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.....
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.....
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.....
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.....
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.....