Critical Case Comment

Critical Case Comment – Topping Off the Risk Factor

To pay present value to a secured creditor, a reorganization plan may start with a treasury rate and add a risk factor and need not start with a prime rate plus a risk factor.

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Henry E. Hildebrand, III

Chapter 13 Standing Trustee for the Middle District of Tennessee (Nashville)

Henry E. Hildebrand, III has served as Standing Trustee for Chapter 13 matters in the Middle District of Tennessee since 1982 and as Standing Chapter 12 Trustee for that district since 1986. He also is of counsel to the Nashville law firm of Belcher Sykes Harrington, PLLC. Mr. Hildebrand graduated from Vanderbilt University and received his J.D. from the National Law Center of George Washington University. He is a fellow of the American College of Bankruptcy and the Nashville Bar Foundation. He is Board Certified in consumer bankruptcy law by the American Board of Certification and serves on its faculty committee. He is Chairman of the Legislative and Legal Affairs Committee for the National Association of Chapter 13 Trustees (NACTT). He is on the Board of Directors for the NACTT Academy for Consumer Bankruptcy Education, Inc. and is an adjunct faculty member for the Nashville School of Law and St. Johns University School of Law. In addition, he served as a commissioner to the American Bankruptcy Institute’s Commission on Consumer Bankruptcy.

Ditch the Bankruptcy Jargon—Marketing Chapter 13 as the UltimateSolution

Jen Lee

January 5, 2025

“If you want to connect with more clients, you must stop talking about bankruptcy as though it exists in isolation. Instead, compare it head-on with the alternatives.” New author to ConsiderChapter13.org, Jen Lee will be bringing readers a series, primarily, on law firm management and marketing.

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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.”

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Negotiating Plan Confirmation with Secured Creditors – Issues Involving Balloon Payments and Other Mortgage Loans Subject to Modification Under § 1322(c) – Part 3

November 22, 2020

By David Cox,1 Cox Law Group, PLLC (Lynchburg, VA) III. Providing for the Secured Mortgage Claim, as Modified. A. Does the requirement of § 1325(a)(5)(B)(iii) for equal monthly payments permit the Debtor to propose a balloon payment in the payment of the creditor’s claim? Equal Monthly Payments Required By § 1325(a)(5)(B)(iii) Does NOT Permit Debtor To Propose A Balloon Payment....

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Ms. Ps & Qs

August 15, 2021

By Nancy B. Rapoport, Garman Turner Gordon Professor of Law, Boyd School of Law, and Affiliate Professor of Business Law & Ethics, Lee Business School, William S. Boyd School of Law, University of Nevada, Las Vegas Dear Readers: My guardian angel, Regina Logsdon has asked a great question:what should you do when your “Spidey sense” tells you that your client...

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Duty to Update Trustee Regarding Changes Post-Plan Confirmation

Daryl J. Smith

April 23, 2023

Is there a duty to inform the trustee about changes post-plan confirmation? Yes. There is an inherent duty for the consumer debtor to update the trustee on any and all material changes, particularly windfalls, post plan confirmation. In a very recent case, In Re Robinson, the United States Trustee moved to dismiss debtor’s chapter 13 case because the debtor received...

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Critical Case Comment – Present Value and Attorney’s Fees

October 3, 2021

By Henry E. Hildebrand, III, Chapter 13 Standing Trustee (Nashville, TN) Administrative fees and claims existing when Chapter 13 plan was confirmed would reduce the amounts received by unsecured creditors in a Chapter 7 under the “best interests of creditors test;” unsecured creditors, expected to receive payments over three years, must be paid the “present value” of that stream of...

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Rebecca Rogers Garcia

February 10, 2019

Rebecca Rogers Garcia was a staff attorney for Mary B. Grossman, the Chapter 13 Trustee in Milwaukee from 2002 until November 2014. Prior to her employment with the Chapter 13 Trustee; she represented debtors in consumer cases. Ms. Garcia is on the board of the Bankruptcy, Insolvency and Creditors Rights Section of the State Bar of Wisconsin and a member...

Mortgage Matters in Times of COVID-19

April 5, 2020

By Robert (Bob) Schuman, Owner/Managing Broker, Network Financial Group Is it 2008 again? For us in the mortgage industry, we woke up this week feeling as if during the night, we were transported back to 2008 when the mortgage industry basically collapsed. Then, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and the FHA were the exceptions. As of March 25, 2020, like everything...

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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...

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January 26, 2020

By Henry E. Hildebrand, III, Chapter 13 Standing Trustee for the Middle District of Tennessee (Nashville) When a case converts from Chapter 13 to Chapter 7 prior to the confirmation of a plan, the Chapter 13 Trustee is not permitted to divert funds from the debtor to the debtor’s attorney. In re Lettie, 597 B.R. 637 (Bankr. E.D Wis. 2019)...

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