The trustee in a New York bankruptcy case is usually not the debtor’s ally. His or her purpose is mainly to administer the bankruptcy estate or ensure the debtor’s repayment plan goes according to plan. Trustees pursue preference payments, fraudulent conveyances, and other malfeasance committed by debtors. They frequently initiate adversary proceedings against debtors. In …
How Can a Debtor (or Creditor) Get a New Trustee? Read More »
I wrote a few posts about the 2005 bankruptcy reform, the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act (BAPCPA), but I left out one topic that doesn’t really address whether the law benefited debtors in New York bankruptcy. Specifically, what were some of the unintended consequences of the BAPCPA? One answer is the industry spawned …
Where Do Debtor Education Fees End Up? A Multi-Million-Dollar Industry Read More »
A few years ago, I discussed how the federal government changed its process for allowing qualifying debtors to apply for a non-bankruptcy discharge their student loans due to disability. Until 2013, the process required disabled debtors to slog through a bureaucratic process, even if the Social Security Administration had independently judged them as “totally and …
Government Reaching Out to Disabled Student-Loan Debtors Read More »
Last year I wrote about reverse mortgages and New York bankruptcy, but a recent article in the American Bankruptcy Law Journal adds more depth to the “intersection” between reverse mortgages and bankruptcy. It has a handful of lessons that New York homeowners (and their heirs) might want to know. First, though, is a reminder as …
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 …
Does the Means Test Apply to Cases That Are Converted From Chapter 13? Read More »
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 …
At Last, a Principal Reduction Opportunity for Underwater Homeowners Read More »
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 …
What Happens to Condo or Homeowners Fees in Bankruptcy? Read More »
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 …
More on Bankruptcy Reform’s Legacy: Repeat Filing Continues Read More »
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 …
Is Debt or Income Preventing Young Americans From Buying Homes? Read More »
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 …
Bankruptcy Courts: Parent PLUS Loans Stay, Bar-Exam Loans Go Read More »
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