By Cathy Moran, Esq. (Redwood City, CA) It started as a means test question: could emergency medical expenses be deemed non consumer debt. It ended up as a step back to get the bigger picture. Well-seasoned bankruptcy counsel brought the fact pattern to a list serve of colleagues. The prospective debtors’ income in a small consulting corporation is declining, his...

I never set out to be a bankruptcy lawyer, much less a trustee. It was always my intent to be trial lawyer. The thrill of victory, the agony of defeat, and the captive audience of a jury; having to think fast on your feet was exciting. Facing jurors and witnesses with a modicum of confidence was what my view of...

Even though the Chapter 13 debtor’s 36 cats were property of the estate, the county animal control office could pursue possession of the cats and resulting disposition (by way of adoption). (Hagenau) In re Karen Mitchell-Smith, 2022 WL 2195466 (Bankr. N.D. Ga. June 17, 2022) Case Summary Sometime in 2021, Henry County Animal Control took possession of 36 cats that...

By Lawrence R. Ahern, III, Brown & Ahern (Nashville, TN) Introduction Analyzing the new "COVID-19 discharge" provision added to Chapter 131 by Congress on December 27 as part of the coronavirus emergency response legislation, the Bankruptcy Court for the Central District of California decided in In re Ritter2 that, in order to receive such a discharge, debtors must still comply...

Faced with abusive and serial bankruptcy cases,courts have fashioned various sanctions to put a stop to gaming the system. The favored sanction of the majority of courts is to enter an order of dismissal with prejudice under Section 349(a) of the Bankruptcy Code that adds a condition prohibiting refiling another bankruptcy case for a set period of time. See Lundin...

The Justice Department, in partnership with the Department of Education, recently announced new guidelines that loosen the strict application of the “undue hardship” exceptionwhen defending a student loan dischargeability action. This new guidance is a game changer. In the past the Department of Justice narrowly applied the undue hardship exception when defending discharge of student loans to the extent that...