From their spring edition of The Quarterly our friends at NACTT have shared a timely piece from creditor attorney Thomas Humphries. _____________________ Thomas Humphries is an attorney with the firm of Sirote & Permutt, PC in Birmingham Alabama. Thomas represents the mortgage banking industry and various creditors in bankruptcy proceedings throughout the State of Alabama. Thomas’s practice includes the defense...

Jan M. Sensenich graduated from Windham College in Putney, Vermont in 1978 and Vermont Law School in 1983. He served as Core Faculty Member and Director of the Woodbury College Legal Clinic from 1983 to 1987and from 1990 to 1992. Jan was an Associate with Jerome I. Meyers, P.C. from 1987 to 1990 when he opened his own practice concentrating...

"Finality" in Bankruptcy When is an order within a bankruptcy case "final"? When must a party to the proceeding appeal within 14 days? When may a party either seek interlocutory review or sit back and wait until something more occurs to make the order final? Final orders are appealable. In civil actions, this is a relatively easy proposition to apply...

Summertime activities often affect the tax returns people file the following year. Here are some things taxpayers do during the summer along with tips they should consider now: Getting married. Newlyweds should report any name change to the Social Security Administration. They should also report an address change to the United States Postal Service, their employers, and the IRS. This...

The 2018 Form 1040 replaces prior year Forms 1040, 1040A and 1040EZ. The 2018 Form 1040 uses a building-block approach that allows individuals to file only the schedules they need with their federal tax return. Many people will only need to file Form 1040 and no schedules. Electronic filers may not notice these changes as the tax software will automatically...

By Lawrence R. Ahern III, Brown & Ahern (Nashville, TN) Introduction Chapter 13 practitioners certainly do not need to be told that a lender with a mortgage1 on the debtor's principal residence has a special position in a Chapter 13 case. A chapter 13 plan may "modify the rights of holders of secured claims, other than a claim secured only...

By Alexander E. Schmidt, Law Clerk to the Honorable John P. Gustafson (Toledo, OH) As any attorney with an eye for case law can tell you, circuit-level opinions that decide matters of first impression deserve extra attention from practitioners. Not only do these opinions oftentimes illuminate the dark corners of the law, they can also raise or provide answers to...

Mortgage loan servicer violated mortgage agreement with debtor, the automatic stay, the confirmation order and Rule 3002.1 by applying debtor’s post-petition monthly mortgage payments pursuant to the contractual terms of the loan, thereby applying post-petition payments to the debtor’s pre-petition mortgage arrearage. (Cary) In re Pope, 647 B.R. 597 (Bankr. D. N.H. August 15, 2022) Case Summary In November of...

By Henry E. Hildebrand, III, Chapter 13 Trustee, Middle District of TN (Nashville) Chapter 13 trustee is not compelled to return the percentage fee taken from a Chapter 13 case when the case is dismissed prior to confirmation. Harmon v. McCallister, 2021 WL 3087744 (9th Cir. BAP July 20, 2021) (Gan) Case Summary Douglas and Christine Harmon filed a Chapter...