Stern v. Marshall: Making Life Harder for Chapter 13 Trustees?

By Brian T. Cumings, Graves, Dougherty, Heron and Moody (Austin, TX)

In June of 2011, the Supreme Court created a minor uproar in the bankruptcy community when it handed down its opinion in Stern v. Marshall.1 In a wide-ranging majority opinion delivered by Chief Justice Roberts, only two things were clear: a lot of money was at stake in the case and Congress had overreached in some way in its statutory grants of authority to bankruptcy courts.

The core holding of Stern was that Article III of the Constitution precluded an . . .

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Sua Sponte Sanctions Held to Higher Standard

Cathy Moran

January 14, 2024

9th Cir. BAP erected high bar for sanctions. And, interestingly, at the heart of the BAP’s decision was the very fact that BAP decisions are not binding.

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Fourth Circuit Overrules Own Precedent, Holds Certain Primary Residence Claims Can be Crammed Down in Chapter 13 Bankruptcies

October 20, 2019

(First published here on August 19, 2019. Used with permission.) By Daniel Cohn, Esq., Legal Department, Wells Fargo Bank, N.A. General Rule: No Primary Residence Mortgage Changes The general rule in bankruptcy is that debtors cannot cram down loans secured only by mortgages on their primary residences. But wait, “what’s a cram down?” you ask. For non-bankruptcy folks, a cram...

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2022 Bankruptcy Procedure Year in Review: Revised Statute and Rules and Selected Cases – Part 7 Selected Decisions Under Parts I and II of the Federal Rules of Bankruptcy Procedure

Lawrence R. Ahern, III

March 26, 2023

Introduction Amendments to 16 rules and new one new rule took effect December 1, 2022. Many reflected changes necessitated by the Small Business Reorganization Act of 2019 (SBRA),1 and had been in place in the same or similar form on an interim basis since that legislation took effect. Part 1 of this series summarized 2022 . . . It looks...

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FROM THE ARCHIVES: If You’re Gonna Bet the Farm, Maybe Play Against the House

Danielle N. Gueck-Townsend

December 3, 2023

Attorney Gueck-Townsend provides readers with a primer on evidence needed to prove losses.

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New and Revised Bankruptcy Forms

November 10, 2019

By William Houston Brown, Editor and Adviser, NACTT Academy for Consumer Bankruptcy Education, Inc. Several Official and Director’s Forms related to bankruptcy filings are revised and some are new, with some already taking effect on October 1, 2019, others to take effect December 1, 2019, and others taking effect February 19, 2020. Several forms have already been updated on April...

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Meet a New Trustee

The Academy

October 22, 2023

Angela M. Scolforo was appointed as the Chapter 13 Standing Trustee for the Western District of Virginia on April Fool’s Day. She replaced Herbert L. Beskin who served as the Trustee for 20 years, retiring in March of this year. Angela received a B.A. in English from College of the Holy Cross in Worchester, Massachusetts, in1987. She did not immediately go...

How to Build and Strengthen Your Chapter 13 Debtor Practice

The NACTT Emeritus Trustees

July 3, 2022

In these times of fewer case filings, it may be helpful to look at ways that debtor attorneys may build and strengthen their chapter 13 bankruptcy practice. The following are some recommendations and ideas from the Emeritus Trustee Committee:

Employment Law Alphabet Soup

October 24, 2021

By Merideth Akers, CPA, PHR, Comptroller for Bradford W. Caraway (Birmingham, AL) I have taught Compensation and Benefits to candidates preparing to take the Professional in Human Resources certification exam. These two topics include a great amount of employment law. So, I know just enough about employment law to be scared… or maybe cautious is a better term. I am...

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Federal District Court Affirms Decision that Residential Loan Modification Does Not Alter Lien Priority in Pennsylvania

March 15, 2020

By Scott Waterman, Standing Chapter 13 Trustee Eastern District of Pennsylvania (Reading) Citing Pennsylvania law, a Federal District Court in In re Hamilton (Hamilton v. Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency), ___ B.R. ____ (E.D. Pa. 2020) refused to apply the equitable subordination doctrine to reorder the priority of mortgages after the first mortgage lender granted the debtors a loan modification prior...

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What is a “Consumer Debt”?

M. Jonathan Hayes

April 21, 2024

By highlighting Judge Stephen Johnson's rulings and insights, Hayes brings readers an analysis of the definition of what consumer debt is . . . and is not.

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