While we begin to digest all of the new opinions on the complicated and sometimes ambiguous provisions of the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005 (BAPCPA), it may also be a good time to recall one of the more mun…
A 1996 survey of bankruptcy professionals by the American Bankruptcy Institute 2 reported that two-thirds of the creditor representatives and nearly half of the judges viewed serial filings as a significant problem. In October 2001, the U.S…
Congress had a flurry of legislative activity before leaving for the Christmas recess on Dec. 22, completing action on some legislation changing the legal landscape on bankruptcy. However, several bills affecting the bankruptcy process, inc…
Withdrawal of Reference Not Required after Jury Trial Refusal In In Growe Ex Rel Great Northern Paper v. Bilodard, 325 B.R. 490 (D. Maine 2005), a defendant in an adversary proceeding filed by a chapter 7 trustee seeking recovery of a prefe…
With all of the attention paid to BAPCPA's 2 new means test, credit counseling requirements and attorney sanctions, few people have noticed that Congress made an important change to the rules governing the taxation of income earned in the y…
ABI's Consumer Bankruptcy Committee is co-chaired by Hon. Dennis R. Dow, Hon. Thomas F. Waldron, Dennis J. LeVine and Thomas J. Yerbich. Judge Dow was appointed a Bankruptcy Judge for the Western District of Missouri Circuit Court of Appeal…
The "good faith" of a chapter 13 debtor will now be subject to examination at two different instances in the confirmation process. 11 U.S.C. §1325 (a)(3) requires that the court find that "the plan has been proposed in good faith and not by…
This month's Update continues the series of articles examining BAPCPA in detail. Courts have long struggled with the issue of whether the Code permits a "ride-through" for a chapter 7 debtor's secured personal property. In fact, this questi…
Few provisions in the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005 (BAPCPA) have generated as much interest and inquiry as the new requirements that debtors obtain pre-filing budget and credit counseling and complete a po…
In his remarks preceding the signing of the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005 (BAPCPA), President Bush asserted a need to restore "integrity to the bankruptcy process" by noting that "[i]n recent years, too man…