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.....
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.....
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.....
Circuit Judge Thomas L. Ambro has written another gem.
For the Third Circuit in an opinion on September 3, Judge Ambro drew the boundaries between the rules of preclusion and the Rooker-Feldman doctrin.....
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.....
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.....
On an issue where the circuits are divided, Bankruptcy Judge Patricia M. Mayer of Reading, Pa., decided that she could not employ equity to extend a deadline that had expired — in this case, the.....
Holding that a debtor’s lawyer has no Seventh Amendment right for a jury to decide what the debtor owes for fees in connection with a chapter 7 case, the Third Circuit upheld bankruptcy courts’ power.....