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April 2016

Does the Means Test Apply to Cases That Are Converted From Chapter 13?

The short answer is probably yes. The long answer is that the specific issue hasn’t been decided in a New York bankruptcy case or in a Second Circuit appellate case that I could find. Courts in other parts of the country have split on the issue. Their reasoning is interesting. Against Taking the Means Test …

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At Last, a Principal Reduction Opportunity for Underwater Homeowners

In addition to mortgage modifications, deed-in-lieu of foreclosure offers, New York bankruptcy, and other options, the federal government has finally created the effective solution that until now has been off the table for underwater homeowners: mortgage principal reductions. On April 14, the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) announced the Principal Reduction Modification program, which would …

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What Happens to Condo or Homeowners Fees in Bankruptcy?

Many New Yorkers live in condos or homeowner communities as opposed to independent, single-unit owner-occupied or rental housing. Keeping a home in New York bankruptcy is a common topic, as is protecting the interests of renters—including those in rent-stabilized units—but not so much is said about condos or homeowner communities. In New York City such …

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More on Bankruptcy Reform’s Legacy: Repeat Filing Continues

I have one more point of the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act (BAPCPA) of 2005 to analyze: changes to the automatic stay to repeat filings. In the time leading up to its passage, many in Congress (and certainly creditors) believed debtors filed successive, strategic bankruptcies in a manner to avoid paying debts they …

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Is Debt or Income Preventing Young Americans From Buying Homes?

It’s understandable that young Americans would not want to take out even more debt to purchase a home after the housing bust led to a wave of New York bankruptcy filings and foreclosures. Indeed, according to a 2014 Federal Reserve Bank of New York study, the number one reason a group of renters gave for …

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Bankruptcy Courts: Parent PLUS Loans Stay, Bar-Exam Loans Go

Two bankruptcy cases made the news in March that will be of interest to New York bankruptcy debtors. One of them was even a Brooklyn bankruptcy. The first case appeared in the Boston Globe. Echoing my post on the economic risk calculator, a debtor earned $165,000 annually as president of a manufacturing company and borrowed …

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