Surrender and Vesting: Shedding the Underwater House

By The Honorable Robert E. Nugent, Chief United States Bankruptcy Judge, District of Kansas (Wichita)

Even before the financial crisis of 2008, home mortgage holders didn’t always hurry to foreclose on and take possession of defaulting debtors’ homes. For reasons of rational economics (or, sometimes, simple inertia), lenders didn’t want their collateral back, even when debtors wanted to give it to them. This left homeowners (and particularly condominium or townhouse owners) saddled with continuing liability for upkeep, common area maintenance, homeowners’ association assessments, or ad valorem property taxes. Not even bankruptcy protected the owners from continued . . .

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Critical Case Comment

November 3, 2019

By Henry E. Hildebrand, III, Standing Chapter 13 Trustee for the Middle District of TN (Nashville) A creditor may request an extension of time to file a claim under Rule 3002, F.R.B.P. only where the conditions of that rule have been fully satisfied; the filing of a defective list of creditors does not permit an extension of the time for...

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For Shame

The Academy

June 25, 2023

Litigation Practice Group Lawsuits: 4 Cases to Know (This is the only free article we could find on Litigation Practice Group a/k/a Phoenix Law and disbarred Tony Diab. He has been disbarred from both Nevada and California.)

Leaders Must Take Action to Halt Foreclosure Crisis for Minorities

August 23, 2020

NCLC’s Executive Director Rich Dubois and NAACP President and CEO Derrick Johnson are calling on Congress and federal regulators to take action to prevent an impending foreclosure crisis in communities of color, in an opinion editorial published yesterday in The Hill. The op-ed highlights how the cumulative impact of decades of housing policy discrimination on African American homeownership, coupled with...

ABI Commission on Consumer Bankruptcy – What Does It Mean to Surrender?

November 24, 2019

By Henry E. Hildebrand, III, Chapter 13 Standing Trustee (Nashville, TN) One of the most confusing elements in consumer bankruptcy practice is the effect of electing the option given in § 1325(a)(5)(C) or § 521(a)(2). Section 521(a)(2) requires every debtor to file a statement of intent that indicates whether the debtor intends to “surrender or retain” estate property which secured...

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2022 Bankruptcy Procedure Year in Review: Revised Statute and Rules and Selected Cases – Part 4 More on Arbitration Procedure

Lawrence R. Ahern, III

January 15, 2023

Introduction This series reviews developments in bankruptcy procedure during 2022. 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 have been in place in the same or similar form on an interim basis since that legislation took effect.

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Is Your Law Practice Evolving to Incorporate New Technology

October 3, 2021

By Jay Fleischman, Managing Attorney at Money Wise Law (Los Angeles, CA) When the world was forced to adjust to new routines in March 2020 due to the global pandemic, I was instantly struck by how little my professional life changed. I’d worked remotely for over a decade, and my systems and procedures didn’t change. Sadly, the same couldn’t be...

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Creditors’ Rights and Debtors’ Protections at the Intersection of Consumer Bankruptcy and UCC Article 9

January 17, 2021

By Lawrence R. Ahern III, Brown & Ahern (Nashville, TN) PART VII – CONSUMER CREDITORS' PENALTIES FOR VIOLATIONS OF FORECLOSURE AND OTHER ARTICLE 9 RULES Introduction In this space, we have looked at numerous topics involving the operation of Article 9 of the Uniform Commercial Code (UCC) in bankruptcy; in the current series, we are reviewing Article 9's important rules...

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ABI Commission on Consumer Bankruptcy – Collateral Repossessed Pre-Petition

October 6, 2019

By Henry E. Hildebrand, III, Chapter 13 Standing Trustee (Nashville, TN) One of the most difficult situations faced by a debtor and debtors’ counsel is the repossession of important collateral securing a debt owed to a creditor. These items, such as automobiles, furniture, boats, and mowers which have been pledged to a creditor are important – often critical – to...

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Bozeman Revisited: The Anti-Modification Clause Chisels Away at Espinosa

Herbert L. Beskin

July 16, 2023

Remember Mort. Corp. of the South v. Bozeman (In re Bozeman), 57 F. 4th 895 (11th Cir. 2023)? That was the recent 11th Circuit case previously reviewed by Lawrence Ahern on this site. It was the Chapter 13 version of The Perfect Storm. The Debtor proposed to pay the principal balance of her mortgage ($17 . . . It looks...

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Memorial Day 2023

The Academy

May 28, 2023

Memorial Day 2023 Honoring the Sacrifices of All Who Served