From renting spare rooms and vacation homes to car rides or using a bike…name a service and it’s probably available through the sharing economy. Taxpayers who participate in the sharing economy can find helpful resources in the IRS Sharing Economy Tax Center on IRS.gov. It helps taxpayers understand how this activity affects their taxes. It also gives these taxpayers information...

By Henry E. Hildebrand, III, Chapter 13 Standing Trustee (Nashville, TN) In order for a bankruptcy court to impose sanctions for contempt, Taggart compelsa finding of a violation of a clear and unambiguous order; the bankruptcy court lacks inherent power to issue punitive sanctions under Rule 3002.1. (Jacobs) PHH Mortgage Corporation v. Sensenich, 6 F.4th 503 (2nd Cir. August 2,...

By Henry E. Hildebrand, III, Chapter 13 Standing Trustee (Nashville, TN) Exemptions in consumer cases have always presented difficult problems for practitioners and trustees. In a bow to states’ rights, the Bankruptcy Act of 1898 deferred to exemptions created by state law. When BAPCPA was enacted in 2005, Congress continued the practice of allowing each state to “opt out” of...

By Hon. Brian Lynch, United States Bankruptcy Judge, Western District of Washington, Tacoma Division When the Supreme Court issued United Student Aid Funds, Inc. v. Espinosa1 on March 23, 2010, commentators were perplexed.2 On the one hand, the Court upheld the 9th Circuit’s ruling allowing a hardship discharge of student loans in a chapter 13 plan. The Court held that...

By John P. Gustafson, United States Bankruptcy Judge, Northern District of Ohio, Western Division (Toledo, OH) Click here for Part 1 of 6 Click here for Part 2 of 6 Click here for Part 4 of 6 Click here for Part 5 of 6

By Lawrence R. Ahern, III, Brown & Ahern (Nashville, TN) Introduction As of April 16, 2020, more than 22,000,000 people in the United States were reported to have filed for unemployment aid, "a staggering loss of jobs that has wiped out a decade of employment gains and pushed families to line up at food banks as they await government help."1...

Although she steps into very large shoes, Julie Philippi is a welcome addition to the Chapter 13 Trustee fraternity. Ms. Philippi was appointed as the Chapter 13 Standing Trustee for the Western District of New York on January 1, 2020. Those large shoes were left by retiring NACTT icon, Albert Mogavero. “Al” served as Standing Trustee for 42 years (yep,...

By James J. Robinson, Chief United States Bankruptcy Judge, Northern District of Alabama What are the statutory duties of the standing chapter 13 trustee? Bankruptcy Code §§ 1302 and 704 provide the statutory framework for the trustee’s duties, and provide as follows: 11 U.S.C. § 1302. Trustee (a) If the United States trustee appoints an individual under section 586(b) of...

Dear Readers: There are some basic truths. One is that when someone says, “hey, watch this!,” the result is likely to involve blood or stitches. Another is that, when an author describes something with the leadoff word, “interestingly,” it often isn’t. And a third is that one shouldn’t mislead bankruptcy judges. In two wonderfully written cases, bankruptcy judges made this...