Taxes & Timing: Calculating Outcomes for Bankruptcy Debtors

Bankruptcy lawyers regularly evaluate the dischargeability of taxes when deciding when to file a client’s bankruptcy case. At base, the 3 year rule, the 2 year rule, and the 240 day rule routinely drive timing of a bankruptcy.

But as we approach the end of the tax year, a client’s current year tax situation becomes another moving part in the “when do we file” analysis, unrelated to tax dischargeability.

In the simplest situation, the client owes no . . .

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Cathy Moran, Esq.

Head of Moran Law Group

Cathy Moran has headed her own small firm Moran Law Group in Redwood City, California, for nearly 30 years. Family law and tax issues as they play out in bankruptcy are areas of particular interest to Cathy.

From the Editor – Discharge Injunction

May 31, 2020

By The Honorable William Houston Brown (Retired) Application of Taggart to lien avoidance. When the Chapter 13 confirmed plan bifurcated the secured creditor’s claim and the secured portion had been paid in full with interest, the completion of payments voided any lien, and the creditor violated the discharge injunction by commencing foreclosure. The Panel found the plan’s language, although “inartful,”...

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Avoidance Powers In Chapter 13 – Part 3 of 6

January 13, 2019

By John P. Gustafson, United States Bankruptcy Judge, Northern District of Ohio, Western Division (Toledo, OH) Click here for Part 1 of 6 Click here for Part 2 of 6 Click here for Part 4 of 6 Click here for Part 5 of 6

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Important Research Survey

The Academy

December 10, 2023

As a professional in an occupation that may often interface with people handling life disruptions (e.g., divorce/separation, unemployment, mortgage foreclosure) you are being asked to participate in a study being conducted by the University of Southern California.

Thoughts on the Law: “None of My Business” Or “CU Later”? – Does Refusing to Do Business with a Debtor Violate the Automatic Stay?

February 9, 2020

By The Honorable John P. Gustafson Can a creditor refuse to do business with a debtor, or is such refusal a violation of the automatic stay? The case of Brown v. Penn State Employees Credit Union, 851 F.2d 81 (3rd Cir. 1988) held that a credit union’s refusal to continue to do business with a debtor who caused a loss...

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Critical Case Comment – Objection to Entire Housing Allowance Overruled

Henry E. Hildebrand, III

March 3, 2024

This is a potential BIGGIE . . . Where a Chapter 13 debtor incurs one relatively small expense covered by the IRS Local Standards, the debtor is entitled to deduct from CMI the entire allowance to calculate Projected Disposable Income.

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The Extent of 362(c)(3)’s Stay Termination: Bankruptcy Court Adds an Argument to the Debate

June 28, 2020

By Lawrence R. Ahern III, Brown & Ahern (Nashville, TN) Introduction In In re Dao,1 Bankruptcy Judge Christopher Klein on May 11 ruled on an issue on which the circuits are split and certiorari is pending.2 Judge Klein agreed with the majority view that, under paragraph 362(c)(3) of the Bankruptcy Code, the automatic stay terminated 30 days after the order...

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Representing Elderly Clients in Bankruptcy – Part 2 of 3

January 12, 2020

By David Cox,1 Cox Law Group, PLLC (Lynchburg, VA) Click here for Part 1 of 3 C. Determining whether to file. Collection considerations outside of bankruptcy. Is the debtor judgment-proof? Are assets and income exempt? How active are creditors? Is the current situation likely to change? Has there been a previous filing, and if so, are there stay or exhausted...

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Good or Bad Faith?

Hale Andrew Antico

September 10, 2023

The Ninth Circuit BAP held that the chapter 13 debtors converted their case to Chapter 7 in good faith and therefore a post-petition inheritance was not property of the chapter 7 estate.

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Critical Case Comment – “Extraordinary” Key to Set Aside Dismissal

Henry E. Hildebrand, III

November 13, 2022

Chapter 13 debtor must demonstrate extraordinary circumstances to justify the extraordinary relief of setting aside or “reconsidering” an order dismissing a Chapter 13 case. (Cary) In re Canas, 2022 WL 10707000 (Bankr. D. Ma. October 18, 2022) Case Summary Nelson and Annemarie Canas filed a Chapter 13 petition in August of 2019. The debtors immediately fell behind on their proposed...

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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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