In re Williams, No. 11-15920-RGM, 2012 WL 1556532, at *3 (Bankr. E.D. Va. May 1, 2012) (Mayer)

Plan lacked good faith that did not “purge the taint” of purchase of luxury car five days before petition. On August 5, 2011, the debtors traded a 2007 Lexus RX 400H and a 2007 Lexus ES 350 toward the purchase of a new 2011 Lexus RX 350 for a total purchase price of $46,900. The Chapter 13 petition was filed on August 11, 2011. “They chose to trade their two cars for a new one. In the process, they sought to obtain a benefit—a new car—at the expense of their creditors. . . . But for the trustee’s keen attention to detail, they would have been injured by the debtors’ conduct.”

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Bankruptcy Threshold Adjustment and Technical Corrections Act

Henry E. Hildebrand, III

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A new day is coming to high debt borrowers seeking to file Chapter 13 but confounded by the debt limits imposed by 11 U.S.C. § 109(e). Although debt limits have been increasing since the effective date of the Code in 1979, consumer debts have been increasing at a far more rapid rate. Starting in 2009, when the housing crisis first...

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From the Editor – Discharge

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