In the Greatest Hits Department . . .

BULLETIN SMALL BUSINESS REORGANIZATION ACT POSTSCRIPT CARES Act Passed by Senate Increases Eligibility to Small Business Debtors with Aggregate Debts Up to $7,500,000 And Other Changes Early last Thursday morning, the Senate passed a substitute for H.R. 748, called the “Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act” (the “CARES Act”). The bill passed the House on Friday, and the President...

When case converts from Chapter 13 to Chapter 7, the Chapter 7 trustee is not limited to the valuation of the debtor’s home as stated on the original schedules and may capture the increase in equity resulting from the property’s appreciation. (Dales) In re Adams, 2022 WL 2079725 (Bankr. W.D. Mich. June 9, 2022) Case Summary Matthew and Katherine Adams...

Floods, wildfires, hurricanes, tornados and other natural disasters happen quickly and often with little warning. No one can prevent these disasters from happening, but people can prepare for them. Here are some things taxpayers can do to help protect their financial safety should a disaster occur. Taxpayers should: Update emergency plans. A disaster can strike any time. Personal and business...

By Brian D. Lynch, Bankruptcy Judge, Western District of Washington Five years ago, I wrote an article for this publication, “Measuring Success in Chapter 13,”1 where I criticized some media and academics for repeating an outdated and misleading statistic about the success of chapter 13 cases. So it was disconcerting to see John Oliver recently on Comedy Central’s Last Week...

By Cathy Moran, Esq., (Redwood City, CA) To actually effect abandonment of unadministered assets in a bankruptcy case, the asset in question must appear on Schedule A/B. That’s the hard teaching of Stevens v. Whitmore from the 9th Circuit BAP. A passing reference to an asset in the SOFA isn’t sufficient. Neither was the fact the trustee explicitly knew about...