Meet the New Trustee

Pamela Simmons-Beasley is a native of Charleston, South Carolina. She received her undergraduate degree from Emory University in 1977 and her law degree from the University of South Carolina in 1993. Pamela opened her Columbia law practice in 1995 concentrating in consumer protection advocacy through the practice of federal bankruptcy law.

One reason Ms. Simmons-Beasley chose bankruptcy as her primary area of practice is because her grandfather, a farmer, once lost land to foreclosure when he used it as collateral to . . .

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From the Editor

September 20, 2020

By The Honorable William Houston Brown (Retired) Three-month delay in completing bare-bones petition. When the Chapter 13 debtor filed a skeletal petition, her motion for more time to complete schedules, statement and plan was denied, with no cause found for extending time after three-month delay, and show cause hearing was set to determine if case should be dismissed with 180-day...

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Department of Justice Guidance on Discharging Federal Student Loans in Bankruptcy Expanded to Include FFEL and Perkins Loans

Scott Waterman, Josh Cohen

October 29, 2023

“FFEL and Perkins loans are different than other federally backed student loans as these are owned by private lenders, but guaranteed by the government.”

Constitutional Interpretation and State Bankruptcy Laws: Chief Justice Marshall on Sturges v. Crowninshield (1819)

M. Jonathan Hayes

March 31, 2024

Launching a new feature - Supreme Court Corner - Jon Hayes will periodically share a look at a historical bankruptcy case. As the title indicates, Sturges v. Crowninshield looks at state bankruptcy law in the absence of federal law.

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Justifying Reasonable Document Requests

November 7, 2021

By Sean G. O'Hair, Staff Attorney to Chapter 13 Standing Trustee Nancy Curry (Los Angeles, CA) Recent changes to the Handbook for Chapter 13 Standing Trustees promise to bring renewed scrutinyto the reasonableness of document requests by a chapter 13 trustee for documents that are not otherwise required to be provided by law.1 The basic idea appears to be that...

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From the Editor – Debtor’s Attorney

May 17, 2020

By The Honorable William Houston Brown (Retired) No attorney fees for Chapter 7 work in converted case. In a case that began as Chapter 7 and converted to Chapter 13, the debtor’s attorney sought fees for work in the Chapter 7 phase under § 330(a)(4)(B) rather than § 330(a)(1). The Court found the better interpretation of § 330(a)(4)(B)’s language “in...

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Critical Case Comment – Bad Faith to Not Pay Both Tests?

Henry E. Hildebrand, III

February 27, 2022

Chapter 13 debtor is not obligated to pay both the disposable income pool and the best interest of creditors test pool to achieve confirmation, only the larger of the two; it is not a manifestation of bad faith that the debtor does not pay both the disposable income pool and the best interest of creditors test amounts. (Altenberger) In re...

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Dollar Amount Increases in Bankruptcy Code

March 3, 2019

By William Houston Brown, United States Bankruptcy Judge, Retired; Editor/Adviser, The Academy On April 1, 2019, an increase takes effect in those dollar amounts in the Bankruptcy Code that are subject to adjustment every three years.1 The following increases have significance in everything from the eligibility maximums for filing under Chapters 12 and 13 to the debtor’s exemptions. Relevant Official...

Score One for the United States Bankruptcy Court in the Service of the African America Community[1]

August 11, 2019

By Selwyn D. Whitehead, Esq. Because inquiring minds need to know; below is a discussion of the Johnson Publishing Company, LLC’s Chapter 7 Liquidation Bankruptcy, Case No. 19-10236, which was filed in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division in Chicago on April 9, 2019, and its week-long auction from July 22-24, 2019. Here's...

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Is a CARES Act Stimulus Payment Exempt?

April 26, 2020

By Lawrence R. Ahern, III, Brown & Ahern (Nashville, TN) Introduction Since April 1, 2020, many unemployed people in the United States have begun to receive "a recovery benefit" in the amount of $1,200.1 These payments, under the CARES Act2 stimulus program, were intended to provide some relief to suffering Americans. However, the most financially distressed Americans, perhaps with existing,...

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Recent Trends in the Interpretation of Midland v. Johnson and the Applicability of the FDCPA to Bankruptcy Cases – Part II: Thomas v. Midland Funding, LLC

February 7, 2021

By Mark C. Leffler, Boleman Law Firm, PC, Richmond, Hampton, and Va. Beach, Virginia In order to “eliminate abusive debt collection practices by debt collectors . . .”, the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (“FDCPA”) bars debt collectors from using any “false, deceptive, or misleading representation or means in connection with the collection of any debt . . .” 15...

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