While Chapter 7 Filings Continue to Decline, Chapter 13 Filings are Trending Slightly Upward

Recent headlines noted that March 2022 saw a 33.5% increase in bankruptcy filings over February. This could suggest the coming swell in bankruptcy cases anticipated since the start of the COVID pandemic. However, bankruptcy professionals recognize that consumer filings always spike in March (see chart). This phenomenon is usually attributed to the tendency to avoid filing in January and February so folks can receive and spend tax refunds, thereby avoiding the requirement to turn them over to the bankruptcy trustee. An additional factor is that by March, holiday bills and tax liabilities are coming due, and folks may . . .

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

Or Sign In Below:

Hon. Kevin R. Anderson

United States Bankruptcy Judge, District of Utah (Salt Lake City)

Prior to his appointment as a bankruptcy judge for the District of Utah in September of 2015, Judge Anderson served for seventeen years as the Standing Chapter 13 Trustee for the District of Utah. During this time, he administered over 70,000 Chapter 13 cases. Judge Anderson was elected president of the National Association of Chapter 13 Trustees (NACTT), and he also served on several national committees regarding Chapter 13 legislation, rules, forms, and policy. Judge Anderson has frequently written and presented on Chapter 13 issues, including for The Norton Bankruptcy Law Advisor, The ABI Journal, The NACTT Quarterly, and The NACTT Academy for Consumer Bankruptcy Education. He is also a Fellow in the American College of Bankruptcy. Prior to his appointment as Chapter 13 trustee, Judge Anderson practiced for thirteen years as a commercial litigator with an emphasis in civil fraud, real property, and representing Chapter 11 and Chapter 7 trustees. He also clerked for the Honorable David N. Naugle, Bankruptcy Judge for the Central District of California. Prior to law school, he worked for two years as a data system specialist testing military and commercial jet engines for General Electric.

Honorable Kevin R. Anderson, U.S. Bankruptcy Court District of Utah

April 7, 2019

Meet the New Trustee

October 3, 2021

Jack N. Zaharopoulos was appointed as the Chapter 13 Standing Trustee for the Middle District of Pennsylvania on May 1, 2021. He succeeded Charles DeHart after his retirement. After graduating from Marquette Law School in Milwaukee in 2002, Zaharopoulos worked at a general practice firm, doing debtor and creditor bankruptcy work, family law, and even some criminal cases. After gaining...

From the Editor – Avoidance

September 22, 2019

By The Honorable William Houston Brown (Retired) Tax foreclosure sale avoided as preference. Affirming the District and Bankruptcy Courts, at 571 B.R. 662 and 588 B.R. 394, the Third Circuit held that the Chapter 13 debtors could avoid a pre-petition tax foreclosure sale as a preferential transfer. The township held a properly noticed tax sale at public auction, which resulted...

Members

Do I Really Have to Tell the Trustee About Newly Acquired Assets?

Herbert L. Beskin

January 9, 2022

It has long been a vexing question for Trustees and attorneys alike: do Debtors have to disclose assets acquired post-petition? In a lengthy and well-documented opinion, Chief Bankruptcy Court Judge John Waites of South Carolina has presented his take on this issue and concluded, with some important exceptions, that they do not. The case is In re Thomas L. Boyd,...

Members

From the Editor – Discharge

June 7, 2020

By The Honorable William Houston Brown (Retired) Hardship discharge denied. Section 1328(b)’s requirements for hardship discharge are conjunctive and failure to satisfy any one of three conditions results in denial. Reviewing judicial decisions on requirements of the statute, the court considered “the extent of a debtor’s accountability and degree of control; the substantiality and foreseeability of the changed circumstances at...

Members

A Look at Setoff and Recoupment as Fourth Circuit Permits IRS to Grab Exempt Overpayment Refund

July 19, 2020

By Lawrence R. Ahern III, Brown & Ahern (Nashville, TN) Introduction In Copley v. United States,1 Chapter 7 debtors attempted to exempt under Virginia law their right to a prepetition federal income tax overpayment refund. After the bankruptcy filing, the IRS set off the overpaid funds to satisfy the debtors' tax liabilities under 26 U.S.C. § 6402. In a matter...

Members

What to Do with the Dreaded Timeshare?

August 25, 2019

By Karin N. Amyx, Staff Attorney to the Trustee Carl Davis (Wichita, KS) To me, the word “timeshare” conjures up images of a dark conference room at a resort hotel where unwitting tourists are being goaded into signing usury contracts in exchange for a free meal ticket at the buffet. But what is a timeshare? And how do you deal...

Members

2022 Bankruptcy Procedure Year in Review: Revised Statute and Rules and Selected Cases Part 5 – Supreme Court Activity

Lawrence R. Ahern, III

February 5, 2023

Introduction This series reviews developments in bankruptcy procedure during 2022. Amendments to 16 rules and one new rule took effect December 1, 2022. Many reflected changes necessitated by the Small Business Reorganization Act of 2019 (SBRA),1 and have been in place in the same or similar form on an interim basis since that legislation took effect.

Members

Remember, Landlords Are Sacred Cows in Bankruptcy

June 27, 2021

By M. Jonathan Hayes, Resnik Hayes Moradi LLP (Los Angeles, CA) (Reprinted with permission. Originally published by the Los Angeles Daily Journal on May 20, 2021) We have been getting a lot of calls recently as you might expect from distressed small businesses. The “free” government money is starting to run out and panic is setting in. The potential client...

Members

Disregarding Bankruptcy Protections Can be Costly: How Courts Decide Punitive Damages Awards for Stay Violations

December 15, 2019

By Veronica D. Brown-Moseley and Stephen F. Relyea1 The automatic stay serves as a shield that immediately protects debtors in bankruptcy and their property from a host of creditor collection actions ranging from foreclosure, repossession, and garnishment to collection letters and phone calls. In most instances, the filing of a bankruptcy case forces creditors to cease all collection actions and...

Members