What the FICO? Reaffirming Doesn’t Help My Credit Score?

By The Honorable John P. Gustafson, United States Bankruptcy Judge, Northern District of Ohio (Toledo)

Reaffirmation hearings during the pandemic have been difficult, at least for me. The economic risks for debtors are greater. There are uncertainties about the availability of credit, and the availability of suitable vehicles. Prices of used cars have gone up – with stimulus money pushing up the demand for used cars, and a chip shortage making new cars scarce – this also means that the values of the vehicles securing the loans being reaffirmed on may have also gone up.

But the fact that the . . .

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2022 Bankruptcy Procedure Year in Review: Revised Statute and Rules and Selected Cases – Part 7 Selected Decisions Under Parts I and II of the Federal Rules of Bankruptcy Procedure

Lawrence R. Ahern, III

March 26, 2023

Introduction Amendments to 16 rules and new one new rule took effect December 1, 2022. Many reflected changes necessitated by the Small Business Reorganization Act of 2019 (SBRA),1 and had been in place in the same or similar form on an interim basis since that legislation took effect. Part 1 of this series summarized 2022 . . . It looks...

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To Conduit, Or Not To Conduit? That Is The Question. Or Less Shakespearean: “Conduit Mortgage Case Law”

The Honorable John P. Gustafson

January 15, 2023

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...

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Bankruptcy Courts Grapple with the “COVID-19 Discharge” – Appendix A

April 18, 2021

Bankruptcy Courts Grapple with the “COVID-19 Discharge” APPENDIX A 11 U.S.C. § 1328 Discharge (Text added by CAA, effective: December 27, 2020 and subject to one-year sunset, appears in italics.) (Mandatory and precatory directions to the court, critical to the statutory analysis in In re Ritter, appears in bold.) (a) Subject to subsection (d), as soon as practicable after completion...

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Of Grace Periods and Mortgage Payments

Cathy Moran

January 23, 2022

The no man's land between the mortgage due date and late payment is a persistent trouble spot for Chapter 13 practitioners. Are there arrears when the case is filed during the grace period and the payment made before it was late? In Borre, Judge Ronald Sargis of ED CA said no. He held that the payment was not in default...

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The Irony of Filing a Motion to Dismiss with Prejudice

April 12, 2020

By Daryl J. Smith, Senior Staff Attorney to Sylvia Ford Brown, Chapter 13 Standing Trustee (Memphis, TN) Are chapter 13 serial filers abusing the bankruptcy system? Maybe or maybe not. There are many reasons debtors file multiple bankruptcy cases across the nation, including but not limited to parking tickets, court fines, utilities, lack of financial literacy, foreclosure, past due rent,...

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Courts are Expanding the Protections of Bankruptcy Rule 3002.1

Debbie Langehennig, Cameron Kelly

October 9, 2022

As a prerequisite to a claim’s payment, Rule 3002.1 requires certain secured creditors to provide to the trustee and the debtor notice of the full value of the secured creditor’s claim, including any “fees, expenses, and charges” related to the claim. Two bankruptcy courts have demonstrated a willingness to expand the reach of Rule 3002.1’s noticing requirements. These courts generally...

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Fourth Circuit: Brittner v. Beach Anesthesia

Edward C. Boltz

June 25, 2023

Summary: Brittner filed an adversary proceeding against Beach Anesthesia alleging violations of the automatic stay, but the bankruptcy court (affirmed by the district court) held that she had either failed to establish actual damages or to mitigate damages. The Court of Appeals held that that Brittner needed to satisfy a five-part test to establish a violation of the automatic stay: (1) that a bankruptcy...

From the Editor

March 31, 2019

By Wm. Houston Brown, United States Bankruptcy Judge (Retired) Debtor’s Attorney - Chapter 13 no-look fee subject to Hawai’i’s general excise tax. Construing the State’s excise tax, the Chapter 13 debtor’s attorney could not collect the required excise tax in addition to the agreed upon no-look fee. The district’s Rights and Responsibilities Agreement between debtor and attorney did not contain...

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There is NO MORE Form 1040A or 1040EZ – Six New Schedules Some Taxpayers Will File with New Form 1040

March 17, 2019

The 2018 Form 1040 replaces prior year Forms 1040, 1040A and 1040EZ. The 2018 Form 1040 uses a building-block approach that allows individuals to file only the schedules they need with their federal tax return. Many people will only need to file Form 1040 and no schedules. Electronic filers may not notice these changes as the tax software will automatically...

Critical Case Comment – Ignoring 3002.1 Will Cost You

Henry E. Hildebrand, III

February 5, 2023

Mortgagee’s failure to disclose payment changes resulting from escrow adjustments and interest rate modifications compels the Court to order mortgagee to credit all undisclosed increases and subject it to sanctions, including attorney’s fees. (Somers) In re Kinderknecht, 2023 WL 320984 (Bankr. D. Kan. January 19, 2023) Case Summary Kyle and Chasity Kinderknecht filed a Chapter 13 petition in December of...

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