A., English, summa cum laude, University of Florida, 2005

Professional Associations

• Tampa Bay Bankruptcy Bar Association
• American Bankruptcy Institute
• Federal Bar Association
• Sarasota County Bar Association

Biography

Richard J. Cole, III, is a Board Certified Consumer Bankruptcy Attorney (American Board of Certification) in practice since 2008, an experienced probate and trust litigator, and is Martindale-Hubbell® AV Preeminent™ Peer Review Rated in Bankruptcy. He attended the University of Florida’s Fredric G. Levin College of Law and received his Master of Laws in International Banking and Finance, with Merit, from University College London. Richard’s practice includes probate and trust litigation, consumer and business bankruptcy, creditors’ rights, business and commercial litigation, appellate law, estate planning and probate administration. He regularly represents personal representatives, trustees, beneficiaries and heirs in contested probate and trust proceedings. Richard is based in Sarasota, Florida, and is a shareholder at Cole & Cole Law, P.A.

Richard is a member of the Sarasota County Bar Association’s Committee for Diversity and Inclusion, a former Co-Chair of the American Bankruptcy Institute’s Consumer Committee, and a former Chair of the Federal Bar Association’s State and Local Government Relations Section. A published author on bankruptcy law, emerging technology, and civil rights, Richard is a contributing author to Thorny Issues in Consumer Bankruptcy Cases (2d ed.) and Mediation in Insolvency: A Game Changer in Viksit Bharat (2024), and has spoken at the ABI Annual Spring Meeting and the Graduate Insolvency Program at the Indian Institute of Corporate Affairs, New Delhi. He mentored disadvantaged high school students through the Booker High School Law Academy Program from 2019 to 2024, in addition to other volunteer work.

Publications

Books & Book Chapters

• A Trial is a Fourteen Hour Flight, Every Day, for How Many Days?, in Mediation in Insolvency: A Game Changer in Viksit Bharat (A.K. Sikri & Sumant Batra eds., 2024)
• Thorny Issues in Consumer Bankruptcy Cases (2d ed. 2020), Contributing Author

Selected Articles & Essays

• Speculative Nonfiction: Wearable and Implanted AI Powered Devices and the Coming “Neurorights” Quagmire, 72 The Federal Lawyer (Fall 2025)
• Hon. Deborah A. Batts, 69 The Federal Lawyer (May/June 2022)
• Middle District of Florida Man: Where Bizarre Florida Memes Come From and More Fun Under the Sunshine Laws, 66 The Federal Lawyer 8 (July/Aug. 2019)
• The Unlisted Creditor and the Interplay of §§ 523(a)(3) and 726(a)(2): A Circuit Split Continues, ABI Consumer Bankruptcy Newsletter, Vol. 14, No. 2 (May 2016)
• Breaking News: Supreme Court Issues Ruling in Bullard v. Blue Hills Bank, ABI Consumer Bankruptcy Newsletter, Vol. 13, No. 2 (May 2015)
• Reviewing the View: View from the Bench 2014 (Tampa), The Cramdown (Tampa Bay Bankruptcy Bar Association) (Summer 2015)
• Supreme Court Rejects Junior Mortgage Lien Avoidance in Chapter 7, The Cramdown (Winter 2015)
• Bankruptcy Complicates Divorce Settlement, The Docket (Sarasota County Bar Association) (Sept. 2013)
• Stripping of Second Mortgages Now Possible in Chapter 7 Bankruptcy, The Docket (Aug. 2012)

Speaking

• American Bankruptcy Institute, 2017 Annual Spring Meeting, Washington, D.C., Panelist: “How to Litigate the Value of a Single-Family Home”
• Graduate Insolvency Program, Indian Institute of Corporate Affairs, November 14, 2019: “Introducing U.S. Bankruptcy with a View to Learning Chapter 15”
• Graduate Insolvency Program, Indian Institute of Corporate Affairs, November 3, 2020: “Consumer Bankruptcy in the United States”

Accolades and Miscellany

• Board Certified — Consumer Bankruptcy Law — American Board of Certification (2018)
• Martindale-Hubbell® Peer Review Rated AV Preeminent™ in Bankruptcy, Judicial Edition (2015–2026)
• INSOL International, D.E.I. Scholarship, Annual Conference, San Diego, CA (2024)
• Florida Super Lawyers Rising Star (2018–2023)
• National Conference of Bankruptcy Judges, Next Generation Program Participant (2015)
• Federal Bar Association, Certificate of Appreciation (2017)
• Sarasota County Bar Association, Committee for Diversity and Inclusion, Member (2025–present)
• American Bankruptcy Institute, Consumer Committee: Co-Chair (2018–2020); Education Director (2017–2018); Special Projects Manager (2015–2017)
• Federal Bar Association, State and Local Government Relations Section: Chair (2016–2018); Deputy Chair (2015–2016); Executive Board Member (2014–2015)
• Federal Bar Association, Access to Justice Task Force (2020–2021)
• Federal Bar Association, Young Lawyer Mentorship Program (2015)
• Florida Bar Young Lawyers Division, Law Student Mentorship Program (2014–2015)
• Judge John M. Scheb American Inn of Court, Barrister Member (2015–2024)
• FACES Mentoring — Booker High School Mentor, Law Academy Program (2019–2024)

Cases of Note

• Armin Litigation, LLC v. Ebrahimpour (In re Ebrahimpour), 2024 Bankr. LEXIS 657 (Bankr. M.D. Fla. Mar. 15, 2024)
• In re Carmichael, 2022 Bankr. LEXIS 3449 (Bankr. N.D. Fla. Dec. 7, 2022)
• Benz Research & Dev. Corp. v. Ebrahimpour (In re Ebrahimpour), 630 B.R. 643 (Bankr. M.D. Fla. 2021)
• Harper v. Heather Hills Amenities, LLC (In re Heather Hills Estates, L.L.C.), 628 B.R. 701 (Bankr. M.D. Fla. 2021)
• In re All Sorts of Servs. of Am., Inc., 631 B.R. 63 (Bankr. M.D. Fla. 2021)
• All Sorts of Servs. of Am. v. United States SBA, 2020 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 202059 (M.D. Fla. July 31, 2020)
• Deloach v. Deloach, 321 So. 3d 187 (Fla. 2d DCA 2020)
• First Nat’l Bank of Oneida v. Brandt, 887 F.3d 1255 (11th Cir. 2018)
• First Nat’l Bank of Oneida v. Brandt, 597 B.R. 663 (M.D. Fla. 2018)
• T3 Welding & Mfg. v. 1st Choice Fac. Servs. Corp., 2018 Fla. Cir. LEXIS 303 (Fla. Cir. Ct. Jan. 9, 2018)
• Fohrmeister v. Puckett, 2017 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 106790 (M.D. Fla. July 11, 2017)
• In re Cole, 559 B.R. 919 (Bankr. M.D. Fla. 2016)
• In re Fohrmeister, 2016 Bankr. LEXIS 4762 (Bankr. M.D. Fla. Dec. 30, 2016)
• Leadbetter v. Snyder (In re Snyder), 544 B.R. 905 (Bankr. M.D. Fla. 2016)
• Ross v. Prospectsplus!, Inc., 182 So. 3d 802 (Fla. 2d DCA 2016)
• Red Beryl, Inc. v. Sarasota Vault Depository, Inc., 176 So. 3d 375 (Fla. 2d DCA 2015)
• Access for the Disabled, Inc. v. AP Hotel Mgmt., LLC, 2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 128611 (M.D. Fla. Nov. 7, 2011)