Literary allusions may not be controlling legal precedent, but they can make a point while enlivening an otherwise dry argument.  When the judge in in re Baum, US Bankr. ND Ohio, Feb. 29, 2008 paraphrased “A fool, but an honest fool you remain, Peregrine Took” (J. R. R. Tolkien, The Two Towers p. 579) as [...]

Popularity: 3% [?]

The 9th Circuit Bankruptcy Appellate Panel recently held that a Chapter 13 debtor engaged in business can not deduct necessary business expenses from gross receipts in determining current monthly income.  In re Wiegand, decided April 3, 2008, all but guarantees that small business chapter 13 debtors will be required to spend five years in a [...]

Popularity: 19% [?]

April 1, 2008, is the last day for citizen comment on an important regulation! The date may be full of irony but this deadline is no joke. The US Trustee has submitted a proposed rule that includes specific requirements for the credit counseling “briefing” required of all individual debtors by 11 USC §109(h)(1). [...]

Popularity: 18% [?]

Was that student loan discharged in bankruptcy, or wasn’t it? Two recent decisions leave the answer to that question in doubt. Hoxie v. Educational Credit Management Corporation (US Dist. SD California, November 13, 2006) and Mersmann v Educational Management Credit Corporation (US App 10th Circuit, September 24, 2007) threaten the financial security [...]

Popularity: 37% [?]

Student loans are hard to get rid of; even in bankruptcy. Congress only allows a bankruptcy court to discharge student loan debt when not doing so causes undue hardship for the debtor or the dependents of the debtor. The discharge rule for student loans is short and is set out in 11 USC §523(a)(8). Undue [...]

Popularity: 43% [?]

A proposal to repeal the enhanced nondischargeability provisions of the 2005 Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention Act relative to private student loans is scheduled for a vote in The House of Representatives today as an Amendment to the Higher Education Reauthorization Act.  This Amendment restores desperately-needed protections to bankrupt student loan debtors at no cost to the public, with [...]

Popularity: 16% [?]

The National Association of Consumer Bankruptcy Attorneys (NACBA) has been lobbying congress since 1993.  In those early days, founding members Ike Shulman, Norma Hammes, and others struck out for Washington, DC, on their own to twist congressional arms and argue for fairness on behalf of consumer debtors in bankruptcy.
Last week I had the pleasure of [...]

Popularity: 23% [?]

This bill, introduced by Representative Carol Shea-Porter (D-NH), would increase the Federal Homestead Exemption in Bankruptcy to $250,000 for “medically distressed debtors”.  The bill also prohibits trustees in such instances from dismissing a case or converting to Chapter 13 based on the substantial abuse provision of 707(b) of Title ll.  A medically distressed debtor is [...]

Popularity: 14% [?]

Congress is considering the “Emergency Home Ownership and Mortgage Equity Protection Act of 2007.” This bill would change the bankruptcy code to permit a bankruptcy judge to modify the terms of a home loan in a Chapter 13 proceeding. HR 3609 makes a small change in §1322(b)(2) of the bankruptcy code that now [...]

Popularity: 34% [?]

While paying a student loan outside a Chapter 13 plan may be an option in bankruptcy, student loan debt may help an above median debtor pass the means test and file a Chapter 7.   A monthly student loan payment is a valid additional circumstance allowing a debtor with above-median income to file for Chapter 7 [...]

Popularity: 33% [?]