Attorney-Fee Only Chapter 13 Filings from a Creditor’s Perspective

By Sidney H. Scheinberg with the assistance of Alexander T. Renfro, law clerk.Mr. Scheinberg practices law at Glast, Phillips & Murray, P.C. in Dallas, Texas where he focuses on the representation of secured creditors such as automobile finance companies and national banking associations.

The filing by a debtor of Chapter 13 bankruptcy in which nothing is paid to any creditor other than the debtor’s attorney, as opposed to filing more appropriately a Chapter 7, in the given situation, has little to no economic effect from a creditor’s perspective. It does, in my . . .

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From the Editor – Claims

October 20, 2019

By The Honorable William Houston Brown (Retired) Claim allowed after reopening of no-asset case. The Chapter 7 case filed as no-asset was reopened after discovery of assets for distribution, and debtors objected to a claim on basis of statute of limitations. Affirming, the Bankruptcy Appellate Panel held that the time to commence action on the claim had been tolled under...

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Escrow 101 – Part 3 of 3

September 19, 2021

By Michael J. McCormick, Esq., McCalla Raymer Leibert Pierce, LLC (Roswell, GA) Escrow 101 – Part 1 Escrow 101 – Part 2 Escrow 102 – Part 1 Escrow 102 – Part 2

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Courts Continue to Fill in the Gaps on the Interplay of Bankruptcy and the FDCPA

March 7, 2021

By Chris Hawkins, Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP (Birmingham, AL) The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) published its debt collection final rule in the Federal Register on November 30, 2020, revamping the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) for the first time since its enactment in 1977. Despite written comments submitted by several industry groups requesting clarity in areas where...

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From the Editor – Eligibility

August 9, 2020

By The Honorable William Houston Brown (Retired) Disputed claim included in calculation of eligibility. The debtor’s case was dismissed for exceeding § 109(e)’s unsecured debt limit, when the debtor had signed $1,092,000 mortgage note but the mortgage was never recorded. The lender filed an unsecured claim for $1.7 million, and the Bankruptcy Appellate Panel agreed with the bankruptcy court that...

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IRS Warns of Impersonation Email Scam; Reminds Taxpayers IRS Does Not Send Unsolicited Emails

August 25, 2019

On 8/22/19 the IRSe and its Security Summit partners warned taxpayers and tax professionals about a new IRS impersonation scam campaign spreading nationally on email. Remember: the IRS does not send unsolicited emails and never emails taxpayers about the status of refunds. The IRS detected this new scam as taxpayers began notifying [email protected] about unsolicited emails from IRS imposters. The...

Critical Case Comment – Debtor’s Counsel’s Fee Reduced to $48k

Henry E. Hildebrand, III

February 4, 2022

Chapter 13 debtor’s counsel’s fee award was reduced to $48,116 from the requested $95,480 due to pre-petition payments, confusing and “lumped” time entries, and excessive hourly rates for some services performed, even though the debtor’s Chapter 13 plan was never even proposed much less confirmed. The debtor never attended a meeting of creditors, but the debtor managed to recover his...

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From the Editor – Lien Issues

September 15, 2019

By The Honorable William Houston Brown (Retired) Manufactured home did not become accession to real property. The creditor holding security interest in a manufactured home objected to confirmation, on the basis that § 1322(b)(2)’s anti-modification provision prevented bifurcation of its claim into secured and unsecured parts. The Eighth Circuit noted that the Bankruptcy Code does not resolve the issue of...

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From 5 Divisions to 4 Grandchildren, 3+ pets, 2 Hobbies and 1 Private Practice: The “Retirement” of Robert Wilson

Katherine L. Davis

March 20, 2022

“The trouble with retirement is that you never get a day off!” [Abe Lemons] There is no better way to describe Robert Wilson in his career as an attorney, as a trustee, in his life thus far, and surely in his retirement! He has filled and will continue to fill every second of every day with meaning and purpose and...

Per Capita Bankruptcy Filings Heat Map

November 24, 2019

____________________________ Prior to his appointment as a bankruptcy judge for the District of Utah in September of 2015, Judge Anderson served for seventeen years as the Standing Chapter 13 Trustee for the District of Utah. During this time, he administered over 70,000 Chapter 13 cases. Judge Anderson was elected president of the National Association of Chapter 13 Trustees (NACTT), and...

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Wholly Unsecured Junior Liens in Chapter 13: The Lien Strip Dance

Michael B. Joseph

March 10, 2024

“ . . . practice and procedure accomplishing the lien strip have been slow to evolve since 2017. . . . in the jurisdictions that opted out of usage of the Form 113 Plan, multiple iterations for lien stripping and release are found.”

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