UST Allows Unprecedented Fees

By Daniel Riggs, Senior Staff Attorney for Rick A. Yarnall, Chapter 13 Standing Trustee, Las Vegas, NV

Kimberly Antonacci filed for Chapter 13 bankruptcy relief on November 11, 2008. In her case, the Standing Chapter 13 Trustee conducted nine 341 hearings and the confirmation hearing was continued six times. The Trustee also investigated the Debtor’s business and monitored an adversary proceeding and settlement agreement. After two years, the case was dismissed for the Debtor’s failure to make plan payments. The Trustee’s motion to dismiss requested administrative fees under 11 U.S.C. § 503(b). After . . .

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Choice of Staying in Chapter 13 or Converting to 7? Circuits Show It Makes a Difference

The Honorable William Houston Brown

March 31, 2024

Eighth Circuit, like the Ninth, has ruled that when Chapter 13 cases are converted to Chapter 7, any increase in a debtor's home value beyond exemptions and liens becomes part of the Chapter 7 estate. See also: Critical Case Comment – Post-Petition/Pre-Conversion Equity

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4 Reasons to Keep Time Records No One Discusses

Cathy Moran

July 17, 2022

Mention keeping time records to a bankruptcy lawyer and you’re likely met with expressions of utter revulsion. All too many assert that the major appeal of being a bankruptcy lawyer is precisely that they don’t have to keep time. Between flat fee deals with clients, and no look fees in Chapter 13, they feel liberated from the clock and the...

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Fraud Imputed to Partner – Bartenwerfer v. Buckley

The Honorable William Houston Brown

February 26, 2023

On February 22, the Supreme Court issued its opinion in Bartenwerfer v. Buckley, 598 U.S. _____, 2023 WL 2023 WL 2144417 (Feb. 22, 2023), affirming the Ninth Circuit’s decision and resolving “confusion in the lower courts on the meaning of § 523(a)(2)(A).”1 Two Justices joined the opinion with the understanding that the Court was only addressing fraud in the context...

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From the Editor – Curing Default

October 27, 2019

By The Honorable William Houston Brown (Retired) Debtor could cure default beyond 60 months. Agreeing with In re Klaas, 858 F.3d 820 (3d Cir. 2017), bankruptcy court had discretion to permit debtors to cure plan default, allowing a reasonable grace period beyond the 60 months of confirmed plan. Dismissal of the case for plan default was not required under §...

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What’s It Worth to You?

Cathy Moran

August 21, 2022

If all the children in Lake Woebegon are above average, all the small businesses our clients run are quite valuable.If the Chapter 13 trustee is asking the question, anyway. I rail when the Chapter 13 trustee’s business questionnaire asks, “how much would you sell your business for.” Phrased that way, the question implicates all kinds of facts that aren’t in...

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City of Chicago v. Fulton And the Turnover Conundrum

January 24, 2021

By Kara K. Gendron, Esquire, Mott & Gendron Law (Harrisburg, PA) The recent Supreme Court decision in City of Chicago v. Fulton1 will change the law in most Circuits. Prior to this case, there was a split among the circuits as to whether the post-petition retention of property taken pre-petition constitutes a violation of the automatic stay under §362(a)(3) of...

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Arbitration in Bankruptcy: Reading Opinions & Tea Leaves in Recent Supreme Court & Lower Court Actions

February 17, 2019

By Lawrence R. Ahern III, Brown & Ahern (Nashville, TN) PART II: More Supreme Court Action on Arbitration Introduction Click here for Part I Click here for Part III Click here for Part IV What is the effect of an . . . It looks like you are not signed in or registered! This content is only available to members....

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From the Editor

March 31, 2019

By Wm. Houston Brown, United States Bankruptcy Judge (Retired) Debtor’s Attorney - Suspension of firm upheld. The District court affirmed the 90-day suspension of Law Solutions Chicago, LLC (d/b/a UpRight Law, LLC), with the record supporting the bankruptcy court’s findings that the firm failed to adequately represent the debtor in a “simple” consumer case. Disgorgement of fees was appropriate under...

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Meet Another Trustee

February 10, 2019

In June of 2017 Michele T. Hatcher was appointed Chapter 13 Standing Trustee for the Northern District of Alabama, Northern Division. Ms. Hatcher replaces retiring Trustee Michael Ford. She maintains her office in the quaint Southern town of Decatur which is nicknamed “The River City” because it is on the banks of Wheeler Lake, along the Tennessee River. Prior to...

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Ask Ms. Ps & Qs

Nancy B. Rapoport

August 7, 2022

Dear Readers: When a judge issues a 28-page opinion sanctioning a lawyer, usually that means that the lawyer has done so many things wrong that he or she has caused the judge to roll up his or her respective sleeves (probably shirt-sleeves, although the image of robe-sleeves also works for me) to deal with the mess. And in Shiheiber v....

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