Litigating the Personal Use Question under § 1325(a)’s Hanging Paragraph: The Parol Evidence Rule, Totality of Circumstances Test, and Burden of Proof

Judge Colleen A. Brown has served as the U.S. Bankruptcy Judge for the District of Vermont since April, 2000. She holds a B.A., cum laude, with honors in philosophy, from Colgate University (1979) and a J.D., cum laude, from Buffalo Law School (1983). She is the recipient of the New York State Bar Association's President's Pro Bono Service Award in 1992 and of the Vermont Bar Association’s Pro Bono Service Award in 2006, and is an author for Collier on Bankruptcy 15th edition.It looks like you are not signed in or registered! This content is only available to members.

Or Sign In Below:

No Author Biography has been linked to this Article.

New Fellows of American College of Bankruptcy

December 15, 2019

By William H. Brown, Editor and Advisor, Academy for Consumer Bankruptcy Education, Inc. (d/b/a ConsiderChapter13.org) Members of the Academy and regular speakers at NACTT’s annual seminars were recently elected as Fellows of the American College of Bankruptcy, representing recognition by the College of the important contributions by those in the consumer bankruptcy system. Newly elected Fellows, who are to be...

Less Than 100% Dividend Can a Chapter 13 Plan be Paid off Early?

April 21, 2019

By Stacey A. O’Stafy, Staff Attorney, Office of the Chapter 13 Trustee Faye D. English (Columbus, OH) An above median Chapter 13 debtor settles a workers’ compensation claim and wants to use the exempt settlement proceeds1 to pay off her 100% dividend plan in month 38 – can she? In this simple scenario, the answer is yes. Pursuant to 11...

Members

Report of the American Bankruptcy Institute’s Commission on Consumer Bankruptcy

April 28, 2019

By William Houston Brown, Co-chair of the Commission and Adviser to the Academy for Consumer Bankruptcy Education The Report of the Commission on Consumer Bankruptcy for improvements to the consumer bankruptcy system was made public on April 11, 2019. The full report is available free by download from the American Bankruptcy Institute’s website, www.abi.org. The following Foreward to the Report...

Members

Claim Preclusion and the Opportunities for Mischief

Cathy Moran

March 27, 2022

I’ve been having nightmares about the 9th Circuit’s decision in Siegel for 20 years. Broad strokes, Siegel (143 F.3d 525 (9th Cir. 1998) holds that a filed claim in a no asset bankruptcy case to which no one objects is entitled to preclusive effect in subsequent litigation by . . . It looks like you are not signed in or...

Members

Are Direct Payments by Debtor on Mortgage Considered Payments “Under the Plan” for Purposes of Discharge?

April 28, 2019

By William H. Brown, Adviser to The Academy d/b/a ConsiderChapter13.org In the most recent opinion on the issue, as of this writing, the Court in In re Rivera, 2019 WL 1430273 (Bankr. D. Ariz. Mar. 28, 2019), in perhaps still a minority view, concluded that debtors’ default in making all direct postpetition mortgage payments was not a failure to complete...

Members

From the Editor – Claims

October 20, 2019

By The Honorable William Houston Brown (Retired) Objection sustained to one-year late proof of claim. The mortgage creditor did not object to confirmation nor file a proof of claim until one year after the bar date in the Chapter 13 case. The trustee objected to the claim, which asserted a higher arrearage than provided for in the confirmed plan. Section...

Members

Critical Case Comment

November 3, 2019

By Henry E. Hildebrand, III, Standing Chapter 13 Trustee for the Middle District of TN (Nashville) A creditor may request an extension of time to file a claim under Rule 3002, F.R.B.P. only where the conditions of that rule have been fully satisfied; the filing of a defective list of creditors does not permit an extension of the time for...

Members

How to Build and Strengthen Your Chapter 13 Debtor Practice

The NACTT Emeritus Trustees

July 3, 2022

In these times of fewer case filings, it may be helpful to look at ways that debtor attorneys may build and strengthen their chapter 13 bankruptcy practice. The following are some recommendations and ideas from the Emeritus Trustee Committee:

In Re Carter: A Hard Case (Maybe) Making Bad Law?

Owen W. Katz

May 21, 2023

Chapter 13 plans and confirmation orders will occasionally include post-confirmation disclosure and turnover requirements for tax returns and refunds and for other types of post-petition recoveries and income. Debtors are expected, on their own and without the need for rigorous trustee oversight, to fulfill the turnover requirements as a condition of plan completion and discharge. What happens when the case...

Members

Who Files the Tax Returns Under SBRA

June 7, 2020

By Steven L. Walker, Esq. (San Jose, CA) Subchapter V of the newly amended Bankruptcy Code is silent on the question as to whether the debtor-in-possession, or the court appointed trustee, must file the entity’s income tax returns on Form 1065, Form 1120, or Form 1120S. Although the IRS also has not issued any formal guidance, answers can be found...

Members