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THE CONSUMER BANKRUPTCY LETTER
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In This Issue:
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Jan. 27, 2004
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BOOKS - SOFTWARE - PERIODICALS
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ATTORNEY IN CHAPTER 7 CAN'T BE PAID FROM ESTATE
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FREE CREDIT REPORTS NOT COMING SOON
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THE 116 BEST BANKRUPTCY WEB SITES
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HOUSE TO VOTE ON REFORM ON WED.
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The One-Stop site for Consumer Bankruptcy Lawyers
Books / Software / Periodicals
FEATURED -
King's FEES & ETHICS IN CONSUMER BANKRUPTCY CASES
This is the only book on these sensitive subjects written for lawyers who regularly represent debtors in consumer and small business bankruptcy cases. Protect and enhance your compensation . . . shield yourself from ethical problems, disgorgement orders and unfair fee restrictions. Recover lost revenue and hidden costs. Contents:
The law of compensation explained - Surveys of billing rates and billing practices around the country - Sample fee applications and motions; Recoverable costs - Retainer agreements . . . what's proper, what's not. - Traps for the unwary, and how to avoid them - History, public policy and case law on compensation of the debtor's bar.
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King's DISCHARGING TAXES IN BANKRUPTCY ed. 2000
5th ed. • 915 pages • 75 exhibits and checklists • over 1,000 cases cited • indexed $95 - 2002 Supplement available, plus Gold's Tax Discharge Chronometer
This book has been called "the bible" for discharging taxes in consumer bankruptcy cases. Used by thousands of lawyers, trustees, judges and other tax professionals across the country, it explains in simple yet comprehensive terms what kinds of taxes can be erased, when they can be erased, and how they can be erased in chapter 7, 13, or 11. It covers all the issues and traps for the unwary. This book is even used by revenue officers!
Says Ike Shulman, former President of the National Association of Consumer Bankruptcy Attorneys, "Every serious bankruptcy practitioner should have this book!"
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OTHER POPULAR TITLES -
King, Discharging Taxes in Bankruptcy, with 2002 supplement $135
King, Marketing A Consumer Bankruptcy Practice $89
King, Chapter 7 Law & Practice $129.50
King, Chaper 13 Law & Practice $129.50
King, Fees & Ethics in Consumer Bankruptcy Cases $89
NCLC, Consumer Bankruptcy Law & Practice $140
James Pub, Bankruptcy Courts & Procedures $110
Aspen, Basic Bankruptcy Law For Paralegals $79.95
Aspen, Automatic Stay Litigation $195
Juris, Fundamentals of Bankruptcy & Corporate Reorganization $80.75
CD TimeValue, TValue5 Interest Calculator $149.00
CD Gold, Tax Discharge Chronometer $139.00
CD Collier TopForm Bankruptcy System $700
OVER 100 SELECTIONS TO CHOOSE FROM
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BATTLE OVER REFORM ACT THIS WEEK - VOTE ON WEDNESDAY
CongressDaily reported today that Senate Democrats plan to contest House leaders' efforts to move the bankruptcy reform bill to conference without a prior Senate floor vote on the measure, Senate Democratic sources said on Friday.
"Senate Democrats would insist on the right to offer [floor] amendments to improve the bill," said a spokesman for Senate Judiciary ranking member Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.). "This is not going to work. We're not going to give up our rights." House leaders plan to insert the text of the bipartisan "Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act," which the House approved last March on a 315-113 vote, into a noncontroversial, Senate-passed bill authorizing a six-month extension for chapter 12 of the Bankruptcy Code, which provides bankruptcy relief to family farmers.
