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.
An opinion by Bankruptcy Judge Joel D. Applebaum of Flint, Mich., raises an issue the Supreme Court may tackle in the new term to begin in October: Does a creditor’s inaction violate the automatic.....
Without citing the Taggart decision by the Supreme Court in June, the Seventh Circuit reversed the lower courts and held a creditor in contempt of the discharge injunction.
In Taggart v. Lorenzen, 139.....
The Fourth Circuit widened an existing split of circuits by holding that the doctrine of judicial estoppel does not include a presumption of bad faith. In the same opinion, the appeals court said that.....
There are two and perhaps three tests among the circuit courts for deciding when the repayment of a student loan amounts to an “undue hardship,” enabling the court to discharge the debt under Section.....
At least when the debtor is eligible for a discharge in chapter 13, the Ninth Circuit Bankruptcy Appellate Panel squarely holds that a debtor may employ so-called chapter 20 to strip off an underwater.....
Most of us would assume that a home owned by a married couple as tenants by the entireties would be exempt in all respects in all states. But no, that is not true in Illinois and states with similar.....
Fifth Circuit Makes Student Loans Even More Difficult to Discharge
In the Fifth Circuit, student loans are arguably more difficult to discharge than elsewhere. The New Orleans based appeals raised the.....
A ‘Plausible’ Claim for a Discharge Violation Is No Longer Sufficient after Taggart
A case from Alabama demonstrates how the Supreme Court’s decision this term in Taggart versus Lorenzen means that a.....
In the More Lenient Eighth Circuit, Debtors Knock Off 130,000 Dollars in Student Loans
A family with 33,600 dollars in annual take-home pay was able to discharge all but 23,900 dollars of 154,000.....
How to Draft a Judgment to Be Nondischargeable in Bankruptcy
Ordinarily, a settlement agreement making a debt nondischargeable is not enforceable in bankruptcy. Indirectly, a district judge in San.....