Bridging Relationships: Everyone Benefits

Chapter 13 Trustees occupy unique positions. Every day they work with the courts, clerks’ offices, debtors, creditors, and their attorneys, and the Office of the United States Trustees. Within ethical bounds, it is important that Chapter 13 trustees build and maintain relationships with each of these constituents. Civility, professionalism, and trust are the mainstays for all of these interactions.

We asked the Chapter 13 Emeritus Trustees to give us their thoughts about ways to bridge these relationships and in particular . . .

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

Or Sign In Below:

The NACTT Emeritus Trustees

Former Chapter 13 Standing Trustees

The NACTT Emeritus Trustee Committee is made up of former Chapter 13 Standing Trustees from all over the country: Michael Joseph, Isabel Balboa, Carl Bekofske, Herb Beskin, Chuck DeHart, Pete Fessenden, Mike Fitzgerald, Barb Foley, Nancy Grigsby, Mary Grossman, Jan Hamilton, James Henley, Howard Hu, Jan Johnson, Jeff Kellner, Tom King, John Logan, Judge Brian Lynch (retired), Mike Meyer, Bill Miller, Denise Pappalardo, Frank Pees, George Stevenson, and Robert Wilson.

Meet a New Trustee

The Academy

December 19, 2021

One of our very newest trustees is very familiar to many of us. After serving ten years as Chief of Staff (a/k/a Staff Attorney) to Martha Bronitsky, on August 1, 2021, Nima Ghazvini was appointed Chapter 13 Standing Trustee for the Districts of Hawaii, Guam, and Northern Mariana Islands. What you may not know is that Ghazvini was born in...

For Whom Does the Bell Toll?

October 10, 2021

By Angela M. Scolforo, Staff Attorney to Herbert L. Beskin, Chapter 13 Trustee for the Western District of Virginia Since January 2019 alone there have been about 250 student loan discharge cases decided in the federal courts.1 One site reports that student loan debt in the United States totals $1.73 trillion, across 43.2 million borrowers, and the debt is growing6...

Members

The Valuation Problem Under § 1325(a)(4)

Brittani Bushman

June 9, 2024

“The U.S. Supreme Court has remarked that “[v]alue is a word of many meanings.” This is particularly true in bankruptcy, where the concept of value comes up repeatedly throughout the Bankruptcy Code, but “value,” with few exceptions, is not defined.”

Members

From the Archives – Escrow 101 and 102

Michael J. McCormick, Esq.

April 7, 2024

In the fall of 2021, Michael McCormick provided subscribers with an EXCELLENT, expository, seven-part outline on mortgage escrow. This information is still relevant today.

Members

Tax Deductions Hidden in Chapter 13

Cathy Moran

April 3, 2022

True. Most people no longer itemize under the current Tax Code. However, the amount of money involved varies and should be considered. The same very important debts that a Chapter 13 plan pays are often tax deductible. And your client is still the person who’s paying, even if the trustee writes the check. Don’t allow them to miss out on...

Members

Chapter 13 Saves the World!

The Academy

May 21, 2023

(The DuPage County Bar Association grants permission to reprint all or part of this article, Chapter 13 Saves the World! by Arthur Rummler, Volume 29, Issue 9, May 2017 edition of the DCBA Brief. Copyright 2017, DCBA Brief, All Rights Reserved.) We are pleased to reprint an article referred to recently by Director Twomey of the Executive Office for United...

Score One for the United States Bankruptcy Court in the Service of the African America Community[1]

August 11, 2019

By Selwyn D. Whitehead, Esq. Because inquiring minds need to know; below is a discussion of the Johnson Publishing Company, LLC’s Chapter 7 Liquidation Bankruptcy, Case No. 19-10236, which was filed in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division in Chicago on April 9, 2019, and its week-long auction from July 22-24, 2019. Here's...

Members

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.”

Members

From the Editor – Confirmation

March 8, 2020

By The Honorable William Houston Brown (Retired) Equal monthly payments and attorney fees. The secured creditor objected to confirmation on basis that the plan improperly deferred its payments until debtor’s attorney fees were paid, and the District Court affirmed confirmation that delayed start of secured equal monthly payments for 21 months. The opinion examines three approaches to the issue: 1)...

Members

Creditors’ Rights and Debtors’ Protections at the Intersection of Consumer Bankruptcy and UCC Article 9

October 25, 2020

By Lawrence R. Ahern III, Brown & Ahern (Nashville, TN) Part V – Consumer Foreclosure Procedures (Continued) Introduction In the world of consumer bankruptcy, trustees and debtors' counsel often are uncomfortable with the rules in Article 9 of the Uniform Commercial Code (UCC). In this space, we have looked at several places where Article 9 meets the Bankruptcy Code. In...

Members