By The Honorable William Houston Brown (Retired) Marijuana connection required case dismissal. The Chapter 13 debtors owned interests in an entity that was engaged in litigation to recover damages for breach of contract related to growing and selling marijuana, and this connection required dismissal of the case. Continuing administration of the case “would likely require the trustee or the court...

Bankruptcy lawyers regularly evaluate the dischargeability of taxes when deciding when to file a client’s bankruptcy case. At base, the 3 year rule, the 2 year rule, and the 240 day rule routinely drive timing of a bankruptcy. But as we approach the end of the tax year, a client’s current year tax situation becomes another moving part in the...

If a Chapter 13 plan makes no provision for a mortgage obligation, omits any treatment of the mortgage claims, and prohibits the Trustee from making disbursements toward the claims, the claims are not provided for by the plan and the plan can be confirmed over the objection of the creditor and the trustee; nothing requires a plan to provide for...

By David Cox,1 Cox Law Group, PLLC (Lynchburg, VA) Some Basics about Secured Claim Treatment in Chapter 13 What is a Secured Claim under § 506(a)? Secured by a lien on property of the debtor’s bankruptcy estate. Some value in the property to which the lien may attach. Must be secured by property that is property of the debtor’s bankruptcy...

By Pardis Akhavan, Resnik Hayes Moradi LLP (Encino, CA) The bankruptcy court in In re Ritter, 2021 WL 864092 (Bkrtcy C.D. Cal, 2021)(J. Tighe),denied debtors’ motion for an immediate discharge under Section 1328(i) ruling that Congress apparently did not intend that a chapter 13 debtor who obtains a loan modification should also receive a discharge, on that basis alone at...

By Cathy Moran, Esq. (Redwood City, CA) No matter how many hoops the client dutifully jumped through, without adequate inquiry and communication, the bankruptcy attorney was slammed for unbundling his services. The representation agreement at issue excluded representation in any adversary proceeding filed, as do most such agreements, I imagine. The client initialed every paragraph of the 19-paged representation agreement,...

By The Honorable William Houston Brown (Retired) Legal rate of interest applies after foreclosure judgment. Applying New Jersey common law on merger, the mortgage was merged into a final order of judgment of foreclosure; therefore, the mortgage was no longer the basis for determining post- judgment interest. The debtor obtained a sale from which the mortgage creditor would be paid,...

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...

By Joseph A. Bledsoe, III, Chapter 13 Standing Trustee for the Eastern District of North Carolina (New Bern) Under section 1113(b)(1)(C) of the CARES Act, upon the request of a debtor, and after notice and a hearing, a plan confirmed may be extended up to 7 years from the date the first payment under the original plan came due if...