Chapter 13 Keeps Debtor/Client In Control

By Michael McCormick, Senior Partner, McCalla Raymer Leibert Pierce, LLC (Roswell, GA) H.R. 748, also known as the CARES Act (herein, “the Act”), was enacted into law on March 27, 2020. The Act is meant to address the economic fallout of the Coronavirus pandemic. The Act contains numerous consumer protections, including several pertaining to residential mortgages. Relief from Foreclosure Section...

Bankruptcy Judge Chosen for District of Idaho Selma Native Appointed as 11th Circuit Court of Appeals U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Guy A. Van Baalen Appointed as Acting U.S. Trustee for Florida, Georgia, Puerto Rico, and U.S. Virgin Islands

Jason Wilson-Aguilar was appointed as the Chapter 13 Standing Trustee for Western District of Washington, Seattle Division, effective on October 2, 2018. He replaces retiring K. Michael (Mike) Fitzgerald who served as the Standing Trustee for nearly twenty years. During the ten years prior to his appointment as Trustee, Jason was the Senior Staff Attorney and Legal Department Manager in...

By Henry E. Hildebrand, III, Chapter 13 Standing Trustee (Nashville, TN) Section 1328(i) requires the court to consider the discharge provisions of §§ 1328(a) through (h) and the fact that incomplete personal residence mortgage payments or a forbearance do not preclude but do not compel a COVID-19 Discharge. (Tighe) In re Ritter, 2021 WL 864092 (Bankr. C.D. Cal. March 5,...

(Used with expressed permission from the MI Bankruptcy Journal and the Steven W. Rhodes Consumer Bankruptcy Conference)By Brittani Bushman, Judicial Law Clerk to the Hon. John T. Gregg, United States Bankruptcy Court for the Western District of Michigan B. Illustrative Decisions (Minority Approach) The Bankruptcy Appellate Panel for the Ninth Circuit recently issued a comprehensive unpublished decision adopting the minority...

By Herbert L. Beskin, Chapter 13 Trustee for the Western District of Virginia (Charlottesville) In a recent case out of the Sixth Circuit, the Appeals Court heard an appeal by the Chapter 13 Trustee concerning direct payments by the debtor on a car loan and the applicable interest rate. The case is In re Chambers, 6th Circuit, # 20-1376, Appeal...

Under the CARES Act 11 USC § 1329 was amended to include a temporary provision that permitted confirmed chapter 13 plans to extend the plan term to up to 84 months. To do so, debtors were required to show they were affected by COVID, § 1329(d).i The maximum term under 11 USC §1329(c) has always been 60 months. Under the...