By David Cox,1 Cox Law Group, PLLC (Lynchburg, VA) Some Basics about Secured Claim Treatment in Chapter 13 What is a Secured Claim under § 506(a)? Secured by a lien on property of the debtor’s bankruptcy estate. Some value in the property to which the lien may attach. Must be secured by property that is property of the debtor’s bankruptcy...

Introduction In In re Village Apothecary, Inc.,1 the Sixth Circuit last month reduced an attorney's fees by half, where the professional's services were not "successful." The results obtained (or, actually, the lack of results) justified cutting the fees of attorneys for a Chapter 7 trustee by 50%. Why It Matters to Chapter 13 People This analysis of the implications of...

By Elizabeth Gunn, Assistant Attorney General, Virginia Division of Child Support Enforcement, Bankruptcy Specialisti In late April, the federal government began issuing economic impact rebate payments to qualifying individuals under the CARES Act. While the CARES Act specifically identified and exempted the rebate payments from reduction or offset against certain debts including federal taxes and student loans in default, the...

In June of 2017 Michele T. Hatcher was appointed Chapter 13 Standing Trustee for the Northern District of Alabama, Northern Division. Ms. Hatcher replaces retiring Trustee Michael Ford. She maintains her office in the quaint Southern town of Decatur which is nicknamed “The River City” because it is on the banks of Wheeler Lake, along the Tennessee River. Prior to...

Recent headlines noted that March 2022 saw a 33.5% increase in bankruptcy filings over February. This could suggest the coming swell in bankruptcy cases anticipated since the start of the COVID pandemic. However, bankruptcy professionals recognize that consumer filings always spike in March (see chart). This phenomenon is usually attributed to the tendency to avoid filing in January and February...

By Henry E. Hildebrand, III and Sloan Hastings Section 523(a)(1) excepts from discharge taxes that are priority claims under § 507(a)(8). One of § 507(a)(8)’s provisions makes debts not dischargeable for income taxes requiring the filing of a tax return due during the three years prior to filing bankruptcy. It is this “recent years taxes nondischargeable” moniker that leads many...

By Lawrence R. Ahern III, Brown & Ahern (Nashville, TN) Introduction We saw in Part 1 that the circuits are falling in line to follow the "snapshot" rule, fixing the debtor's exemption rights as of the date of the petition and finding support in both the Code and recent Supreme Court jurisprudence. As the First Circuit put it . ....

For a system that is supposed to rehabilitate personal finances and set debtors back on their feet, Chapter 13 nationwide is schizophrenic about on- going retirement savings, divided about whether post petition contributions to retirement accounts preclude confirmation of a Chapter 13 plan. Too many courts, in my opinion, come down barring voluntary provisions for old age for the 5...