Editor's Note: Part I was published in the May 2006 issue and Part II was published in the June 2006 issue of the ABI Journal. With an understanding of how post-confirmation fees and charges can arise and why no attempt to collect those fee…
Individual Chapter 11 Cases after BAPCPA: Can You Still Close the Case Early? Practitioners, judges and scholars have debated the ins and outs of BAPCPA in countless seminars and scholarly efforts. One area that courts will inevitably addre…
In In re Jones, 327 B.R. 297 (Bankr. S.D. Tex. 2005), Bankruptcy Judge Jeff Bohm addressed a motion by the chapter 7 trustee to deny the debtor's discharge based on a failure to keep and preserve financial records. The chapter 7 trustee had…
Discharge of Unfiled Taxes under BAPCPA: No More "Super" Discharge? The basic concept of a chapter 13 bankruptcy filing historically was to allow individual debtors to reorganize their finances. The policy of giving the debtor a chance to h…
Congress decided that student loans are beneficial, and that the federal taxpayers' money should be used to guarantee their repayment. Congress even set up various programs over the years to allow students to obtain loans directly from the …
Editor's Note: Part I was published in the May 2006 issue of the ABI Journal. Part II examines the legality of a mortgage creditor's attempts at post-closing collection of mortgage-related fees and charges incurred during the pendency of a …
Saving a principal residence from foreclosure and curing a mortgage arrearage are key reasons why many debtors file for chapter 13. While paying a home mortgage arrearage through a chapter 13 plan can cure that pre-petition arrearage, a hom…
Defendant Knowledge No Substitute for Service of Complaint Rule 4(m) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure requires dismissal without prejudice or service by a date specific unless a summons and complaint is served within 120 days of the …
[T]here is nothing wrong with the means test. People who make high incomes–lawyers, doctors and accountants are examples–and file bankruptcy, wiping out all their debts, who don't care who got hurt by their failure to pay and they care only…
Attend any bankruptcy-related legal conference, CLE or bar meeting (sometimes even happy hour at the local pub after a heavy day of §341 hearings) and the topic of the new mandatory credit counseling requirement isn't too far from someone's…