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.....
Based on the broad definition given the word “claim,” a creditor has standing to bring a nondischargeability suit against an individual debtor for embezzlement when the debtor didn’t embezzle from the.....
On an important issue about judicial estoppel in bankruptcy cases, the Fifth Circuit handed down a nonprecedential opinion on January 13 raising exactly the same issue coming before the Supreme Court.....
The Supreme Court granted certiorari to resolve a circuit split on the standard to employ before invoking judicial estoppel when a chapter 13 debtor failed to disclose a personal injury claim.
The date.....
Regarding the right of a chapter 13 debtor to dismiss a case filed in bad faith, Bankruptcy Judge Stacey L. Meisel of Newark, N.J., said it all in the second paragraph of her opinion:
A Chapter 13.....
When a bank had personal guarantees from both the husband and wife, the bank had only one claim in the couple’s joint chapter 7 case, for reasons explained by Bankruptcy Judge Rachel M. Blise of.....
If a chapter 13 debtor dies before confirmation, it stands to reason that the case should be dismissed because the debtor can’t file a plan, has no regular income and can’t be examined by creditors.
Th.....
When fraud results in the loss of discharge, it doesn’t necessarily also limit the amount of a state homestead exemption under Section 522(q)(1)(B)(ii), as shown by an opinion from the Ninth Circuit.....
Debtors and trustees should read a Fifth Circuit opinion to understand how the sale of a debtor’s claims should be structured to prevent the sale from being champertous and void.
The debtor severely.....
Bankruptcy Judge Robert H. Jacobvitz of Albuquerque, N.M., described a circumstance when an individual debtor is entitled to pursue an appeal after conversion of a chapter 11 case to chapter 7.
The.....