The House is scheduled to vote on the combined measure on Wednesday. If the House approves the legislation, House leaders would then send it to the Senate and request a conference. "We need to get this thing done," a Hastert's spokesman said, noting that the Senate has not taken up the House-passed bankruptcy bill. He also pointed out that a similar measure came close to enactment during the 107th Congress, but "couldn't get to the final finish line." The House had rejected the conference report on that previous bankruptcy bill, because it included controversial language that would have prevented abortion protesters from filing for bankruptcy to avoid paying fines for disruptive activity at clinics. The current House-passed bankruptcy bill does not include that language, which was based on an amendment by Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.). But Schumer "continues to believe his amendment is an important part of bankruptcy reform," a Schumer spokesman said, reported the newswire.
SOURCE: ABIworld.org
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SUPREME COURT RULES DEBTOR'S ATTORNEY IN CHAPTER 7 NOT ENTITLED TO COMPENSATION OUT OF THE ESTATE UNLESS APPOINTED
Held: Under the Code's plain language, §330(a)(1) does not authorize compensation awards to debtors' attorneys from estate funds, unless they are employed as authorized by §327. If the attorney is to be paid from estate funds under §330(a)(1) in a chapter 7 case, he must be employed by the trustee and approved by the court.
Before 1994, §330(a) of the Bankruptcy Code authorized a court to "award to a trustee, to an examiner, to a professional person employed under section 327 ... , or to the debtor's attorney" "(1) reasonable compensation for ... services rendered by such trustee, examiner, professional person, or attorney ... ." (Emphasis added to highlight text later deleted.) In 1994 Congress amended the Code with a reform Act. The Act altered §330(a) by deleting "or to the debtor's attorney" from what was §330(a) and is now §330(a)(1). This change created apparent legislative drafting error in the current section. The section is left with a missing "or" that infects its grammar. And its inclusion of "attorney" in what was §330(a)(1) and is now §330(a)(1)(A) defeats the neat parallelism that otherwise marks the relationship between current §§330(a)(1) ("trustee, ... examiner, [or] professional person") and 330(a)(1)(A) ("trustee, examiner, professional person, or attorney"). In this case, petitioner filed an application with the Bankruptcy Court seeking attorney's fees under §330(a)(1) for the time he spent working on a behalf of a debtor in a chapter 7 proceeding.
The Government objected to the application. It argued that §330(a) makes no provision for the estate to compensate an attorney who is not employed by the estate trustee and approved by the court under §327. Petitioner admitted he was not employed by the trustee and approved by the court under §327, but nonetheless contended §330(a) authorized a fee award to him because he was a debtor's attorney.
In denying petitioner's application, the Bankruptcy Court, District Court, and Fourth Circuit all held that in a chapter 7 proceeding §330(a)(1) does not authorize payment of attorney's fees unless the attorney has been appointed under §327.
LAMIE v. UNITED STATES TRUSTEE __ S.Ct. __ (January 26, 2004)
FOR EXPANDED OPINION IN LAMIE CLICK ON LAW UPDATES, BELOW.
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CHAPTER 13 DEBTOR ENTITLED TO REDEEM REPPOSSESSED CAR
Under Virginia law, Chapter 13 debtor is entitled to redeem her car pursuant to the automatic stay and turnover provisions of the Bankruptcy Code. Return of the car, her sole means of transportation to work, facilitates her financial rehabilitation; the security interest of the finance company, which repossessed the car just prior to her bankruptcy petition, is adequately protected in the bankruptcy plan.
IN RE MOFFETT, No. 03-1279 (4th Cir. January 23, 2004)
SOURCE: FINDLAW WEEKLY OPINION SUMMARIES
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BANKRUPTCY COURT WILL NOT ADJUDICATE DISPUTED IRS TAX ASSESSMENTS
Pursuant to 11 U.S.C. section 505(a)(2)(A), the bankruptcy court lacked jurisdiction to consider the validity of income tax assessments filed by the IRS in Chapter 13 proceedings. A 1993 circuit court order granting the Commissioner's motion to dismiss necessarily adjudicated the issue of when the tax court decisions became final.
IN RE BUNYAN (9th Cir. 2004)
SOURCE: FINDLAW BANKRUPTCY CASE SUMMARIES
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