Joining the Tenth Circuit, the Ninth Circuit also has held that chapter 13 trustees are not paid their fees when cases are dismissed before confirmation. The identical issue was argued on February 15 before the Second Circuit.
In short order, we’ll have either unanimity or a split of circuits. A split will give rise to an issue worthy of a grant of certiorari by the Supreme Court.
Notably, the Ninth Circuit’s opinion on June 12 adopted reasoning in an amicus brief filed in support of the debtor by the National Consumer Bankruptcy Rights Center and National Association of Consumer Bankruptcy Attorneys.
Section 522(g) prevents a debtor from claiming an exemption in property that a trustee recovers if the transfer by the debtor was voluntary. In other words, a debtor cannot claim a homestead exemption.....
To deny an individual’s discharge under Section 727(a)(5) for failure “to explain satisfactorily” a loss of assets, the First Circuit held that the missing assets need not be substantial.
Objecting to.....
Section 1307(a) gives a chapter 13 debtor the right to dismiss when confronted with a motion for conversion to chapter 7.
The majority in a recent Sixth Circuit opinion held that the right to dismiss.....
Unlike the majority of courts, the Sixth Circuit doesn’t permit a chapter 13 debtor to surrender collateral, modify a confirmed plan and classify the deficiency as an unsecured claim.
Bound by Sixth.....
In the wake of Schwab v. Reilly, 560 U.S. 770 (2010), Bankruptcy Judge John E. Hoffman, Jr., of Columbus, Ohio, explained when a trustee must or cannot object to a homestead exemption claiming “100%.....
If a debtor’s income falls below the median after filing and before confirmation, the chapter 13 debtor is entitled to lower the monthly payments and shorten the term of the plan to 36 months, for.....
While most courts more recently are allowing the debtor to dismiss a chapter 13 case even when creditors prefer conversion to chapter 7, a decision by Bankruptcy Judge Michael A. Fagone of Bangor.....
Affirming Bankruptcy Judge Michael E. Romero, a district judge in Denver wrote an opinion standing for the proposition that a trustee may not liquidate estate property solely for the benefit of the.....
On an issue where the courts are split, Bankruptcy Judge Guy R. Humphrey of Dayton, Ohio, decided that a chapter 7 trustee was entitled to no compensation because the trustee had made no distributions.....
Even when a debtor consents to the entry of judgment, the resulting judgment lien is a judicial lien subject to avoidance under Section 522(f), not a consensual lien that cannot be avoided as an.....