Chapter 13

To discharge your student loans in bankruptcy, you pretty much have to be in a coma. That’s not the technical rule, of course, but it certainly feels that way sometimes. As a result, when attorneys who represent debtors talk about...

Though many times married people choose to file a joint bankruptcy case, it is also common for only one spouse to file. Usually this happens when the problematic debt a family is attempting to discharge is only owed by one of...

Remember that fib you told on your rental application? The one where you said that you’d never been evicted before, even though you had, eight months earlier? Guess what? It matters. At least that was the ruling in Yankah v. Mack,...

It has been settled law in every circuit but one that wholly unsecured subordinate mortgages could not be stripped-off in chapter 7 cases. But since it only takes one heterodox circuit to create a split in the circuits, the US...

The Supreme Court of the United States issued its opinion June 12, 2004 in Clark v. Rameker, No. 13-299. The important holding from the Court is that inherited individual retirement accounts are not “retirement funds” under the meaning of section 522(b)(3)(C) of the federal...

A recent opinion issued on June 6, 2014 from the Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina found that a creditor had not violated the bankruptcy code based on the following facts: In March 2008 a creditor realized...

In addition to the potential pleasure that might be enjoyed as a result of owning and utilizing certain recreational items (e.g. boat, camper, motorcycle, ATV, etc), there may also be a financial/legal benefit in a bankruptcy case. The reason is...

Once a chapter 13 plan is confirmed, disbursements from the Chapter 13 Trustee commence. Adequate assurance payments made on vehicle loans are an exception to the normal rule and other deviations are sometimes permitted for certain secured creditors. In the...

Once a vehicle has been repossessed the debtor may still be able to recover it with a chapter 13 bankruptcy filing if the bankruptcy is filed prior the lender disposing of the asset. However, to recover the vehicle the debtor...

In the Eastern District of North Carolina, chapter 13 debtors are required to obtain court approval prior to incurring debt or making a purchase in excess of $7,500.00. Conventional mortgage loans are rarely obtainable by chapter 13 debtors. Credit cards...