Meet Another Trustee

In June of 2017 Michele T. Hatcher was appointed Chapter 13 Standing Trustee for the Northern District of Alabama, Northern Division. Ms. Hatcher replaces retiring Trustee Michael Ford. She maintains her office in the quaint Southern town of Decatur which is nicknamed “The River City” because it is on the banks of Wheeler Lake, along the Tennessee River.

Prior to her appointment as Standing Chapter 13 Trustee, Ms. Hatcher served as staff attorney to Trustee Ford for three years. Ironically, she replaced him as staff attorney when he was appointed Trustee.

Before joining the Trustee’s office, Ms . . .

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Hold Open But You Gotta Ask

Henry E. Hildebrand, III

July 6, 2025

Failure of Chapter 13 debtor to request meeting of creditors be held open and reconvened at a later time was fatal when the debtor failed to file a tax return on the day prior to the original date set for the meeting of creditors.

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Fast Track to Freedom: Judge Greenlights Early Payoff

Henry E. Hildebrand, III

January 5, 2025

Chapter 13 debtor has the right to modify a confirmed Chapter 13 plan to pay off the plan early; at modification the “best interest of creditors test” applies to the modified plan as of the effective date of the modification.

Members

City of Chicago v. Fulton And the Turnover Conundrum

January 24, 2021

By Kara K. Gendron, Esquire, Mott & Gendron Law (Harrisburg, PA) The recent Supreme Court decision in City of Chicago v. Fulton1 will change the law in most Circuits. Prior to this case, there was a split among the circuits as to whether the post-petition retention of property taken pre-petition constitutes a violation of the automatic stay under §362(a)(3) of...

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Critical Case Comment – Swackhammer Smackdown

Henry E. Hildebrand, III

July 2, 2023

In order to modify a plan confirmed under Chapter 12 pursuant to § 1229, the movant must demonstrate that there was a substantial change in circumstances that is sufficient to justify modification of a plan. (Norton) Farm Credit Services of America PCA v. Swackhammer, 2023 WL 3591920 (8th Cir. BAP May 23, 2023) Case Summary The Swackhammers were farmers who...

Director Removed

The Academy

March 16, 2025

Trump's Justice Department Shakeup Hits Bankruptcy Watchdog Making the Bankruptcy System Less Great

House Judiciary Committee Hearing

Regina Logsdon

July 20, 2025

On Tuesday, July 15, 2025, the House Judiciary Committee held a hearing entitled Bankruptcy Law: Overview and Legislative Reforms Correa Introduces Legislation to Support Student Borrower Bankruptcy Relief Following strong support from all of the witnesses at the recent House Judiciary hearing on bankruptcy for "hitting reset" on student loan discharges in bankruptcy, Rep. Correa has introduced H.R. 4444, the Student Loan Bankruptcy Improvement Act of 2025, which would delete the word "undue" from 11 USC 523(a)(8).

Critical Case Comment

January 19, 2020

By Henry E. Hildebrand, III, Chapter 13 Standing Trustee for the Middle District of Tennessee (Nashville) Chapter 7 debtor may successfully discharge student loan obligations by satisfying the basic holding of Brunner v. N.Y. State Higher Education Servs. Corp. rather than satisfying the judicial gloss added by subsequent decisions. Rosenberg v. N.Y. State Higher Education Servs. Corp., 2020 WL 130302...

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Wrong Address, Real Consequences

Henry E. Hildebrand, III

June 29, 2025

Providing notice to a creditor at an address listed on a credit report did not prevent the bankruptcy court from an annulment of the automatic stay resulting in validation of post-petition foreclosure of debtor’s home.

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Weighted Caseload: Why It Matters and How It Works and Doesn’t Work

Honorable Brian D. Lynch

December 31, 2023

“Currently, if a district’s weighted caseload is below one-thousand per the number of judges in that district . . . in all probability, recommend that the circuit not replace the judge.”

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Your Intake Process Is Costing You Clients

Jen Lee

April 19, 2026

“Most bankruptcy clients do not want to talk on the phone. Not yet.”

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Meet Another Trustee

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Related Articles

Hold Open But You Gotta Ask

Fast Track to Freedom: Judge Greenlights Early Payoff

City of Chicago v. Fulton And the Turnover Conundrum

Critical Case Comment – Swackhammer Smackdown

Director Removed

House Judiciary Committee Hearing

Critical Case Comment

Wrong Address, Real Consequences

Weighted Caseload: Why It Matters and How It Works and Doesn’t Work

Your Intake Process Is Costing You Clients

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