Never Let a Good Crisis Go to Waste: The Bankruptcy Amendments in the Consolidated Appropriations Acts of 2021

By Henry E. Hildebrand, III, Chapter 13 Trustee (Nashville, TN)

Other than a recluse without any information of current events, we have been made fully aware of the fact that Congress was fashioning a second stimulus/COVID relief bill. The result is the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021; a massive bill with more than 5,300 pages governing a huge expanse of appropriations, federal loans, and aid packages. As Rahm Emanuel once put it, “Never let a good crisis go to waste”; so bankruptcy advocates, hovering in the corners, did not waste the opportunity. On page 2,883 of . . .

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Eviction Diversion Programs and Chapter 13 Bankruptcy

February 3, 2019

By Edward C. Boltz, The Law Offices of John T. Orcutt (Durham, NC) (Originally published in pertinent part at ncbarblog.com, December 19, 2018) With the publication of Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City, author Matthew Desmond has brought increasing attention both nationwide and in North Carolina to the growing eviction crisis. With . . . It looks like...

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Making Sense of the Means Test

April 28, 2019

By Leo G. Spanos, Senior Staff Attorney to Martha G. Bronitsky, Chapter 13 Trustee, Northern District of California (Oakland Division) 1. Background & Purpose of Means Test One of the most significant changes introduced BAPCPA is the requirement of a means test to determine whether a debtor qualifies for Chapter 7 relief or, if not, how much a debtor must...

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Bozeman Revisited: The Anti-Modification Clause Chisels Away at Espinosa

Herbert L. Beskin

July 16, 2023

Remember Mort. Corp. of the South v. Bozeman (In re Bozeman), 57 F. 4th 895 (11th Cir. 2023)? That was the recent 11th Circuit case previously reviewed by Lawrence Ahern on this site. It was the Chapter 13 version of The Perfect Storm. The Debtor proposed to pay the principal balance of her mortgage ($17 . . . It looks...

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How to Present an Effective Summary Judgment Motion

August 23, 2020

By Hon. Erik P. Kimball, United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Florida (Used with permission - Originally Published by the Courthouse Beacon, United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Florida August, 2020) Summary Judgment Applies In Contested Matters Bankruptcy Rule 7056 incorporates all of Federal Rule 56 for purposes of adversary proceedings, adjusting only the...

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Think Beyond The Means Test

August 23, 2020

By Cathy Moran, Esq. (Redwood City, CA) It started as a means test question: could emergency medical expenses be deemed non consumer debt. It ended up as a step back to get the bigger picture. Well-seasoned bankruptcy counsel brought the fact pattern to a list serve of colleagues. The prospective debtors’ income in a small consulting corporation is declining, his...

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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 – Topping Off the Risk Factor

Henry E. Hildebrand, III

September 3, 2023

To pay present value to a secured creditor, a reorganization plan may start with a treasury rate and add a risk factor and need not start with a prime rate plus a risk factor.

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What, Exactly, Is the Trustee’s Percentage Fee

Rebecca Herr

April 23, 2023

In recent years, a handful of cases have discussed the issue of what happens to the trustee’s percentage fee, collected from debtor plan payments, upon the dismissal or conversion of a case prior to confirmation. This is an emerging area of law, with decisions on both sides. However, with this new issue, there appears to be at least some confusion...

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Are Monthly Newsletters to Clients Beneficial? Heck Yeah!

November 14, 2021

By Mary Beth Ausbrooks, Rothschild & Ausbrooks PLLC (Nashville, TN) With the prolonged decline in case filings, I found that sending a mass emailed newsletter has been very beneficial. In order to send a mass email to a group of people, it was necessary to find software that would send the emails out in such a fashion that the email...

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Some Federal Protections are Stronger Than Others – Sovereign Immunity, Criminal Restitution, and the Automatic Stay

Jeffrey S. Fraser

August 13, 2023

In this brief synopsis, Fraser compares Lac du Flambeauto a case from the Middle District Court of North Carolina and its connection to the automatic stay.

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