Exactly What Is A Chapter 13 Trustee, Anyway? Some ruminations on a strange and unique position. Part 2 of 2

A continuation of Part 1’s look at the many hats of a Chapter 13 Trustee.
click here for Part 1
Litigator

The majority of Chapter 13 trustees are lawyers by training. In the role of Chapter 13 trustee, there are opportunities to use litigation skills in bankruptcy court to right wrongs by pursuing actions that serve the interests of debtors or creditors, or sometimes both. As the U.S. financial collapse of the early 21st Century started to unfold, Chapter 13 trustees were among the first to uncover the . . .

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Measuring Success in Chapter 13: Five Years Later

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By Brian D. Lynch, Bankruptcy Judge, Western District of Washington Five years ago, I wrote an article for this publication, “Measuring Success in Chapter 13,”1 where I criticized some media and academics for repeating an outdated and misleading statistic about the success of chapter 13 cases. So it was disconcerting to see John Oliver recently on Comedy Central’s Last Week...

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All Taxpayers Should Plan Ahead for Natural Disasters

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Private Collection Agencies – What You and Debtors Need to Know

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By Mary Beth Ausbrooks, Rothschild & Ausbrooks PLLC (Nashville, TN) With the prolonged decline in case filings, I found that sending a mass emailed newsletter has been very beneficial. In order to send a mass email to a group of people, it was necessary to find software that would send the emails out in such a fashion that the email...

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Escrow 102 – Part 4 of 4

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By Michael J. McCormick, Esq., McCalla Raymer Leibert Pierce, LLC (Roswell, GA) Escrow 101 - Part 1 Escrow 101 - Part 2 Escrow 101 - Part 3 Escrow 102 - Part 1

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From the Editor – Debtor’s Attorney

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By The Honorable William Houston Brown (Retired) No attorney fees for Chapter 7 work in converted case. In a case that began as Chapter 7 and converted to Chapter 13, the debtor’s attorney sought fees for work in the Chapter 7 phase under § 330(a)(4)(B) rather than § 330(a)(1). The Court found the better interpretation of § 330(a)(4)(B)’s language “in...

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