Summary: Not quite half-way through this exhaustive opinion, the bankruptcy court, in discussing Stern v.

Summary: The Debtor’s corporation filed Chapter 7 and the Debtor agreed to buy the assets of the corporation from the Chapter 7 Trustee for $3,400.00.  The Trustee was later contacted by an auctioneer, who informed the Trustee that the Debtor was attempting to sell additional corporate assets, that had not be listed in the bankruptcy petition filed by the corporation.  The Debtor eventually did sell these non-disclosed assets for $4,000.00 and also filed his own personal Chapter 7 bankruptcy, with the same Trustee being appointed.  The Trustee eventually settle

Summary: The Debtors pledged two properties to Sun Trust as collateral for a Deed of Trust.  The Deed of Trust when recorded, however, was only indexed with the Orange Register of Deeds under the Parcel Identifier Number ("PIN")  for Parcel II and not Parcel I.  (Orange County, unlike the other 99 counties in North Carolina, which index under a grantor/grantee system based on Deed Book and Page, give every parcel of real property a unique PIN.  This PIN is used as the basis for indexing all recorded documents related to that property.) After the Debtors w

Summary: The former officers of EBW Laser, Inc., which has been the subject of a fair bit of litigation in its bankruptcy in the Middle District of North Carolina, brought a complaint against the Chapter 7 Trustee’s law firm and several individual attorneys at the law firm, as well as the accountant for EBW Laser, as they allegedly improperly obtained the officers’ tax return in an attempt to show preferential transfers and/or fraudulent conveyances.  The case was originally brought in state court, but then removed by the Defendants to federal district court, where, foll

Summary and Commentary: Starting by painting a vivid tableau of a §341 Meeting of Creditors, its atmosphere is aptly compared with the anxiety of an emergency room.  The metaphor  gets pushed too far,  with the Trustee being likened to a doctor diagnosing people "with a financial emergency- bankruptcy."  This would be a fully congruent comparison only if, and I hesitate to extend this metaphor, because most Trustees are truly good and caring people, who keep a debtor’s interest in mind, if not at heart, a medical doctor was charged by his Hippocratic Oath

Description: About 1.5 million households filed bankruptcy in the last year, making bankruptcy as common as college graduation and divorce.

Abstract: When enacted in 1978, the Bankruptcy Code was heralded as a consumer protection victory. It gave families in financial trouble a complex array of legal options, including the ability to repay their debts over a number of years in chapter 13 bankruptcy. That new option was lauded by experts and became popular across the nation.

Summary: Creditor filed its Proof of Claim six(6) days after the bar date.  Following the objection to the Claim by the Chapter 7 Trustee, the Creditor argued that the claim should be allowed due to excusable neglect.  The bankruptcy court held that under Rule 9006(b)(3),  it had no authority to extend the time to file claims. For a copy of the opinion,  please see: Meredith- No extension of time to file

Summary: After filing Chapter 7 and attendance at the §341 Meeting of Creditors, the Female Debtor passed away.  The bankruptcy court held that pursuant to Bankruptcy Rule 1016, death of the Debtor was not an impediment to either the administration of a Chapter 7 estate or basis for denial of discharge. For a copy of the opinion, please see: Stewart- Chapter 7 Discharge allowed for Dead Debtor.PDF

Summary: The Female Debtor received a bonus for 2010 in March 2011 ad filed Chapter 7 in June 2011.  She claimed an exemption in an annual bonus under N.C.G.S.