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…
The "good faith" of a chapter 13 debtor will now be subject to examination at two different instances in the confirmation process. 11 U.S.C. §1325 (a)(3) requires that the court find that "the plan has been proposed in good faith and not by…
In the eight-year run-up to the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005 (BAPCPA), the coalition of consumer lenders driving this legislation won the public relations war for bankruptcy reform. With sometimes arrogant…
We've all heard the rationale for bankruptcy reform at cocktail parties and around the dinner table: Any deadbeat who runs up his bills can, before he pays up, run away and buy a house in Florida. The creditors can't touch his homestead. Wh…
Before enactment of the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act (BAPCPA) of 2005, the denial of discharge imposed against an individual chapter 7 debtor under §727 of the Bankruptcy Code was one of the most positive provisio…
Questions concerning what relief the Bankruptcy Code affords to persons seeking to discharge their government-related student loans are, in all likelihood, a common topic of discussion between most potential debtors and their bankruptcy cou…
The Tenth Circuit Bankruptcy Appellate Panel's (BAP) recent decision in In re Mersmann, 318 B.R. 537 (10th BAP 2004), underscores the continuing tension between chapter 13 plan provisions discharging student loans, and implies that such dis…
In late 2004, the U.S. Trustee Program (USTP) adopted a strategic plan 1 for 2005-10 that encompasses several critical goals: (1) protecting the integrity of the bankruptcy system, (2) promoting the effectiveness and efficiency of the syste…
Student loan obligations are becoming not only more prevalent but also significantly larger. There is no doubt that several factors are driving this situation— e.g., the ever-increasing cost of post-secondary education and the decreasing va…