Displaying Journal Articles for Author Thomas J. Yerbich

Student loan obligations are becoming not only more prevalent but also significantly larger. There is no doubt that several factors are driving this situation— e.g., the ever-increasing cost of post-secondary education and the decreasing va…

In consumer chapter 7 cases, the debtor frequently will be the lessee under an unexpired residential or a vehicle lease. Because these leases rarely, if ever, benefit the estate, the trustee generally will not assume a residential or consum…

Almost invariably, a consumer debtor will ask "what do I get to keep?" or "what do I lose?" Unlike dischargeability questions, which arise in relatively few consumer cases, the question of what property the debtor will retain arises in all …

The concept of limited representation in litigation, frequently called "unbundling," is an emerging issue across the country, principally in the family law field. While a significant degree of philosophical hostility exists to the concept t…

As H.R. 975, the "Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2003" (the Act), inches toward almost inevitable enactment, two questions are on the minds of many bankruptcy professionals. First, why single out consumer debtors…

A number of reported decisions and anecdotal reports indicate that despite the efforts of Congress to curtail, if not eliminate, bankruptcy petition preparers (BPPs), this "industry" continues to thrive. BPPs run the gamut from the single o…

In April's Consumer Corner, we began to consider whether the middle class is about to shatter. While the April article examined the trend between 1980 and 2000, this article focuses on the 90s—a decade that saw bankruptcies explode during a…

Last summer, Prof. Robert M. Lawless of the University of Missouri-Columbia published an excellent paper on the relationship between non-business bankruptcy filings and consumer debt load, including mortgages, titled The Relationship Betwee…