From the Editor – Dismissal

By The Honorable William Houston Brown (Retired)

Chapter 13 debtor had absolute right to dismiss. Facing a contested confirmation hearing, the debtor moved to dismiss the case, and his estranged spouse objected. Concluding that § 1307(b) provides an absolute right to dismiss a case that had not been previously converted, the court posed questions about whether there should be limits on this dismissal right, for example, when the debtor had engaged in bad faith actions. With no facts to establish an exception from the statute’s “shall dismiss” language, such questions were reserved for another day . . .

It looks like you are not signed in or registered! This content is only available to members.

Or Sign In Below:

No Author Biography has been linked to this Article.

Meet an AO Trustee

February 24, 2019

On June 26, 2017, Bradford W. Caraway was appointed as the Chapter 13 Standing Trustee for the Northern District of Alabama, Southern Division. He replaced D. Sims Crawford who had been appointed as a United States Bankruptcy Judge for the Northern District of Alabama. Trustee Caraway maintains his office in Birmingham. At the time of his appointment as Standing Trustee,...

Members

Progeny of Law v. Siegel: Sixth and Ninth Circuits Say Right to Dismiss Chapter 13 Case is Absolute, Not Qualified by Section 105

September 26, 2021

By Lawrence R. Ahern III, Brown & Ahern (Nashville, TN) "Equity is not an old man, with a long grey beard, sitting under a tree. Equity has rules."1 Introduction Section 105 When enacted in 1978, the Bankruptcy Code in section 105 included an "all writs" statute for the Bankruptcy Courts: The court may issue any order, process, or judgment that...

Members

Consumer Foreclosure Procedures

October 23, 2020

Meet Another Trustee

February 10, 2019

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...

Members

Critical Case Comment – It’s All in the Proof

Henry E. Hildebrand, III

July 9, 2023

Chapter 13 debtor’s failure to provide evidence of a change in financial circumstances justifies the denial of a motion to modify seeking to reduce the dividend and related payments into the plan. (Cleary) In re DeRoo, 650 B.R. 561 (Bankr. N.D. Ill. May 2, 2023) Case Summary Nicole DeRoo filed a Chapter 13 petition in February of 2022. Above-median income...

Members

A Fond Farewell

Marie-Ann Greenberg

August 20, 2023

Wishing our dear friend and colleague, Isabel Balboa, a hearty congratulations on her upcoming retirement. As many of you know, Isabel came to the United States from Cuba at the age of 6 with her mother and sisters. Upon leaving Cuba, they were forced to leave everything behind for fear that they would be caught and detained. Her father was...

Game Stop: Dismissals with Prejudice

Michael B. Joseph

May 8, 2022

Faced with abusive and serial bankruptcy cases,courts have fashioned various sanctions to put a stop to gaming the system. The favored sanction of the majority of courts is to enter an order of dismissal with prejudice under Section 349(a) of the Bankruptcy Code that adds a condition prohibiting refiling another bankruptcy case for a set period of time. See Lundin...

Members

Is Voluntary Dismissal of a Chapter 13 Case an Absolute Right?

July 12, 2020

By Daryl J. Smith, Senior Staff Attorney to Sylvia Ford Brown, Chapter 13 Trustee (Memphis, TN) and Katherine L. Rea, Staff Attorney to Pamela Simmons-Beasley, Chapter 13 Trustee (Columbia, SC) Is there ever a reason to oppose a voluntary dismissal of a chapter 13 that has not been converted from a chapter 7? Maybe. But will you be successful? Probably...

Members

Ask Ms. Ps & Qs

December 13, 2020

By Professor Nancy Rapoport Dear Readers: The ConsiderChapter13.org staff has, once again, raised an important ethics issue: how far does the attorney-client privilege go? In Taylor Lohmeyer Law Firm v. United States,1 the Fifth Circuit had to wrestle with that issue after the law firm (Taylor Lohmeyer) claimed a blanket attorney-client privilege for all documents that were subject to the...

In re Evans: Disgorging Chapter 13 Trustee Fees in Cases Dismissed Prior to Confirmation

March 15, 2020

By Jen Grondahl Lee, Jen Lee Law, Inc. (San Ramon, CA) When is a collected fee not a collected fee? When the statutes authorizing payment to the standing Chapter 13 trustee do not provide clear guidance on when that fee is paid and/or earned. The most recent case on this issue is In re Evans (Bankr. Idaho 2020).1 In a...

Members