By Rachel Jones, Staff Attorney to Chapter 13 Standing Trustee Chris Micale, Western District of Virginia (Roanoke) The events of 2020 have had a devastating impact on the very low-income population. The working poor are struggling, particularly those working in sectors such as hospitality and tourism. State and Federal funding and local programs such as food banks and community action...

By Henry E. Hildebrand, III, Chapter 13 Standing Trustee for the Middle District of Tennessee (Nashville) It was impermissible and contrary to the provisions of the Bankruptcy Code for the bankruptcy clerk to enter an order which dismissed a Chapter 13 case based only upon the trustee’s certification that the debtor did not make a timely first payment. (Duncan). No...

By Henry E. Hildebrand, III, Chapter 13 Standing Trustee for the Middle District of Tennessee If a Chapter 13 debtor does not list a creditor on the creditor matrix when filing the petition and makes no effort to provide supplemental notice to the creditor, the provisions of Rule 3002 allow the extension of time for the creditor to file a...

In a recent case out of South Carolina, rather than a debtor seeking sanctions against a creditor, it was the creditor’s counsel who sought sanctions against counsel for a Chapter 13 debtor in an adversary proceeding. Ruling on a Motion for Sanctions in James Defoe v. Winyah Surgical Specialists, P.A. doing business as Winyah Surgical Specialists (In re Defoe), 632...

By The Honorable William Houston Brown (Retired) HAVEN Act applied to modification when plan was confirmed prior to Act becoming law. The debtor proposed a plan modification deleting from disposable income $1,789 monthly VA disability benefits. First concluding that the HAVEN Act was applicable law at time of this decision, nothing in the Act, its legislative history or the Official...

A Chapter 13 plan can be confirmed to pay a 100% dividend to unsecured creditors while maintaining payments to a student loan creditor as a long-term debt (which will not satisfy the student loan in the commitment period) without committing all available disposable income. (Mullin) In re Victoria Florita Durand-Day, 2022 WL 14938726 (Bankr. N.D. Tex. October 26, 2022) Case...

By Lawrence R. Ahern III, Brown & Ahern (Nashville, TN) Introduction Chapter 13 practitioners certainly do not need to be told that a lender with a mortgage1 on the debtor's principal residence has a special position in a Chapter 13 case. A chapter 13 plan may "modify the rights of holders of secured claims, other than a claim secured only...

It has long been a vexing question for Trustees and attorneys alike: do Debtors have to disclose assets acquired post-petition? In a lengthy and well-documented opinion, Chief Bankruptcy Court Judge John Waites of South Carolina has presented his take on this issue and concluded, with some important exceptions, that they do not. The case is In re Thomas L. Boyd,...

By Cathy Moran, Esq. (Redwood City, CA) Long after the human patients recover from the coronavirus, small businesses will still be ailing. And long nights will be spent deciding whether to try to stay in business. As bankruptcy lawyers, we’re going to see people in pain trying to assess what to do next. Business owners may see the exit heading...

By The Honorable William Houston Brown (Retired) Chapter 13 debtor had absolute right to dismiss. Facing a contested confirmation hearing, the debtor moved to dismiss the case, and his estranged spouse objected. Concluding that § 1307(b) provides an absolute right to dismiss a case that had not been previously converted, the court posed questions about whether there should be limits...