Are You Throwing Your Bankruptcy Client to the Predators?

By Cathy Moran, Mt. View, CA

Behind every IRS tax audit lurks the state taxing authority. Fail to give the state its due, and the tax in question may be non dischargeable.

I had to dredge this tidbit from memory when we were looking over the tax transcript for a client who had been audited by the IRS and assessed a whopping tax bill. To his good fortune, that newly assessed tax will be dischargeable 241 days after the audit assessment. But, I asked, had he reported the results of the IRS audit to our state (CA) income . . .

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Measuring Success in Chapter 13: Five Years Later

June 6, 2021

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for this publication, “Measuring Success in Chapter 13,”1 where I criticized some media and academics for repeating an outdated and misleading statistic about the success of chapter 13 cases.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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Creditors’ Rights and Debtors’ Protections at the Intersection of Consumer Bankruptcy and UCC Article 9 – Part IV

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By Lawrence R. Ahern III, Brown & Ahern (Nashville, TN) PART IV – INTRODUCTION TO CONSUMER FORECLOSURE PROCEDURES 2020 portends a flood of bankruptcy filings. In the consumer bankruptcies, trustees and debtors' counsel often are uncomfortable with the rules in Article 9 of the Uniform Commercial Code (UCC). In this space, we have looked at topics involving the interplay of...

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Critical Case Comment–Sex, Lies and the Barton Doctrine

Henry E. Hildebrand, III

March 27, 2022

The issuance of a subpoena to a Chapter 7 trustee by a third party was subject to the Barton Doctrine and could not be permitted without the parties seeking bankruptcy court consent. (Clarkson) In re Eagan Avenatti, LLP, 2022 WL 630332 (Bankr. C.D. Cal. March 3, 2022) Case Summary Eagan Avenatti, LLP, was the California law firm of the somewhat...

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Creditors’ Rights and Debtors’ Protections at the Intersection of Consumer Bankruptcy and UCC Article 9

January 17, 2021

By Lawrence R. Ahern III, Brown & Ahern (Nashville, TN) PART VII – CONSUMER CREDITORS' PENALTIES FOR VIOLATIONS OF FORECLOSURE AND OTHER ARTICLE 9 RULES Introduction In this space, we have looked at numerous topics involving the operation of Article 9 of the Uniform Commercial Code (UCC) in bankruptcy; in the current series, we are reviewing Article 9's important rules...

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Critical Case Comment–Be Careful What You Stipulate

Henry E. Hildebrand, III

August 14, 2022

Where a stipulation of a settlement of an objection to confirmation provided that a creditor’s claim would be “excepted from discharge pursuant to 11 U.S.C. § 523(a)(6)”, the stipulation would not prevent the discharge of the claim based upon a breach of fiduciary duty, tortious interference with business relations, unfair competition, defamation, and conversion which resulted in a state jury...

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Critical Case Comment

Henry E. Hildebrand, III

April 17, 2022

In re Galloway, 2022 WL 1017951 (Bankr. N.D. Ill. April 5, 2022) A Chapter 13 trustee’s final audit and notice of completion of payments is not necessary or a precondition to the court granting a discharge to a debtor who has satisfied the requirements of § 1328. (Judge Thorne) Case Summary Tara Galloway filed a Chapter 13 petition in May...

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Ask Ms. Ps & Qs

Nancy B. Rapoport

August 7, 2022

Dear Readers: When a judge issues a 28-page opinion sanctioning a lawyer, usually that means that the lawyer has done so many things wrong that he or she has caused the judge to roll up his or her respective sleeves (probably shirt-sleeves, although the image of robe-sleeves also works for me) to deal with the mess. And in Shiheiber v....

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Ask Ms. Ps and Qs

Nancy B. Rapoport

May 14, 2023

Dear Readers: Want to know why your 1L Civ Pro course is your best friend when it comes to “undue hardship” cases? Because burdens of proof matter. (They matter in other cases, too, but I’m in love with the case of Love v. U.S. Dept. of Education (In re Love), Case No. 19-20532-C-7, United States Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern...

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Fourth Circuit Examines Tenancy by Entirety

The Honorable William Houston Brown

May 19, 2024

The Fourth Circuit ruled that federal tax debts can affect one spouse's interest in such property, even if the debt isn't jointly held. They also clarified that the value of a debtor's share in this type of property isn't necessarily the fair market value of the whole property, but rather their interest in the tenancy.

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Reconversion to Chapter 13 – Betwixt and Between?

Michael B. Joseph

January 21, 2024

“Is it possible to voluntarily convert a chapter 13 case to chapter 7, and later reconvert back to chapter 13? There is a split of authority on whether this maneuver is allowed.”

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