Waiver Of Credit Counseling And Debtor Education Ends For Eastern District Of Louisiana
By Kevin Gipson, New Orleans Bankruptcy Attorney on Mar 28, 2009 in General Bankruptcy Information
R. Michael Bolen, the U.S. Trustee for Region 5, has announced that debtors filing for bankruptcy in the Eastern District of Louisiana must begin to take Credit Counseling and Debtor Education beginning on September 16, 2009.
The Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005 (BAPCPA) required all debtors to take credit counseling before filing for bankruptcy and to take a personal financial management class before the debtor could obtain a discharge in bankruptcy.
Because of the significant damage done to the Gulf Coast area by Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Rita, the Coastal area of Mississippi and the entire State of Louisiana received a waiver from the counseling and financial management provisions of BAPCPA.
The reason was two-fold: First, there was a concern about how to offer counseling and financial management services in an area that had experienced a major natural disaster, and secondly, it would have added insult to injury to require people, many of whom are filing for bankruptcy because they have lost everything in a hurricane, to undergo counseling to see if they had an option to bankruptcy.
Over the last year or so, the counseling and financial management requirements of BAPCPA have been imposed upon the Gulf Coast of Mississippi and most of Louisiana, leaving the Eastern District of Louisiana as the last area of the state without these requirements.
The Eastern District of Louisiana Includes the Greater New Orleans area and most of the Southeast portion of Louisiana.
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