Often when meeting with clients that have previously met with other counsel, they indicate that they had not seen the debt relief agency disclosures I provide them at the start of the initial consultation. While the requirements for such disclosure seems clear in 11 U.S.C. §527, there appears to be lack of recognition or diligence by many counsel in following the law. This issue came back to bite debtors' counsel in In re Davis, 2019 Bankr. LEXIS 2771, Case #16-33116 (Bankr. N.J.
In the case In re Green, 2019 Bankr. LEXIS 2643, Case No. 18-80768 (Bankr. W.D. LA, 20 August 2019) the court was faced with an above median income debtor that has surrendered a number of luxury items, but was still wanting to keep and pay for a 2014 Polaris RZR Ranger valued at $5,000, to which the chapter 13 objected. Mr. Green had been a self-employed contractor whose income dropped from $709,787 in 2017 to approximately $62,325 for the first seven months of 2018. Three months after filing he obtained new employment as an offshore worker at even less income. Mrs.
The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals reaffirmed the liberal interpretation of the Florida homestead exemption in Advance Credit, Inc. v. Gamboa (In re Gamboa), 2019 U.S. App. LEXIS 24625, Case No.
In Gross v. Rojas (In re Gross), 2019 Bankr. LEXIS 2452, BAP No. CC-18-1218-SKuTa (9th Cir. BAP 7 August 2019) the appellate panel reversed the California bankruptcy court's dismissal of the case for not confirming the plan in 14 months after filing. The confirmation hearing had been continued seven times, due to the debtors' (Arnold & Laurie Gross) successful challenge of two secured claims. The Grosses had continued to timely make the trustee payments. Given the fact based ruling by both courts, a detailed analysis of the facts are in order.
Debtor's counsel often do not have much experience in dealing with reverse mortgages in bankruptcy. A recent case raised a couple of issues on these, when the reverse mortgage was initially in the debtor's mother's name, and transferred to him shortly before her death. The debtor then filed a chapter 13 plan to reduce the debt to the value of the property, and pay this value through the plan. The court denied the request to lift stay by the mortgage in In re Winstead, 2019 Bankr. LEXIS 2408, Case #19-50307-KMS (Bankr. S.D. Miss. 31 July 2019).
When a chapter 13 bankruptcy is filed when a debtor is behind on the mortgage payments, generally there are two plan options to keep the house. The cheapest monthly payment is usually allowed by seeking mortgage modification mediation through the bankruptcy. Many bankruptcy courts, including that in the Southern District of Florida, provide mortgage modification programs. However, a successful modification mediation requires that the parties reach an agreed modification. If not, then the debtor must revert to the 2nd option, a cure an reinstate plan. Under this option, the debtor con
Generally balloon payments are frowned upon in chapter 13 cases, generally raising feasibility objections. Unusual facts lead to an exception to this rule in In re Olsen, 2019 Bankr. LEXIS 2250, Case #18-14255-13 (Bankr. W.D. Wis. 22 July 2019). Here the debtor provided for monthly payments of $1,785 with a lump sum from refinancing to pay a matured $215,613.51 claim at 4.88% secured by real estate including both debtor's home and business.
Two of the more common adversary complaints against debtors in bankruptcy are objections to dischargeability under §§523(a)(2)(A) and 523(a)(6). The District Court for the Southern District of New York recently affirmed a ruling in favor of the debtor with a detailed analysis of the law in Reddy v Melnick, 2019 U.S.Dist.LEXIS 110330, Case# 3:18-CV-1197 (S.D. N.Y.
While normally exemptions in IRA's are not contested, when a debtor controls the investments of the IRA, and engages in self-dealings, the exemption can be lost. In Yerian v Weber, 2019 U.S.App. LEXIS 19114, Case #18-10944 (11th Cir., 26 June 2019) Mr.
In the last case on this blog the court declined to award emotional distress damages, finding inadequate support in the record for them. Emotional distress damages were awarded, and the award sustained on appeal in Hunsaker v United States, 2019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 104433, Case #6:16-cv-00386-MC (S.D. Or., 20 June 2019). Here the court awarded sanctions under 11 U.S.C.