Topeka's Only Consumer Bankruptcy Law Specialists
It now costs $299 to file for bankruptcy under chapter 7 and $274 to file for bankruptcy under chapter 13, whether for one person or a married couple. The court may allow you to pay this filing fee in installments if you can not pay it all at once.
If you hire an attorney you will also have to pay the attorney fees you agree to. [Read more…]
Bankruptcy filings increased eight percent in Kansas during 2008, a smaller increase than the 33% national increase seen in most of the country. A total of 8712 cases were filed here, about 69% as chapter 7 cases for individuals or married couples. Nationally, 1,064,927 consumer bankruptcy cases were filed in 2008.
Topeka saw slightly more chapter 13 cases than chapter 7 cases in 2008. Chapter 13 is a reorganization plan for individuals. [Read more…]
In a chapter 13 case you file a “plan†showing how you will pay off some of your past-due and current debts over three to five years. The most important thing about a chapter 13 case is that it will allow you to keep valuable property–especially your home and car–which might otherwise be lost, if you can make the payments which the bankruptcy law requires to be made to your creditors.
In most cases, these payments will be at least as much as your regular monthly payments on your mortgage or car loan, with some extra payment to get caught up on the amount you have fallen behind.
You should consider filing a chapter 13 plan if you: [Read more…]
There are four types of bankruptcy cases provided under the law:
Court watchers will have to wait for another case to find out how the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit will rule on the so-called negative equity issue. Â The Court dismissed the appeal in In re: Hunt, No. 07-3297, as moot after the debtor converted his case from chapter 13 to chapter 7 bankruptcy.
The ruling disappointed the creditor, Wells Fargo Bank, N.A, which urged the Court to proceed with the appeal despite the conversion. The Court ruled against the creditor saying the existence of other cases on the same legal issue and the desire for binding appellate authority was not sufficient reason to make an exception to the mootness doctrine. Courts are required dismiss a case when a controversy no longer exists. [Read more…]
A mortgage creditor may not include attorneys fees in its chapter 13 bankruptcy proof of claim unless the loan documents expressly allow creditor attorneys fees for bankruptcy proceedings, Judge Janice Miller Karlin ruled this week.
U.S. Bank Home Mortgage relied on the “do and pay whatever is necessary to protect the value of the Property and Lender’s rights in the Property,†language, typical of promissory notes and mortgages, to add $350 in attorneys fees to its proof of claim in the debtor’s chapter 13 bankruptcy proceeding.
If [Debtors] fails to make these payments or the payments required by paragraph 2, or fails to perform any other covenants and agreements contained in this Security Instrument, or there is a legal proceeding that may significantly affect [U.S. Bank’s] rights in the Property (such as a proceeding in bankruptcy,for condemnation or to enforce laws or regulations), then [U.S. Bank] may do and pay whatever is necessary to protect the value of the Property and Lender’s rights in the Property, including payment of taxes, hazard insurance and other items mentioned in paragraph 2. [Read more…]
In our never ending quest to stay current on developments in bankruptcy law, Mark Neis and Jill Michaux attended an all-day seminar in Kansas City on a new court rule for paying delinquent mortgages through a chapter 13 bankruptcy plan Friday.
Nationally recognized speakers were O. Max Gardner III of Shelby, NC; Debra L. Miller, Chapter 13 Northern District of Indiana; and Lance E. Olsen, managing partner of Routh Crabtree Olsen, PS, of Bellevue, WA.
Renown bankruptcy attorney Gardner is an expert predatory home mortgage servicing and a trainer teaching an army of lawyers to fight mortgage abuses at the Max Gardner Bankruptcy Boot Camps. He has been recognized as a Champion of Consumer Rights by the National Association of Consumer Bankruptcy Attorneys. [Read more…]
GAP insurance, service contracts, administrative fees and the traded-in car payoff are not part of a car lender’s purchase-money secured claim in chapter 13 bankruptcy and can be crammed-down if the car is worth less than the loan balance, Judge Janice Miller Karlin ruled this week in In Re Miller, Case No. 08-40935, (Bankr. D.Kan. December 2, 2008).
