Consumer Bankruptcy

Bankruptcy Is No Get-Out-of-Jail-Free Card for a Disobedient Debtor

When there has been a division of marital property, does a debtor only hold legal title to property given to the spouse?

Must Debtors Contribute Exempt Assets to Pay Creditors?

Must Debtors Contribute Exempt Assets to Pay Creditors? By Lisa Boardman Burnette Is a chapter 13 debtor required to use exempt personal-injury settlement proceeds to pay creditors in a plan that provides less than 100 percent payment to unsecured creditors? Courts

4th Circuit Jan 18, 2024

Agreements in Settlement of Nondischargeable Debts Are Themselves Nondischargeable

Fourth Circuit holds that attorneys’ fees and interest in pursuit of nondischargeable debts are themselves nondischargeable.

Courts Are Split on Including a Nonfiling Spouse’s Social Security Benefits

Judge Beth Buchanan decided that the ‘totality of the circumstances’ test for ‘abuse’ doesn’t permit disregarding the exemption for Social Security benefits.
9th Circuit Jan 17, 2024

An Unmarried ‘Partner’ Might Not Have a Homestead Exemption, Ninth Circuit Says

A California exemption law protecting victims of spousal abuse doesn’t apply to those who aren’t married.

Alabama Judge Gives a Mixed Message on Who Gets Postpetition P.I. Settlements

District court rules that proceeds from a postpetition personal injury claim are ‘additional disposable income’ that ordinarily goes to creditors in a chapter 13 plan.

Debt Purchaser Socked $65,000 for a Discharge Violation

Taggart doesn’t give more protection to a purchaser of debt than it does to the original creditor, Judge Scott Grossman says.