United Student Aid Funds, Inc. v. Espinosa Ten Years After

By Hon. Brian Lynch, United States Bankruptcy Judge, Western District of Washington, Tacoma Division

When the Supreme Court issued United Student Aid Funds, Inc. v. Espinosa1 on March 23, 2010, commentators were perplexed.2 On the one hand, the Court upheld the 9th Circuit’s ruling allowing a hardship discharge of student loans in a chapter 13 plan. The Court held that even though the discharge was not done by means of an adversary hearing under Rule 7001(6), and the Court did not make a finding . . .

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From the IRS – Using Strong Password Is a Strong Defense Against Identity Thieves

December 15, 2019

Two things taxpayers can do to protect themselves from identity theft is to use strong passwords and keep those passwords secure. While many people use fingerprint or facial recognition technology to protect their devices, sometimes it’s still necessary to use a password. In recent years, cybersecurity experts’ recommendations on what constitutes a strong password has changed. With that in mind,...

Consumer Foreclosure Procedures

October 23, 2020

Chapter 13 No-Look Fees – Additional Thoughts

The NACTT Emeritus Trustees

January 7, 2024

As a follow-up to The Academy’s December 3, 2023, issue, three Emeritus Trustees weighed in. The 12/3/23 issue included Cathy Moran’s Chapter 13 NoLook Fees: The Horns of a Dilemma and Trustee Hildebrand’s Critical Case Comment, You Gotta Fix Your Own Screw-ups, On Your Own Dime. You may also want to take note of comments on each article and add your own. Today, we offer the thoughts of two additional Emeritus Trustees. Thus a follow-up to our follow-up. 😊

Members

The Change to Chapter 13 Law I’d Most Like to See?

The NACTT Emeritus Trustees

October 15, 2023

A question recently presented to the NACTT Emeritus Trustees is “the change to chapter 13 law I’d most like to see?” Here is a summary of their responses. This question was presented by a ConsiderChapter13.org reader. If you have a question for the Emeritus Trustees or Ms. Ps & Qs (ethics), please submit them here.

Members

Assessable Yet Not Assessed Taxes Could Cost You a Malpractice Claim

August 1, 2021

By Cathy Moran, Esq., (Redwood City, CA) Eighteen years elapsed between the close of the 2003 tax year and the Tax Court’s 2021 decision Barnes v. Comm'r, T.C. Memo. 2021-49 (U.S.T.C. May 4, 2021) regarding the debtors’ 2003 tax liability. While the most recent decision in the debtors’ battle with the IRS challenged the discretion of a tax officer in...

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Critical Case Comment – Don’t File a Individual Chapter 13 If the Assets Are Owned by an LLC; It Will Cost You – BIG

Henry E. Hildebrand, III

September 25, 2022

Where a debtor and debtor’s counsel initiated a Chapter 13 petition in an effort to halt a foreclosure against property held by the debtor’s LLC, and where the debtor took no steps to correct the filing, sanctions would be imposed against debtor’s counsel. (Grabill) In re Scaccia, 2022 WL 1216284 (Bankr. E.D. La. April 25, 2022) Case Summary Scaccia owned...

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Chapter 13 Trustee Duties, Powers, and Limitations

October 4, 2020

By James J. Robinson, Chief United States Bankruptcy Judge, Northern District of Alabama Who appoints the standing chapter 13 trustee? The United States Trustee appoints the standing chapter 13 trustee for each judicial district where the UST system is in place, while the court appoints the standing chapter 13 trustee under the Bankruptcy Administrator program. See 11 U.S.C. § 1302...

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Pump the Brakes: Bad Faith Debtors Are Not Gaming the System

January 13, 2019

By Kathryne M. Shaw,1 Boleman Law Firm, P.C. (Virginia Beach, VA) Click here for Part 2 The bankruptcy system requires good faith on the part of a debtor in exchange for the promise of a fresh start, and responsible members of the bankruptcy bar constantly work to ensure that no one “games” this powerful system. So, how does a debtor...

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From the Editor – Lien Issues

September 15, 2019

By The Honorable William Houston Brown (Retired) Chapter 13 debtor had no authority under § 544. Discussing the split of authority, the Court adopted the majority view that the Code gives § 544 avoidance authority exclusively to the trustee, and the Chapter 13 debtor could not use that power to avoid a mortgage lien. In re Dobbs, _________B.R._________, 2019 WL...

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Critical Case Comment

July 11, 2021

By Henry E. Hildebrand, III, Chapter 13 Standing Trustee (Nashville, TN) A prior servicer of a mortgage claim subsequently transferred to another servicer could be held liable if the transferor servicer provided inadequate or incorrect information to the transferee. (Aron) In re Bivens vs. NewRez LLC (In re Bivens), 625 B.R. 843 (Bankr. M.D. N.C., March 25, 2021) Case Summary...

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