Is the Chapter 13 trustee jeopardizing the benefits to my client of Rule 3002.1 by sloppy service? Unwilling to expend more than a single postage stamp to effect notice? Just going through the motions here? The short answer is: I don’t know yet. But the issue stood out when, for reasons that are yet inexplicable, […]
Direct Mortgage Payments: Inside, Under, Or Outside The Plan
Are post petition payments on the debtor’s mortgage “under the plan”? Not in the view of one judge. Direct payments on a a residential mortgage loan are not “payments under the plan” for purpose of Bankruptcy Code § 1328(a), Thus Judge Thomas Perkins struck back at the cases that have used failure to maintain mortgage payments […]
IRS Trick I’d Never Seen Before
The third amended IRS claim in my client’s case added entries for an excise tax for 2015 and 2016. Excise tax? New one on me where the debtor was a general contractor. I called the IRS agent on the POC for some hints as to what the tax was all about . I needed to […]
Battle On When Bank Back Tracks On Home Loan Balance
It’s war, after all. Remember the office pool I created following the lender’s statement under FRBP 3002.1 that the loan was fully current? We were betting on how long after the Chapter 13 discharge it would take Wells Fargo would screw up the debtor’s home loan account. Did anyone out there pick less than 30 […]
Jump Start Your Bankruptcy Research
The next best thing to being a fly on the wall in the judge’s chambers is having a copy of her cheat-sheet. Or maybe it’s better described as the overview and the starting point for the next bankruptcy decision. So, don’t forget about Judge Newsom (Retired) & Judge Novack’s bankruptcy research binder available on line. […]
Brace Yourself
The 9th BAP’s Brace decision blew over everything we thought we knew about community property, joint tenancy titles, and the characterization of marital property. The storm warning is up. Until the 9th Circuit rules on the pending appeal, bankruptcy lawyers in community property states in the 9th need to reevaluate their advice to to clients […]
All Dressed Up & Nowhere To Go
It’s the pits to be stood up by a Rule. Rule 3002.1 is, in my opinion, the best thing that’s happened in bankruptcy in years. I’m a goggle-eyed fan. Whether you chalk mortgage servicing problems up to ineptitude or venality, it is indisputable that a mortgage servicer can’t audit a loan file and come up […]