By Henry E. Hildebrand, III, Chapter 13 Standing Trustee (Nashville, TN) Section I. Student Loans, Part II – Suggested Regulatory and Judicial Changes In our last installment of the Academy Report on the ABI Commission on Consumer Bankruptcy we dealt with the ABI Commission’s suggested statutory modifications which could address some of the problems facing borrowers confronted with substantial student...

By Henry E. Hildebrand, III, Chapter 13 Standing Trustee for the Middle District of TN (Nashville) In awarding attorneys’ fees in a Chapter 13 case, a court is not limited to establishing the fee by use of the lodestar method; fees for services rendered should be based on the reasonable and customary fees charged by other attorneys performing the same...

By Cathy Moran, Esq. (Redwood City, CA) One of the cosmic ironies of our legal system is that it costs money to file bankruptcy. Bankruptcy gets you out of debt only if you have the money to file. The costs of bankruptcy include the filing fee collected by the court; the required credit counseling; and, if you’re smart, an experienced...

Krista M. Preuss was appointed as the Chapter 13 Standing Trustee for the Southern District of New York on February 1, 2018. She succeeded Jeffrey Sapir after his retirement. On October 1, 2021, she was appointed as the Chapter 13 Standing Trustee for the Eastern District of New York, succeeding Marianne DeRosa upon her retirement. Yep, two trusteeships. Can you...

By Henry E. Hildebrand, III, Chapter 13 Standing Trustee for the Middle District of Tennessee (Nashville) While in personam liability of a junior mortgage on the debtor’s residence is discharged by a Chapter 7, the lien survives and constitutes an allowed unsecured claim in the debtor’s subsequent Chapter 13 case. In re Hopper, 2021 WL 3435445 (Bankr. E.D. N.Y. Aug....

By Alex Schmidt, Law Clerk to the Honorable John P. Gustafson., Northern District of Ohio at Toledo As the United States begins the process of coming to grips with COVID-19, those who work in the consumer bankruptcy world are going to have to roll with the punches thrown by a global pandemic that is already creating financial chaos throughout the...

By Henry E. Hildebrand, III, Chapter 13 Standing Trustee (Nashville, TN) While the debtors failed to meet the high threshold to establish excusable neglect to permit their claim filed on behalf of a creditor after the bar date to be allowed, where a Chapter 13 case is dismissed and then reinstated prior to the expiration of the bar date, the...

By John P. Gustafson, United States Bankruptcy Judge, Northern District of Ohio, Western Division (Toledo, OH) Click here for Part 1 of 6 Click here for Part 3 of 6 Click here for Part 4 of 6 Click here for Part 5 of 6 Click here for Part 6 . . . It looks like you are not signed in...

By John P. Gustafson, United States Bankruptcy Judge, Northern District of Ohio, Western Division A. Property Acquired After The Filing Of The Chapter 13 Case: The Different Approaches. 1. Property Acquired Post-Petition vs. Property “Vesting In The Debtor”. Click here for Part 2 The broad issue of what becomes property of the Chapter 13 estate post-petition involves consideration of two...