2004

The number of claims administered by chapter 13 trustees has increased, leading to more disbursements to more creditors from debtors who are capable of paying more money pursuant to their confirmed plans. This puts a burden on creditors as well as debtors. As a result

It is often said that variety is the spice of life. Well, it may be that there is too much spice in the judicial recipe for the debtor's redemption of an automobile pursuant to §722 of the Code. Statutory interpretation by the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern

Over the past year, nearly every insolvency organization in the nation has conducted a conference in Las Vegas, which might lead one to think that the year has been about gambling, luck, cocktails, decadence and shows. But, even through the glitz of Sin City, I have

The concept of limited representation in litigation, frequently called "unbundling," is an emerging issue across the country, principally in the family law field. While a significant degree of philosophical hostility exists to the concept that an attorney may limit

Every day, those of us in and around the bankruptcy court face the alarming reality that during the past 10 years there has been a 96 percent increase in bankruptcy filings among those age 25 years or less. Our interactions with this age group confirm the conclusions of

Almost invariably, a consumer debtor will ask "what do I get to keep?" or "what do I lose?" Unlike dischargeability questions, which arise in relatively few consumer cases, the question of what property the debtor will retain arises in all cases. In perhaps a majority

In consumer chapter 7 cases, the debtor frequently will be the lessee under an unexpired residential or a vehicle lease. Because these leases rarely, if ever, benefit the estate, the trustee generally will not assume a residential or consumer personal property lease

On Feb. 24, 2004, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit affirmed a U.S. District Court's reversal of a bankruptcy court order that had granted Kmart authority to pay the pre-petition clams of vendors that Kmart deemed critical to its continued business