Attorney Fee Only Plans as a Means to Provide Access to the Courts: Trustee’s Response

By Rebecca ConnellyMs. Connelly was appointed Chapter 13 Standing Trustee for the Western District of Virginia in 2000.

The truly controversial question presented in our hypothetical is not whether the “attorney fee only plan” should be denied as lacking good faith, but whether doing so is effectively denying access to the courts. If the answer is yes, the remedy to this obstacle should not be to disregard eligibility requirements for Chapter 13 or to permit obvious misrepresentations in bankruptcy cases, even if in furtherance of a worthy purpose; instead the remedy should . . .

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