When Things Don’t Go According to (the) Plan: Getting Out From Under Under-Funding

By Mark C. Leffler1, Boleman Law Firm P.C., Virginia Beach, VA

It is often said that the Chapter 13 plan is “the debtor’s plan”, but the truth is, most consumer debtors only want to know whether they get to keep their home and/or car, how much to pay, to whom, and when. They trust nuances in their plan--such as why some creditors receive payment in full while others may only receive a small fraction of the balance owed—to the experience and creativity of their counsel. Debtors rely on . . .

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Nancy B. Rapoport

November 12, 2023

Cathy Moran’s article Bankruptcy Lawyer Must Have Otherworldly Powers raised an interesting issue: what should a lawyer do when a client calls and says, “what the heck IS this [notice, letter, order, whatever] that I just got?” Professor Rapoport’s take on this issue is not at all what you would expect. She puts the responsibility squarely on . . .

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ABI Commission on Consumer Bankruptcy – Introduction

April 21, 2019

By Henry E. Hildebrand, III, Chapter 13 Standing Trustee (Nashville, TN) Introduction In 2016, the American Bankruptcy Institute’s president, Eugene Wedoff, retired bankruptcy judge from the Northern District of Illinois, proposed to the ABI Board that a commission be established to examine the current status of consumer bankruptcy laws, rules, and cases with the goal of its making general suggestions...

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Conflicting Interpretations: A Chapter 13 Trustee’s Compensation After Pre-Confirmation Dismissal or Conversion*Part 1 of 3

Brittani Bushman

January 30, 2022

(Used with expressed permission from the MI Bankruptcy Journal and the Steven W. Rhodes Consumer Bankruptcy Conference) I. Introduction Although the Bankruptcy Code has been around for decades, bankruptcy courts continue to be faced with significant disputes regarding the interpretation of its provisions. An emerging issue that has gained traction in recent years involves the compensation of a chapter 13...

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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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Trustee Cannot Require Debtor to Treat Nondischargeable Student Loan Debts in a Separate Class

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By Gretchen D. Holland, Standing Chapter 13 Trustee for the Greenville/Spartanburg Division of South Carolina The Bankruptcy Code does not – and thus a trustee cannot – require a debtor to treat nondischargeable student loan debts in a separate class from other general unsecured claims under § 1322(b)(1), even when including them all in the same pool will result in...

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How My Law Firm Learned to Stop Leaving Money on the Table Part 3 – Valuable Lessons Learned in Automatic Stay Litigation

Mark C. Leffler

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Bankruptcy has been the focus of the Boleman Law Firm’s 30+ year history, but my law partners and I believed it was important for our firm’s long-term health to add a new practice area that would be complimentary to bankruptcy. Even though we were filing almost 250 new Chapter 7 and 13 cases every month before the pandemic, most of...

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Bankruptcy Lawyer Must Have Otherworldly Powers

Cathy Moran

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Just for fun . . .

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Who Gets the Trustee’s Fee and When?

August 8, 2021

By Henry E. Hildebrand, III, Chapter 13 Trustee, Middle District of TN (Nashville) Chapter 13 trustee is not compelled to return the percentage fee taken from a Chapter 13 case when the case is dismissed prior to confirmation. Harmon v. McCallister, 2021 WL 3087744 (9th Cir. BAP July 20, 2021) (Gan) Case Summary Douglas and Christine Harmon filed a Chapter...

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Critical Case Comment

July 11, 2021

By Henry E. Hildebrand, III, Chapter 13 Standing Trustee (Nashville, TN) A prior servicer of a mortgage claim subsequently transferred to another servicer could be held liable if the transferor servicer provided inadequate or incorrect information to the transferee. (Aron) In re Bivens vs. NewRez LLC (In re Bivens), 625 B.R. 843 (Bankr. M.D. N.C., March 25, 2021) Case Summary...

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Critical Case Comment – Present Tense in § 544(b)

Henry E. Hildebrand, III

February 19, 2023

When case converts from Chapter 13 to Chapter 7, the Chapter 7 trustee is not limited to the valuation of the debtor’s home as stated on the original schedules and may capture the increase in equity resulting from the property’s appreciation. (Dales) In re Adams, 2022 WL 2079725 (Bankr. W.D. Mich. June 9, 2022) Case Summary Matthew and Katherine Adams...

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