Consumer Bankruptcy

Homeowners and their creditors continue to face variety of emerging challenges in bankruptcy cases. What rights do lien holders have when only one of the obligors files bankruptcy? What potential issues await all owners after only one receives a discharge? Can a debtor modify a mortgage loan without reaffirming the debt, and if not, what are the considerations for all parties?

This year’s installment of the Boris Badenough ethics play centers primarily around Boris’s romantic problems, rather than his traditional financial woes. Boris’s latest wife, Sophia “Sting” Shire, an up-and-coming photo artist, has just filed for divorce and is seeking to void her prenuptial agreement with Boris so she can get the $100,000 per week in support she believes she is entitled to. Boris isn’t distressed about the loss of his sixth (or is it seventh?) wife, but the fact she wants money and half of his massive snowglobe collection enrages him.

The panel will discuss the pitfalls that chapter 13 debtors encounter when dealing with claims that may or may not be dischargeable or have priority status.

As if the Bankruptcy Code doesn’t give us enough to ponder, bankruptcy practitioners must consider the impact of the U.S. Tax Code on the decision-making process. This session will address the Internal Revenue Code “section 1398 short year” election and separate entity rules, discharge of tax claims, cancellation of debt (COD) income, and tax issues arising from mortgage modification, foreclosure, and transfer or abandonment of property.

Individual chapter 11 cases pose a number of thorny legal and practical problems for the bankruptcy practitioner. While individual chapter 11 cases contain many elements of corporate chapter 11 and chapter 13 cases, they do not fit comfortably in either chapter. Following the enactment of BAPCPA, courts have struggled to strike the appropriate balance between the provisions of the Bankruptcy Code intended for corporations and those intended for human beings. The result is substantial uncertainty for debtors and creditors alike.