By Phil Lamos, Chief Legal Counsel, Office of the Chapter 13 Trustee Lauren A. Helbling (Cleveland, OH) Section 1322(b)(2) of the Bankruptcy Code states that a Chapter 13 plan may not modify a claim that is “secured only by a security interest in real property that is the debtor’s principal residence.” But the inverse of this statute is true; if...

Dear Readers: When a judge issues a 28-page opinion sanctioning a lawyer, usually that means that the lawyer has done so many things wrong that he or she has caused the judge to roll up his or her respective sleeves (probably shirt-sleeves, although the image of robe-sleeves also works for me) to deal with the mess. And in Shiheiber v....

By Lawrence R. Ahern III, Brown & Ahern (Nashville, TN) Introduction In In re Fulton,1 the Seventh Circuit has restated its position on passive violation of the automatic stay, holding that failure by the City of Chicago to turn over impounded vehicles after the owners' bankruptcy filings violated Bankruptcy Code sections 362 and 542. Fulton – Background and Ruling The...

By Alexander Schmidt1, Law Clerk, and The Honorable John P. Gustafson, United States Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Ohio (Toledo) You have never heard – or seen – the Monster Mash. What have you heard, is a song ABOUT the Monster Mash. Let that sink in for a minute. Inevitably, that leads to the obvious question: What facts...

By Cathy Moran, Esq. (Redwood City, CA) Like so much in life, it’s all about timing. I revisited an older post here about delaying the filing of a bankruptcy til the New Year when the debtor expects to owe taxes in April. A Chapter 13 filed in January can include and pay the taxes associated with the tax year ending...

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...

In order for a debtor to succeed in setting aside a dismissal in a motion filed under Rule 9024, F.R.B.P., the debtor must prove specific grounds as outlined in Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 60(b). (Oxholm) In re Gardner, 2022 WL 654410 (Bankr. E.D. Mich. May 24, 2022) Case Summary Carl and Taisha Gardner filed Chapter 13 in September of...

by William Houston Brown, Adviser, Academy for Consumer Bankruptcy Education, Inc. The Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing on August 3, 2021, on student loans, and during the Committee hearing, Senator Durbin, Chair of the Committee, stated that he would be introducing an Act to amend student loan discharge provisions in the Bankruptcy Code. That Act was subsequently introduced by...