By The Honorable William Houston Brown (Retired) Objection to proof of claim barred by preclusion. The Chapter 13 debtor objected to Wells Fargo’s proof of claim in an adversary proceeding that alleged the note had been procured by fraud and was unenforceable; but the debtor had previously litigated those and other issues in the state court. Preclusive effect of the...

By Lawrence R. Ahern, III, Brown & Ahern (Nashville, TN) Introduction The primary purpose of this two-part paper is to explore recent legislation that makes it easier for some individuals to modify the terms of their residential mortgages, especially if they are farmers or small business owners. The emphasis is on the Small Business Reorganization Act of 2019 (SBRA).1 A...

By Sean G. O'Hair, Staff Attorney to Chapter 13 Standing Trustee Nancy Curry (Los Angeles, CA) Recent changes to the Handbook for Chapter 13 Standing Trustees promise to bring renewed scrutinyto the reasonableness of document requests by a chapter 13 trustee for documents that are not otherwise required to be provided by law.1 The basic idea appears to be that...

By The Honorable Hannah Blumenstiel Yes, MORE on SBRA. We realize that to attorneys February of 2020 seems a LONG way away but it really isn’t. We are building our library on this important legislation so it is available when YOU are ready for it. In this week’s installation, Judge Blumenstiel, analyzes the legislation. The first two and a half...

Conduit vs. Direct Mortgage Payments – The Case Law To Consider1 The requirement that debtors pay their mortgage payments to their Chapter 13 Trustee as a “conduit” has advantages and disadvantages. One advantage is the fact that the Chapter 13 Trustee’s records are readily accepted by both the court and creditors in the event of a payment dispute. This advantage...

On 8/22/19 the IRSe and its Security Summit partners warned taxpayers and tax professionals about a new IRS impersonation scam campaign spreading nationally on email. Remember: the IRS does not send unsolicited emails and never emails taxpayers about the status of refunds. The IRS detected this new scam as taxpayers began notifying [email protected] about unsolicited emails from IRS imposters. The...

(Used with permission. First published in the Southern District of Florida Courthouse Beacon, December 2021) Imagine this is an article entitled Wiley Champion, Esq. Instructs How To Win Your Case Every Time. Enticing for sure. You start reading. The opening paragraph needlessly re-states the title, needlessly names the author, who is already mentioned in the title, and then defines the...