Two things taxpayers can do to protect themselves from identity theft is to use strong passwords and keep those passwords secure. While many people use fingerprint or facial recognition technology to protect their devices, sometimes it’s still necessary to use a password. In recent years, cybersecurity experts’ recommendations on what constitutes a strong password has changed. With that in mind,...

By Professor Nancy Rapoport Dear Readers: The ConsiderChapter13.org staff has, once again, raised an important ethics issue: how far does the attorney-client privilege go? In Taylor Lohmeyer Law Firm v. United States,1 the Fifth Circuit had to wrestle with that issue after the law firm (Taylor Lohmeyer) claimed a blanket attorney-client privilege for all documents that were subject to the...

By Rachel Jones, Staff Attorney to Chapter 13 Standing Trustee Chris Micale, Western District of Virginia (Roanoke) The events of 2020 have had a devastating impact on the very low-income population. The working poor are struggling, particularly those working in sectors such as hospitality and tourism. State and Federal funding and local programs such as food banks and community action...

Taxpayers may need to take money out of their individual retirement account or retirement plan early. However, this can trigger an additional tax on top of other income tax they may owe. Here are a few key things for taxpayers to know: Early Withdrawals. An early withdrawal normally is taking cash out of a retirement plan before the taxpayer is...

By Wm. Houston Brown, United States Bankruptcy Judge (Retired) Debtor’s Attorney - Chapter 13 no-look fee subject to Hawai’i’s general excise tax. Construing the State’s excise tax, the Chapter 13 debtor’s attorney could not collect the required excise tax in addition to the agreed upon no-look fee. The district’s Rights and Responsibilities Agreement between debtor and attorney did not contain...

By Merideth Akers, CPA, PHR, Comptroller for Bradford W. Caraway (Birmingham, AL) I have taught Compensation and Benefits to candidates preparing to take the Professional in Human Resources certification exam. These two topics include a great amount of employment law. So, I know just enough about employment law to be scared… or maybe cautious is a better term. I am...

On 6/14/19, the CFPB (Bureau) announced a settlement with Student CU Connect CUSO, LLC (CUSO), a company set up to hold and manage private loans for students at ITT Technical Institute. The Bureau filed a complaint and a proposed stipulated judgment in federal district court for the Southern District of Indiana alleging that CUSO provided substantial assistance to ITT Educational...

By Henry E. Hildebrand, III, Chapter 13 Standing Trustee (Nashville, TN) The Commission heard from several individuals and attorneys that related tales of Chapter 7 trustees negotiating a “carve out” with a lienholder on the debtor’s real property when there was no equity available in the property. The way this works is that when property came into a Chapter 7...

By Henry E. Hildebrand, III, Chapter 13 Standing Trustee for the Middle District of Tennessee (Nashville) Post-petition, pre-conversion equity that accrues in a debtor’s residence during the pendency of a Chapter 13 plan is property of the estate in the Chapter 7 estate following conversion.  (Hastings) Goetz v. Weber (In re Goetz), 651 B.R. 292 (8th Cir. BAP, June 1,...

These virtual 341 meetings via Zoom will be implemented on a rolling basis through early 2024. YEP, this means you, y’all, all y’all, you guys, and yoos guys. Doesn’t matter if you have been doing 341’s via telephone for 100 years . . . it’s ZOOM as soon as implemented in your district. For Debtor Atty’s, this may require having clients...