The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) has released an updated Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) Minimum Wage Poster that covers employers’ new lactation accommodation obligations under the recently passed Providing Urgent Maternal Protections for Nursing Mothers (PUMP) Act.   The PUMP Act went into effect on December 29, 2022 and requires employers to provide nursing employees with reasonable accommodations, such as...

Confirmation of a “sale” plan (proposing the sale of the debtor’s principal residence) depends upon how quickly the sale will be consummated, milestones established, and consequences for failing to meet those deadlines; a plan that makes payments to the mortgage company under a “sale” plan may not modify the rights of the mortgagee but if care is taken to comply...

Introduction This year sees changes in the Code and numerous new and amended Rules of BankruptcyProcedure that are to be effective December 1. The statutory amendments and the changes in therules that do not relate to cases under subchapter V of Chapter 11 are summarized below. They will be followed, by a digest of other new and amended rule and...

Background A recent Chapter 7 case out of the Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of California, In re Rhodes,1 addresses reaffirmation in a context that is very significant and should be of interest to all debtor's attorneys. It points out that the "ride-through" of a debtor's secured debt in Chapter 7—which Congress tried to eliminate in 2005—still exists. In...

By Cathy Moran, Moran Law Group (Redwood City, CA) Bankruptcy attorneys and their clients often seem to be a pair, divided by their common language. Even without legal jargon, we talk past each other. How do we misunderstand each other? Let me count the ways: Property: I don’t have any property, lost the house to foreclosure last year. Property 2:...

By Henry E. Hildebrand, III, Chapter 13 Standing Trustee (Nashville, TN) While the debtors failed to meet the high threshold to establish excusable neglect to permit their claim filed on behalf of a creditor after the bar date to be allowed, where a Chapter 13 case is dismissed and then reinstated prior to the expiration of the bar date, the...

By Cathy Moran, Esq. (Redwood City, CA) I wrote earlier about calculating the projected income tax deduction on the means test when the year of filing situation looks much like last year. But what if things aren't the same year over year? Your job as a bankruptcy attorney becomes more complicated. It's suddenly more than figuring the tax refund or...

By Dynele Schinker-Kuharich, Chapter 13 Standing Trustee (Canton, OH) I vividly remember getting the call that I was to be appointed as a Standing Chapter 13 Trustee (effective October 1, 2018). I was so honored, and humbled, and excited. At the time I was a panel Chapter 7 Trustee, but my heart had always been in Chapter 13. As corny...