Judge Karlin suggested the ruling may be different for service contracts in a future case if the creditor convinces her the contract enhances the value of the vehicle. Creditors have the burden of proof to establish their purchase money security interest (PMSI) claim, she said.
Non-PMSI charges are still part of the creditor’s secured claim and must be paid in chapter 13 bankruptcy up to the value of the car. A debtor must pay the entire PMSI to retain a car even if the amount is greater than the car’s value if the loan was incurred within 910 days of bankruptcy. [Read more…]
Considerchapter13.com is a new web site launched by the National Association of Chapter 13 Trustees Academy for Consumer Bankruptcy Education. The site contains information for consumers and bankruptcy attorneys by the Chapter 13 trustees who belong to the NACTT.
As always with any information on the internet, you should ask questions and discuss specific issues with your own bankruptcy attorney. Chapter 13 bankruptcy practice varies widely from trustee to trustee and judge to judge around the country.
New Standing Rule 08-01 for ongoing mortgage payments through the 13 trustee in Kansas applies to all chapter 13 banrkuptcy cases filed on or after October 1, 2008. Â Debtors in cases filed earlier will not be subjected to the new rule even if they subsequently become delinquent on their home mortgage payments.
The Hon. Janice Miller Karlin, U.S. Bankruptcy Judge for the District of Kansas, Topeka Division, issued the following statement last week after polling all the Kansas bankruptcy judges: [Read more…]
Effective October 1, 2008, all chapter 13 payments to William H. Griffin Trustee must be mailed to PO Box 613106, Memphis TN 38101.
Payments to Griffin, the standing chapter 13 bankruptcy trustee for cases filed in Kansas City, Kansas, will no longer be accepted in person at Griffin’s office in Fairway, at meetings of creditors or at court hearings. All payments must be mailed to the Memphis lock box.
Griffin is not moving his office. He is changing banks to Suntrust Bank.
The Kansas Bankruptcy Court adopted a new rule requiring chapter 13 debtors behind on mortgage debts when the bankruptcy case is filed to be paid through the trustee. The rule goes into effect for cases filed on or after October 1, 2008.
Proponents of the new rule say the chapter 13 trustee records will aid the court in protecting debtors from charges for inappropriate fees and from false allegations of nonpayments. Opponents of the new rule object to the chapter 13 fee (up to 10%) added to the to the mortgage payments, creating additional financial hardship for debtors.
EDITOR UPDATE: This post is out of date. Judge Karlin reverted to her original ruling in In re Law after the Pearson decision was vacated. This issue is currently pending the the U.S. Court for the Tenth Circuit so we should have a binding ruling soon. December 13, 2009.
Topeka Bankruptcy Judge Janice Miller Karlin announced last week that she is reversing course and will follow the Pearson decision to allow debtors a means test deduction for ownership of a car without a debt against it.
Judge Karlin had earlier disallowed the car ownership deduction in In re Law, 2008 WL 1867971 (Bankr. D. Kan. 2008), following the decision by Kansas District Court Judge John W. Lungstrum in Wieland v. Thomas, 382 B.R. 793 (D. Kan. March 4, 2008), reversing Judge Robert D. Berger of Kansas City, KS, in In re Thomas, 2007 WL 2903201 (Bankr. D. Kan. Oct. 02, 2007). [Read more…]
The U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Kansas issued Standing Order 08-02 eliminating the requirement of notice to creditors by the chapter 13 trustee in certain circumstances. Here is the text of the order:
Notice to all creditors of post-confirmation motions to modify plan, which notice is required by Fed. R. Bankr. P. 3015(g), is waived when the motion is filed by a Chapter 13 Trustee, and the sole purpose of the motion to modify plan is to recover an asset that Debtor has been ordered to repay to the estate, but which he/she has not repaid. The only notice required will be to the Debtor and Debtor’s Attorney. This Standing Order will expire March 17, 2009.
