Ever wonder why we can’t strip off unsecured consensual liens in Chapter 7? Meet Mrs. Dewsnup who filed Chapter 7 and sought to reduce the claim of a junior secured lender on a piece of Utah farmland to the value of the portion of the land available to secure the mortgage. Mrs. Dewsnup went 0-4, […]
Bankruptcy Estate & The Realtor’s Open Escrow
How can bankruptcy trustee’s demand the debtor’s real estate commission from escrows open when the bankruptcy case is filed? Twice this month, I’ve watched debtors and their counsel surprised by the turnover demand of Chapter 7 trustees for the proceeds of a real estate transaction pending when the case commencement, but closing weeks after the […]
When Delaying The Discharge May Benefit The Debtor
Ever read, much less used, FRBP 4004(c)(2)? Have to say I’d done neither until Judge Christopher Klein mentioned it at a bankruptcy seminar earlier this year. He told the group that he had learned about it from a pro per who cited it to him in a dispute in a Chapter 7. So what’s this […]
Means Test Double Checks
How do the means test health care numbers relate to the same expenses on I and J? Three of us sat around the table struggling with the means test in a converted case, trustee objections to confirmation of a Chapter 13, and my conviction that a single mother, even getting help from family, should not […]
The Unrecoverable Bankruptcy Mistake
Which of the blunders by prior counsel in Chapter 13 threaten a problem for which no good fix exists? Failure to timely assume the lease for the sole proprietorship liquor store. And it was a near run thing for me as well. This couple brought me their pending Chapter 13, fraught with trustee objections, inconsistencies, […]
Do I Have To Read All The Code First?
Following the announcement of a class I was to teach on bankruptcy fundamentals, a reader called and told me he had embarked on reading the entire Code and Rules. “Should I wait to take the course til I’ve completed that? ” he asked. I was so inclined to shout “Hallelujah, a rookie reading the Code!” that […]
Lien Stripping & Service On The Bank
By the end of the afternoon, the judge was pretty tired of turning down lien strip motions for the same old, and avoidable, reason: lawyers hadn’t served the bank involved properly. There’s a rule for this: FRBP 7004(h) says a federally insured depository institution (read: bank) is served by certified mail addressed to an officer […]
