From the Editor

From the Editor – Conversion and Dismissal

By The Honorable William Houston Brown (Retired)

Marital adjustments for non-debtor spouse’s expenses disallowed. The United States Trustee moved to dismiss Chapter 7 case of one spouse under § 707(b), alleging improper marital and other adjustments under the means test. The non-filing spouse’s income is only excluded from the debtor’s disposable income “to the extent that the income is used to pay non-household expenses, i.e., expenses that are purely personal to the non-debtor spouse.” The non-debtor spouse earned more than the debtor, and the debtor . . .

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The NCBJ Is Turning 100

The Honorable Deborah L. Thorne, The Honorable Kathy A. Surratt-States

April 21, 2024

Judge Deborah Thorne, NDIL, and Judge Kathy Surratt-States, EDMO, on behalf of the NCBJ’s DEI Committee, have written two articles about some of judicial firsts.

Are Direct Payments by Debtor on Mortgage Considered Payments “Under the Plan” for Purposes of Discharge?

April 28, 2019

By William H. Brown, Adviser to The Academy d/b/a ConsiderChapter13.org In the most recent opinion on the issue, as of this writing, the Court in In re Rivera, 2019 WL 1430273 (Bankr. D. Ariz. Mar. 28, 2019), in perhaps still a minority view, concluded that debtors’ default in making all direct postpetition mortgage payments was not a failure to complete...

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March 24, 2019

By Wm. Houston Brown, United States Bankruptcy Judge (Retired) Discharge - Section 523(a)(8)(A)(ii) does not include “loan.” Denying Navient’s motion to dismiss debtors’ complaint, reviewing the split of authority on whether § 523(a)(8)(A)(ii)’s “educational benefit” included loans, and finding no controlling authority in the Tenth Circuit, the Court concluded that Congress made a distinction between “loan” in § 523(a)(8)(A)(i) and...

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Possible Solution for Student Loans?

August 16, 2020

By Laila S. Gonzalez, Esq. One thing everyone can agree on is that student loan debt is increasing on an annual basis. Studies have shown than people with high student loan debt wait years longer to buy a home and start a family. Several suggestions have been made as to how to resolve the problem. One suggestion is to eliminate...

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One Woman’s Opinion

December 13, 2020

By Margaret A. Burks, Chapter 13 Standing Trustee for the Southern District of Ohio (Cincinnati) Chapter 13 works. Some people wish to continually criticize Chapter 13. They criticize the success rate. They criticize racial bias. They criticize how Chapter 13 works. They also criticize the fact that Chapter 13 appears less voluntary than it was before access to Chapter 7...

Critical Case Comment – Debtor Refuses to Give Location of Surrendered Mercedes; Pleads the Fifth

Henry E. Hildebrand, III

December 26, 2021

Where a Chapter 7 debtor fails to disclose the location of his Mercedes which he intended to surrender, fails to produce documents relating to the ownership of his property, and invokes his Fifth Amendment rights against self-incrimination, the Court appropriately denied the debtor a discharge. (Preston) In re Appleby, 2021 WL 5121854 (Bankr. S.D. Ohio, Nov. 3, 2021) Case Summary...

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SBRA – The Sequel: Leases in Bankruptcy Under the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021 (“CAA”)

February 21, 2021

Lawrence R. Ahern, III, Brown & Ahern (Nashville, TN) Appendix 11 U.S.C. § 365(d)(3) and (4), Showing Changes Made by Consolidated Appropriation Act, 2021 ("CAA"), Pub. L. 116-260, 134 Stat. 1182 (eff. Dec. 27, 2020) (Sunset December 27, 2022. Changes continue to apply in cases commenced before sunset under subchapter V of Chapter 11.) 11 U.S.C. § 365(d)(3) Pre-CAA Post-CAA...

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While Chapter 7 Filings Continue to Decline, Chapter 13 Filings are Trending Slightly Upward

Kevin R. Anderson

April 24, 2022

Recent headlines noted that March 2022 saw a 33.5% increase in bankruptcy filings over February. This could suggest the coming swell in bankruptcy cases anticipated since the start of the COVID pandemic. However, bankruptcy professionals recognize that consumer filings always spike in March (see chart). This phenomenon is usually attributed to the tendency to avoid filing in January and February...

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Meet a Brand Spankin’ New Trustee

The Academy

August 7, 2022

William F. Jaworski, Jr. - Bill - was appointed Chapter 13 Standing Trustee for the District of Delaware on April 1, 2022. Jaworski has very large shoes to fill as he is taking over for Michael Joseph upon his well-deserved retirement. Jaworski was born and raised in Buffalo, New York. As a hometown boy, he didn’t venture too far away...

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Trustee Cannot Require Debtor to Treat Nondischargeable Student Loan Debts in a Separate Class

August 25, 2019

By Gretchen D. Holland, Standing Chapter 13 Trustee for the Greenville/Spartanburg Division of South Carolina The Bankruptcy Code does not – and thus a trustee cannot – require a debtor to treat nondischargeable student loan debts in a separate class from other general unsecured claims under § 1322(b)(1), even when including them all in the same pool will result in...

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From the Editor – Conversion and Dismissal

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Related Articles

The NCBJ Is Turning 100

Are Direct Payments by Debtor on Mortgage Considered Payments “Under the Plan” for Purposes of Discharge?

From the Editor

Possible Solution for Student Loans?

One Woman’s Opinion

Critical Case Comment – Debtor Refuses to Give Location of Surrendered Mercedes; Pleads the Fifth

SBRA – The Sequel: Leases in Bankruptcy Under the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021 (“CAA”)

While Chapter 7 Filings Continue to Decline, Chapter 13 Filings are Trending Slightly Upward

Meet a Brand Spankin’ New Trustee

Trustee Cannot Require Debtor to Treat Nondischargeable Student Loan Debts in a Separate Class

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