Consumer

This panel will discuss the latest cross-border insolvency decisions from U.S. and Caribbean courts.

The panel will discuss Puerto Rico’s present economic condition/situation, the sequence of events that have led to PR’s present economic crisis, what should/can be done to restructure PR’s debt, whether chapter 9 is an appropriate tool to restructure PR’s debt or a solution to its economic condition, and the legal issues that PR is likely to confront in light of its economic crisis.

This panel will conduct a mock oral argument at the conclusion of a confirmation hearing in an individual chapter 11 bankruptcy case. Issues unique to individuals who file chapter 11 will be explored by counsel for the debtor and an objecting creditor, as well as by the three-judge panel.

Puerto Rico judges will discuss attorneys’ fees in chapter 13 cases; summons, service of process, defaults and default judgments; the Puerto Rico homestead exemption law and recent decisions; and conducting evidentiary hearings (handling witnesses, documents and objections).

This panel will provide practical advice to attendees from the viewpoint of a chapter 7 trustee, an accountant and an attorney regarding completeness of schedules, how to properly prepare a debtor to face a chapter 7 trustee interrogation, and discussions on several administrative matters such as late-filed claims, asset-liquidation accounting and § 341 hearing continuances. The panel will also cover recent chapter 7 case law developments.

This panel will discuss the effects of recent decisions regarding the Puerto Rico homestead exemption in chapter 13 cases; chapter 13 debtors’ pre and post-petition causes of action, and the disclosure and determination of value of same; and the management of plan provisions, as well as objecting to and defending them.

This panel will discuss all of the chapter 13 news whether or not it’s fit to print: what’s hot in recent chapter 13 decisions (including dead debtors), mindless judicial estoppel, sua sponte dismissals, objections to confirmation run amok, mortgage servicing worse than Comcast, IRS standards on steroids, and other things you always wanted to know about chapter 13 but were afraid to ask.

This panel will focus on the sale of discharged debts, the intersection between the Code and the FDCPA, the involvement of the CFPB in consumer cases, and more.