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.
On a question where the courts are split, a district judge in Detroit upheld Bankruptcy Judge Thomas J. Tucker by ruling that Social Security benefits can be considered in deciding whether a chapter 7.....
Two judges agreed in their opinions on July 30: The CARES Act, enacted on March 27, cannot be invoked to confirm a chapter 13 plan with a seven-year duration if the plan was confirmed after March 27.....
Another Workaround Following the Prohibition of Nunc Pro Tunc Orders
Even though the Supreme Court has virtually prohibited the entry of orders nunc pro tunc, a bankruptcy court is not precluded from.....
The Seventh Circuit, per Circuit Judge Frank Easterbrook, has issued the third in a series of opinions emphatically requiring bankruptcy courts to make case-specific findings of fact when a chapter 13.....
The Sixth Circuit became the first appeals court to rule on whether a chapter 13 debtor may deduct contributions to a 401(k) plan from “disposable income” and thereby reduce payments to unsecured.....
When the sweeping language of a landmark Supreme Court opinion conflicted with the statute, Chief Bankruptcy Judge Phillip J. Shefferly of Detroit followed the statute.
In Harris v. Viegelahn, 575 U.S.....
The so-called snapshot rule, calling for valuation of a chapter 7 debtor’s property as of the filing date, doesn’t apply when the debtor moves to compel the trustee to abandon under Section 554(b).....
Even if the bankruptcy court’s order was final and appealable, the order of the district court deciding an appeal isn’t necessarily a final order conferring the right of appeal to the court of appeals.....
In August, Congress adopted the so-called HAVEN Act, which allows military veterans to exclude disability benefits from the calculation of “current monthly income.” In practical terms, the new law.....
Bankruptcy Judge Jack B. Schmetterer of Chicago discharged about $73,000 in student loans owed by a 53-year-old single woman who had been unemployed for 16 months, had no income, was not eligible for.....