By Wm. Houston Brown, United States Bankruptcy Judge (Retired) Discharge - Paying more than original loan balance would be undue hardship. The 59-year old debtor employed in aging and disability services couldn’t maintain a minimal living standard without discharge of substantial portion of student loan debt. The Court identified factors included in “minimal standards” in modern American society and found...

By Cathy Moran, Esq. (Redwood City, CA) One of the mysteries of Chapter 13 is why mortgage lenders don’t send an IRS 1098 for mortgage payments made through a Chapter 13 plan. And without that reminder piece of paper, our clients don’t realize that much of what the trustee pays to mortgage creditors is deductible interest. Miss that deduction and...

Kristina Stanger is an attorney and shareholder at Iowa’s Nyemaster Goode, P.C. She is also a combat-experienced Lieutenant Colonel in the Iowa Army National Guard. She is currently one of Iowa’s highest ranking females and is the Chief of Plans and Operations for the Iowa Army National Guard. Jessica Hopton Youngberg is Senior Staff Attorney for Veterans Legal Services in...

By Henry E. Hildebrand, III, Chapter 13 Standing Trustee (Nashville, TN) While the debtors failed to meet the high threshold to establish excusable neglect to permit their claim filed on behalf of a creditor after the bar date to be allowed, where a Chapter 13 case is dismissed and then reinstated prior to the expiration of the bar date, the...

By Kathryne M. Shaw,1 Boleman Law Firm, P.C. (Virginia Beach, VA) Click here for Part 2 The bankruptcy system requires good faith on the part of a debtor in exchange for the promise of a fresh start, and responsible members of the bankruptcy bar constantly work to ensure that no one “games” this powerful system. So, how does a debtor...

By Henry E. Hildebrand, III, Chapter 13 Standing Trustee for the Middle District of TN (Nashville) Where pro se debtors filed numerous groundless complaints and made specious allegations against their former counsel, sanctions under Rule 9011 were appropriate notwithstanding the fact that the debtors were now acting pro se. (Hopkins) In re Jones, 2021 WL 4168110 (Bankr. S.D. O.H., Sept....

Retirement of Judge David Robert Duncan

By The Honorable William Houston Brown (Retired) Disgorgement of fees for nondisclosure. The Tenth Circuit held that the “default sanction” for an attorney’s failure to satisfy disclosure obligation is full disgorgement of fees paid. While full disgorgement may not be required in particular circumstances, the “default sanction” principle required reversal and remand. The bankruptcy court, affirmed by the BAP, had...

By Lawrence R. Ahern, III, Brown & Ahern (Nashville, TN) Introduction As of April 16, 2020, more than 22,000,000 people in the United States were reported to have filed for unemployment aid, "a staggering loss of jobs that has wiped out a decade of employment gains and pushed families to line up at food banks as they await government help."1...