5th Circuit

Courts aren’t fully in agreement, but most hold that non-purchase money debt service on a car isn’t an ‘ownership cost’ deducted from current monthly income to arrive at disposable income in chapter 13.

As long as the student loan is owing to the government, the Fifth Circuit holds that the government bar date applies even when the servicer is a private company.

Congress might want to consider closing a dischargeability loophole when it comes to injuries indirectly resulting from commission of a felony.

Defeated three times, a chapter 7 trustee is appealing to the Fifth Circuit to end the exemption for whole-life policies in Texas.

Contributions to 401(k) plans are deducted from ‘projected disposable income,’ even though the debtor was not making contributions before filing

Bankruptcy Judges Gargotta and Davis both held that the amended Texas exemption statute exempts life insurance policies and their cash surrender values.

To avoid automatic nondischargeability, the debtor in the settlement of a fraud suit must deny liability.

In a case irreconcilable with two recent opinions from the Eleventh Circuit, the Fifth Circuit invokes Barton to bar a lawsuit against a trustee after the bankruptcy case had been closed.

The IRS and Census methods for determining the size of a ‘household’ undercount or overcount economic realities, judge says.

Texas judge rules in favor of the debtor on an issue similar to the question coming before the Supreme Court in Bartenwerfer.