Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention & Consumer Protection Act of 2005 (bapcpa) Part Ii

Part II – Changes in Bankruptcy Law [See related articles on this blog: The Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention & Consumer Protection Act (BAPCPA), “Part I, Rationales” &Part III The “Means Test in Bankruptcy”] The enactment of the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention & Consumer Protection Act (BAPCPA) in April, 2005, wrought significant changes in the law embodied in Chapter 7 of the United States Bankruptcy Code. Changes were also affected in Chapter 13 of the code, but such changes in that section were not as broad or as Read More +

the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention & Consumer Protection Act of 2005 (bapcpa) Part I

Part I–Rationales [See related articles on this blog: “The Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention & Consumer Protection Act (BAPCPA), ‘Part II, Changes in Bankruptcy Law’, and “Part III, The Means Test in Bankruptcy”] The Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act (BAPCPA) was a “bankruptcy reform” measure passed by Congress during the fifth year of the Bush (#43) Presidency. According to a report by the U.S. House of Representatives’ Judiciary Committee (Report 109-031), the BAPCPA “represented the most comprehensive set of bankruptcy reforms in more than twenty-five Read More +

Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Filings – 770 As of March, 2018 – Highest in 7 Years

*** UPDATE *** (See prior article on this blog – “Chapters in Bankruptcy, a Short Primer…”) The number of Chapter 11 (“reorganization” bankruptcy) filings has reached an all-time high since 2011. In that year, there were 789 Chapter 11 filings as the nation was still trying to recover from the “great recession” of 2008 – 2009. According to data from the American Bankruptcy Institute (“ABI”), the year-over-jump (that tracks the number of such filings in comparison to previous reporting periods) was the second highest to be Read More +

Chapter 7 Bankruptcy

Chapter 7 of the Bankruptcy Code allows debtors to have their debts forgiven through liquidation. During this process, nonexempt assets are sold and the proceeds are distributed to creditors. Unlike Chapter 13 bankruptcy, where a debtor retains their property and pays back a portion of their debts, Chapter 7 bankruptcy discharges remaining debts so the debtor does not have to pay them. As the most common form of bankruptcy, Chapter 7 is also known as straight or ordinary bankruptcy. Chapter 7 bankruptcy is usually a Read More +

Chapters in Bankruptcy: A Short Primer

RE: CHAPTER 7, 11, & 13 BANKRUPTCIES This article is intended to provide background information on, and will discuss three chapters of the United States Bankruptcy Code – Chapter 7 (“liquidation” or “discharge” bankruptcy); Chapter 11 (“reorganization” bankruptcy); and, Chapter 13 (“wage-earner” bankruptcy). Chapter 7 Bankruptcy: Chapter 7 of the United States Bankruptcy Code provides for the sale of a debtor’s nonexempt property with the proceeds of sale being distributed among the debtor’s creditors. The process is called, “liquidation”. Chapter 7 bankruptcy is also known Read More +

Connecticut – A Legacy of Debt and the Possibility of Chapter 9 Bankruptcy

The State of Connecticut ended the 2017 fiscal year on a note of financial doom. As of the end of December, 2017, the state had the most underfunded pension system in the nation with over $127 billion in government-worker pension liabilities and no viable plan to institute needed reforms. Public-Worker Pensions – The BIG Problem: Pension woes are not the state’s only problem that threatens the economy, but they are the worst. The problem is huge, made up of the following critical components: pensions for Read More +

Chapter 9 Bankruptcy – Santa Cruz, Ca & Calpers Pension Crises

The City of Santa Cruz, CA is one of the latest municipalities to fall into what some have called a “…disturbing trend that will end in a full-fledged pension crisis” across the breadth and width of the nation. Santa Cruz is a California coastal community of 65,000 residents situated some 75 miles southwest of San Francisco. The small city, home to the University of California at Santa Cruz, is heavily dependent upon year-round tourist trade and not much else in the way of economic support. Read More +

Public Sector Pension Plans: A “ticking Time Bomb”

According to a December, 2017, washingtonfreebeacon.com report “…unfunded liabilities of state public pension funds increased by $433 billion over the past year and presently exceed $6 trillion…”. The report continues, “Unfunded liabilities of public pension plans continue to loom over state governments nationwide. Absent significant reforms, unfunded liabilities of state-administered pension plans will continue to grow and threaten the financial security of state retirees and taxpayers alike.” Astonishingly, the $6 trillion in unfunded liabilities average approximately $18,676.00 for every person in the United States. Alaska has Read More +

Puerto Rico & Bankruptcy

The island of Puerto Rico is officially a Commonwealth of the United States. Puerto Ricans are citizens of the United States who share many of the same rights and benefits of their fellow citizens living on the mainland. Until February, 1898, Puerto Rico had been under the colonial rule of Spain for centuries. In that year and month, Spain granted them a quasi-independent status. The welcome status under the rule of the Spanish Kingdom came with a constitution, voting rights, and a theretofore unknown sense Read More +

Chapter 13 Bankruptcy Protection of Tax Refund the Matter of in Re Gibson

In Chapter 13 Bankruptcy the Chapter 13 Bankruptcy Trustee will often attempt to seize or attach the tax refund of the Chapter 13 Debtor. The position of the Chapter 13 Trustee is that the tax refund received by the Debtor is additional disposable income that ought to be contributed to the Chapter 13 Bankruptcy Plan. Even in jurisdiction in which a tax refund is considered exempt, or for which there are available exemptions to protect the tax refund, the Trustee will likely argue that the Read More +