STUDENT LOAN DISCHARGE

By Michaela M. White, Professor of Law, Creighton Law School

History

The Bankruptcy Code permits debtors to discharge prepetition debts and at one time, this discharge included student loans. Today, student loans are dischargeable in bankruptcy only in rare (and highly unfortunate) circumstances.

Congress made student loans nondischargeable in 1976, save for a narrow set of exceptions, in the belief that student-loan debtors systematically abused the bankruptcy system by filing bankruptcy shortly after graduation and seeking a discharge of student loans without a good faith attempt at repayment. At one time section 523 . . .

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Critical Case Comment – Pay the TAXES!

Henry E. Hildebrand, III

July 10, 2022

Failure of Chapter 13 debtors to satisfy post-petition property tax payments to the county, specifically required in the debtors’ Chapter 13 plan, renders the debtors ineligible for a discharge, even where the debtors proposed a loan modification to repay the mortgage creditor which had advanced the post-petition taxes. (Rodriguez) In re Villarreal, 2022 WL 1102223 (Bankr. S.D. Tex. April 12,...

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A Salute to the Consumer Litigation Five Star General

Keith D. Slocum

April 2, 2023

Consumer law attorney, mentor and educator, Oliver Max Gardner III recently announced that he is retiring. His passion, diligent research and unmatched expertise has served as a north star in consumer law for so many of us. From building a community of like-minded enthusiasts through the renowned Bankruptcy Boot Camp and cultivating an army of consumer litigators to fiercely defending...

Critical Case Comment – Gotta’ Be Purchase Money to Get the Deduction

Henry E. Hildebrand, III

October 15, 2023

A little bit for everyone in this case . . .In calculating above-median income debtor’s projected disposable income, Chapter 13 debtor may not deduct the “ownership allowance” for transportation expenses if the secured debt in question is secured by a nonpurchase money security interest in a motor vehicle.

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For Whom Does the Bell Toll?

October 10, 2021

By Angela M. Scolforo, Staff Attorney to Herbert L. Beskin, Chapter 13 Trustee for the Western District of Virginia Since January 2019 alone there have been about 250 student loan discharge cases decided in the federal courts.1 One site reports that student loan debt in the United States totals $1.73 trillion, across 43.2 million borrowers, and the debt is growing6...

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Quick Tips to Make You a PowerPoint Master – Effective Use of PowerPoint

January 5, 2020

By Honorable Cynthia Norton & Honorable Kevin R. Anderson Create a Master Slide Template: Create a custom slide template that you can use each time you produce a new PowerPoint presentation (in PowerPoint, click View and then Slide Master). This avoids "reinventing the wheel" each time. In creating your Master Slide, use complimentary and contrasting colors to maximize readability. I...

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Ninth Circuit BAP Says§ 523(a)(15) Includes §§ 523(a)(2), (4) and (6) in Chapter 7

M. Jonathan Hayes

January 28, 2024

Does § 523(a)(15) include claims by a spouse against the other spouse for fraud etc, i.e., §§ 523(a)(2), (4) and (6), in a chapter 7 case?

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From the Editor

March 17, 2019

By Wm. Houston Brown, United States Bankruptcy Judge (Retired) Confirmation - Bankruptcy court could not sua sponte object to confirmation. Distinguishing between “self-executing” provisions of the Code and those sections that were not “self-executing,” and discussing Espinosa’s impact on that distinction, District Court held that the bankruptcy court could not sua sponte object to confirmation based on the above- median...

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Planning for Attorney Disability or Death

Pat E. Morgenstern-Clarren

November 26, 2023

Although this article was originally published in 2009, Judge Morgenstern-Clarren took a fresh look just this week. It is just as relevant today as the day she first wrote it

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Critical Case Comment – Playing the System – Good or Bad Thing??

Henry E. Hildebrand, III

October 8, 2023

Chapter 13 debtor that repeatedly fails to maintain payments to the mortgage servicer directly as provided in the original plan and in all amendments is not acting in good faith and has misled the court as to feasibility of the plan justifying dismissal of the case.

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Meet Another New Trustee

March 8, 2020

Rebecca A. (Becky) Herr was appointed Chapter 13 Standing Trustee for the District of Maryland on October 1, 2019 and maintains her offices in Annapolis. Ms. Herr’s appointment came on the heels of the retirement of Chapter 13 Standing Trustee Nancy Spencer-Grigsby. But Herr is no stranger to NACTT, The Academy, and the Chapter 13 Trustee community. So, let’s start...

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