See The Little Puffer Appeal-ies, All In A Row. Affirm! Affirm! Reverse! Reverse! Off We Go.

Many of you are familiar with the extensive outline on Sub Chapter V that the Honorable Paul W. Bonapfel, United States Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Georgia, produces. This is a FREE resource and is freshly updated!! Thank you Judge Bonapfel!

We were curious about what our NACTT Emeritus Trustees have been doing in retirement. How have they been spending their time since making the decision to retire and moving on from the daily challenges as a Chapter 13 Trustee. Here are their replies to our inquiry:

In the world of consumer bankruptcy, trustees and debtors' counsel often are uncomfortable with the rules in Article 9 of the Uniform Commercial Code (UCC). In this space, we have looked at several places where Article 9 meets the Bankruptcy Code. In this new series, we have been reviewing Article 9's important rules related to consumer transactions.

“In response to Cathy Moran’s article from last week: Tracking Down the Illusive Mortgage Interest Deduction, I have a few questions to raise-“

“The bankruptcy petition came to my desk for review with no entry for “clothing and wearing apparel”. Funny, I think I’d remember if I’d interviewed any naked people lately.” Although filled with Attorney Moran’s wit, there is an important lesson here! Feel free to add your own ‘naked client’ story in the comments section below the article.

Community property works differently in bankruptcy. I probably don’t have to tell you that. On the issue of assets and debts, community property is pretty straightforward. All of the community property comes into the estate upon the commencement of a bankruptcy case, even when only one spouse files. §541(a)(2). Every creditor with a right to be paid from the community can file a claim, regardless of which spouse incurred the debt. §101(7). So creditors of the nonfiling spouse are proper claimants in the filing spouse’s bankruptcy case. If the bankruptcy estate contains separate property as well, §726 creates a distribution scheme that segregates community assets from separate property assets in paying community and non community debts. So far pretty straightforward. Right?