Yes. An Illinois Court held that a Debtor’s obligation to repay her former father-in-law who had co-signed her student loans prepetition was postpetition debt that was not discharged: Even though the Chapter 7 debtor’s former father-in-law co-signed her student loans prepetition, the debtor’s obligation to repay her former father-in-law for his postpetition payments on the…

No. The 7th Circuit Court of Appeals held that the Chapter 7 trustee could not use the strong-arm powers under Code § 544(a) to avoid a state divorce court’s award to the debtor’s former wife of his one-half interest in the former marital residence as part of the divorce court’s distribution of marital property. The…

No, in a recent New York decision, the court held that only taxes actually paid can be included in the means test. Line 16 of Form 122A–2 is clear and unambiguous in permitting a debtor to deduct, as an other necessary expense in the means test, only the amount actually owed for taxes. See In…

Yes, in a recent New York decision, the court ruled that under the plain meaning of the Bankruptcy Code, a debtor in a one-person household who actually incurs operating expenses for two motor vehicles may claim a deduction in the means test for operating expenses for two vehicles, even though the Internal Revenue Service manual…

Yes – but only if the debtor can show “excusable neglect” they can amend their exemptions in a reopened proceeding. However, in a recent 10th Circuit case, the court held that a Chapter 7 debtors failed to establish that their failure to disclose a personal injury claim, which they subsequently settled for $8,000, was the…

In a recent decision from the 10th Circuit, the court held that the bankruptcy estate’s interest in joint tenancy property terminated upon debtor’s death. When the Chapter 7 debtor died post-petition, the case continued under Bankruptcy Rule 1016 but the bankruptcy estate’s interest in jointly owned property owned by the debtor and his non-filing wife…