From the Editor – Modification of Plan

By The Honorable William Houston Brown (Retired)

Plan may not be modified to surrender. The debtors moved to modify their plan and receive discharge, proposing to surrender their residential property; however, more than 60 months had expired since the confirmed plan took effect, and the plan provided for curing and maintaining the mortgage. The trustee objected to the motion because the debtors had not made all of their required direct maintenance payments to the mortgage lender. The court noted that the word “surrender” does not appear in § 1329(a), and there is a split of authority . . .

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In re Fulton: Seventh Circuit Affirms Its Position with Majority of Circuits on Passive Retention of Property as Violation of Sections 362 and 542

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By Lawrence R. Ahern III, Brown & Ahern (Nashville, TN) Introduction In In re Fulton,1 the Seventh Circuit has restated its position on passive violation of the automatic stay, holding that failure by the City of Chicago to turn over impounded vehicles after the owners' bankruptcy filings violated Bankruptcy Code sections 362 and 542. Fulton – Background and Ruling The...

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Post-Petition Causes of Action, Inheritances and Windfalls Are Property of the Estate and Must Be Reported to the Trustee – Part 3 of 5

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By John P. Gustafson, United States Bankruptcy Judge, Northern District of Ohio, Western Division Click here for Part 1 Click here for Part 2 C. What Post-Petition Assets Are Property . . . It looks like you are not signed in or registered! This content is only available to members. Join Now Or Sign In Below: Username or Email Password...

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Obtaining Credit in Chapter 13 – Did the Amendment to FRBP 4001(c) Eliminate Motions to Incur Additional Credit?

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By Nathan E. Curtis and Peter Francis Geraci, Geraci Law LLC (Chicago, IL) Time does not stand still while a debtor is in Chapter 13. Nor do income and expenses. Ideally, consumer debtors who have filed a chapter 13 would not need to obtain credit during the term of their plan. Unfortunately, circumstances sometimes get in the way. The most...

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Chapter 13 Trustee Duties, Powers, And Limitations – Part 3

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By James J. Robinson, Chief United States Bankruptcy Judge, Northern District of Alabama Can the trustee challenge the debtor’s attorney’s fee? In re Rodriguez Perez, 2018 WL 3655656 (Bankr. D.P.R. 2018). In this case, the chapter 13 trustee asked the bankruptcy court to assess the contract between the debtor and counsel under § 526-528. The trustee alleged that the contract...

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Just the Facts, Ma’am – Consolidated Appropriations Act, December 27, 2020

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By The Honorable William Houston Brown (Retired) This legislation includes several bankruptcy-related provisions, in addition to government funding and other COVID relief. Consumer bankruptcy issues are addressed in Title X of the Act, section 1001, which amends Bankruptcy Code § 541(b)’s exclusions from property of the estate, adding subsection 11 for certain coronavirus relief, defined as “recovery rebates made under...

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Critical Case Comment–“No Realistic Future Prospects”

Henry E. Hildebrand, III

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A 34-year-old Chapter 7 debtor could discharge his student loan obligation by establishing that he could not reasonably make payments on the balance, could not maintain a reasonable standard of living, and because the expiration of his payment term had already passed, his standard of living was likely to persist, with no realistic future prospects. (Silverstein) In re Wolfson, No....

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In re Kaiser Gypsum Co., Inc., 60 F.4th 73 (4th Cir. 2023), pet. for cert. granted, Truck Ins. Exchange v. Kaiser Gypsum Co., Inc., 2023 WL 6780372, (U.S., October 13, 2023).

The Honorable William Houston Brown

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May the Chapter 13 Trustee Keep Fees Paid Before Dismissal?

Lawrence R. Ahern, III

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Larry Ahern this week begins a two-part examination of whether a Chapter 13 trustee may retain fees paid without a confirmed plan before dismissal. Part 1 is a detailed analysis of McCallister v. Evans, a recent case accepting the trustee's position considering a division in the caselaw and analyzing in detail the relevant statutes. May the Chapter 13 Trustee Keep...

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Is This Corporation Really Separate from Its Owners: A Checklist

Cathy Moran

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In a perfectly executed world, clients who do business via an entity like a corporation or LLC would arrive with their business lives neatly separated from their personal lives. However, that’s not the world I practice in. It’s probably not yours, either. Instead, I have to sleuth out the facts, and compare them to the individual’s version. I see prospective...

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