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.
Some exemption planning is permissible, but Bankruptcy Judge Pamela W. McAfee of Raleigh, N.C., had a case where it went too far. Indeed, marriage can be a badge of fraud.
In an opinion on February 13.....
In a story on January 27, we bemoaned the failure of Congress to fix the problem that the Supreme Court foisted on individual debtors with its decision in Lamie v. United States Trustee, 540 U.S. 526.....
For debtors in chapter 7, the sale of cryptocurrency is considered “income” in the calculation of current monthly income and in deciding whether there is a presumption of abuse, in the eyes of.....
On a question where there is precious little authority, Bankruptcy Judge Janet S. Baer of Chicago decided that Bankruptcy Rule 9006(b) and equitable tolling permit an extension of the two-year.....
In an important decision, the Second Circuit held that a creditor may not use an uncontested claim allowance in an offensive use of claim preclusion if it would be “unfair.”
In her August 8 opinion.....
Believe it or not, a debtor can have a homestead exemption in property in another country, even when the debtor doesn’t live there. Bankruptcy Judge Pamela W. McAfee explained how it works in a July 7.....
Affirming the bankruptcy court, a district judge in Brooklyn identified a loophole allowing chapter 13 debtors in some states to assert a homestead exemption without having the exemption prevent the.....
Twenty-seven months after oral argument, the Second Circuit avoided making a circuit split, sided with three other circuits, and held that a chapter 13 standing trustee “cannot keep any percentage fee.....
Bankruptcy Judge Donald R. Cassling of Chicago overruled a confirmation objection that would have driven lawyers away from the chapter 13 practice if sustained. He rejected an unsecured creditor’s.....
Even though a couple were married only one month before the husband filed a chapter 13 petition, Chicago’s Bankruptcy Judge Michael B. Slade decided that the husband was entitled to claim a house of.....