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.
Three bankruptcy judges in St. Louis sat en banc and wrote an opinion that effectively bars bifurcated fee arrangements in the Eastern District of Missouri.
Recognizing “the difficulty that many.....
Nine days apart, bankruptcy judges in Colorado and Minnesota disallowed so-called bifurcated fee arrangements where chapter 7 debtors paid nothing before filing. The two judges found multiple.....
The Eighth Circuit Bankruptcy Appellate Panel approved a bifurcated fee arrangement, so long as the chapter 7 debtor pays nothing more after filing than would have been paid if the retainer were paid.....