Mort Ranta and the Threshold Question of Jurisdiction: An Appealing Holding on Appellate Review

By Mark C. Leffler, Esquire,1 Boleman Law Firm, P.C., Richmond, VA

In its recent decision in Robert D. Mort Ranta v. Gorman, Trustee (In re Mort Ranta), --- F.3d ---, 2013 WL 3286252 (4th Cir. 2013), the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals considered whether debtors must commit their Social Security income in order meet the disposable income test of 11 U.S.C. § 1325(b). Ultimately, the court held that “for both above-median income and below-median income debtors, Social Security income is excluded from the calculation of ‘projected disposable . . .

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Avoidance Powers in Chapter 13 – Part 5 of 6

January 27, 2019

By John P. Gustafson, United States Bankruptcy Judge, Northern District of Ohio, Western Division (Toledo, OH) Click here for Part 1 Click here for Part 2 Click here for Part 3

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Mortgage Matters in Times of COVID-19

April 5, 2020

By Robert (Bob) Schuman, Owner/Managing Broker, Network Financial Group Is it 2008 again? For us in the mortgage industry, we woke up this week feeling as if during the night, we were transported back to 2008 when the mortgage industry basically collapsed. Then, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and the FHA were the exceptions. As of March 25, 2020, like everything...

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Post-Petition Causes of Action, Inheritances and Windfalls Are Property of the Estate and Must Be Reported to the Trustee – Part 1 of 5

July 14, 2019

By John P. Gustafson, United States Bankruptcy Judge, Northern District of Ohio, Western Division A. Property Acquired After The Filing Of The Chapter 13 Case: The Different Approaches. 1. Property Acquired Post-Petition vs. Property “Vesting In The Debtor”. Click here for Part 2 The broad issue of what becomes property of the Chapter 13 estate post-petition involves consideration of two...

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Debt Buyers Pay a Lot Post-Taggart

Cathy Moran

February 4, 2024

You know it won’t go well for the creditor in a discharge violation when the opinion opens by characterizing the debtor as a single mother and registered nurse who discovers her $20k bank balance is now negative.

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SBRA – The Sequel: Leases in Bankruptcy Under the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021

February 21, 2021

By Lawrence R. Ahern, III, Brown & Ahern (Nashville, TN) Introduction The Academy has focused at length on the Small Business Reorganization Act of 2019 (SBRA).1 SBRA deals on its face with a non-consumer topic, but it is of interest also to Chapter 12 and 13 trustees and debtors, creating a new, more debtor-friendly subchapter V of Chapter 11 for...

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Negotiating Plan Confirmation with Secured Creditors – Issues Involving Balloon Payments and Other Mortgage Loans Subject to Modification Under § 1322(c) – Part 2 of 3

November 15, 2020

By David Cox,1 Cox Law Group, PLLC (Lynchburg, VA) Click here for Part 1 II. Dealing With Balloon, Short Term and Related Mortgage Secured Claims Under §§ 1322(c)(2) And 1325(a)(5). § 1322(c)(2) provides that: “Notwithstanding subsection (b)(2) and applicable nonbankruptcy law . . . It looks like you are not signed in or registered! This content is only available to...

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Comparison of Annual Change in Chapter 13 Case Filings During the Beginnings of the 2008 and the 2020 Recessions

March 21, 2021

By The Honorable Kevin R. Anderson, United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Utah Coming off the longest economic expansion in U.S. history, Chapter 13 filings were at their lowest levels since 2007. With the country entering a sudden and unanticipated recession in February of 2020, we expected to see Chapter 13 filing rates increase; however, the opposite occurred....

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What to Do with the Dreaded Timeshare?

August 25, 2019

By Karin N. Amyx, Staff Attorney to the Trustee Carl Davis (Wichita, KS) To me, the word “timeshare” conjures up images of a dark conference room at a resort hotel where unwitting tourists are being goaded into signing usury contracts in exchange for a free meal ticket at the buffet. But what is a timeshare? And how do you deal...

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Teaching Old Dogs New Tricks: New Ideas for Treatment of Student Loans in Bankruptcy

May 12, 2019

By Robert B. Branson and Tammy Branson, Branson Law PLLC (Orlando, FL) Congress’ goal of bankruptcy is for the honest debtor to get a fresh start. Since most federally guaranteed student loans are nondischargeable, the current outcome is a “false start” instead of a fresh start. Resolving a $1.5 trillion student loan crisis is problematic in that the caselaw was...

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Critical Case Comment–Be Careful What You Stipulate

Henry E. Hildebrand, III

August 14, 2022

Where a stipulation of a settlement of an objection to confirmation provided that a creditor’s claim would be “excepted from discharge pursuant to 11 U.S.C. § 523(a)(6)”, the stipulation would not prevent the discharge of the claim based upon a breach of fiduciary duty, tortious interference with business relations, unfair competition, defamation, and conversion which resulted in a state jury...

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