Spitballing Chapter 13’s Image Makeover

“Three cheers for Jen Lee’s piece on the need to pitch the manifest strengths of Chapter 13. Her advice to use head-to-head comparisons with alternative approaches to debt for the client is right on. An image makeover for Chapter 13 would be even more powerful if we can spread the word to a broader audience, before they’ve shorted their tax withholding, encumbered their exempt homestead, signed on with a profit-focused ‘debt consolidation’ company, or dipped into their retirement funds.” Think Chapter 13 needs an image makeover? Let us hear from you.

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Cathy Moran, Esq.

Head of Moran Law Group

Cathy Moran has headed her own small firm Moran Law Group in Redwood City, California, for nearly 30 years. Family law and tax issues as they play out in bankruptcy are areas of particular interest to Cathy.

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.”

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Reaffirmations Impose Impossible Demands on Bankruptcy Counsel

February 28, 2021

By Cathy Moran, Esq. (Redwood City, CA) When BAPCA gutted the ipso facto clause, reaffirmation was left as the only way a debtor could be assured of retaining his wheels. Car lenders took sides back then, then changed sides, on whether they would automatically repossess a vehicle when the debt was not reaffirmed. Some wanted the in terrorem effect of...

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2 Million ITINs Set to Expire in 2019; To Avoid Refund Delays Apply Soon

October 13, 2019

Taxpayers with expiring Individual Taxpayer Identification Numbers (ITINs) can get their ITINs renewed more quickly and avoid refund delays next year by submitting their renewal application soon, the Internal Revenue Service said 10/10/19. An ITIN is a tax ID number used by taxpayers who don’t qualify to get a Social Security number. Any ITIN with middle digits 83, 84 ....

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First Principles for First Meetings

October 11, 2020

By Cathy Moran, Esq. (Redwood City, CA) Once again, I sat in a 341 meeting where the trustee’s representative purported to deliver vital information to the assembled debtors. She had a captive audience of anxious listeners. She had ostensible power of life and death over their financial future. They needed to know what she had to say. But as communication,...

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Measuring Success in Chapter 13: Successful Dismissals and Conversions

Honorable Brian D. Lynch

July 16, 2023

A. Introduction When should we regard dismissal or conversion of a chapter 13 as an unsuccessful bankruptcy? The arguments are familiar.Chapter 13 is the easiest, quickest, and cheapest way to stop foreclosures, repossessions, and garnishments by creditors.Desperate debtors can file a chapter 13 case without schedules, statements, or a plan and buy themselves a stay for a short period. And...

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What the FICO? Reaffirming Doesn’t Help My Credit Score?

May 23, 2021

By The Honorable John P. Gustafson, United States Bankruptcy Judge, Northern District of Ohio (Toledo) Reaffirmation hearings during the pandemic have been difficult, at least for me. The economic risks for debtors are greater. There are uncertainties about the availability of credit, and the availability of suitable vehicles. Prices of used cars have gone up – with stimulus money pushing...

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Ask Ms. Ps and Qs

May 10, 2020

By Professor Nancy Rapoport, University of Nevada Dear Readers: Regina Logsdon has just asked me a great question: In this new world of Zoom, is it okay to record meetings? Video and audio? Permission needed? Does it vary state to state? We are living in a new normal, and video conferencing will continue to be part of our lives even...

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Passive Retention: A Creditor’s Right or an Act to Exercise Control?

April 14, 2019

By John Andreasen and Patrick Lombardi, Law Students at the University of Illinois College of Law and Duberstein Moot Court Team Members Both consumers and businesses often depend on motor vehicles for their livelihood or, for consumers, access to health care, child care, or other essential services. A creditor’s repossession of a motor vehicle can turn into an existential crisis...

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New Trustee Named

The Academy

September 10, 2023

Andrew B. Finberg has been appointed as a Chapter 13 Standing Trustee for the District of New Jersey. Finberg is picking up the mantle left by happily retiring Isabel Balboa.

Small Business Chapter 11 Update, Where Are We Eight Months In?

November 22, 2020

By M. Jonathan Hayes We are now eight months into the Small Business Reorganization Act of 2019, which took effect in February. The act attempted to establish a cheaper, quicker route for small businesses to reorganize under new Subchapter V of the bankruptcy code. Here are a few of my observations over the past several months. First, some small businesses...