Consumer

This panel will address the differences between the laws of various Caribbean nations (Nevis, Cayman, Panama) and the U.S. concerning the creation of various legal entities/structures to hold assets, as well as those nations’ laws concerning (1) privacy, (2) taxation, (3) piercing the corporate veil/sham structure and (4) avoidance actions. This session will also consider U.S. courts’ jurisdictional ability to enter and enforce orders affecting such entities and their power to assert jurisdiction over persons who are involved with and professionals who represent such entities.

Is Technology Creating Liability for Lenders? Stay Now or Pay Later: The Discharge Injunction

This panel will explore the myriad issues that arise in chapter 7 and 11 cases when the debtor is the sponsor of an employee retirement benefit plan, including 401(k) plans and pension plans.

This session will focus on debtors’ attorneys’ pre-bankruptcy advice and planning regarding the protection of a debtor’s assets, including maximizing exemptions without getting into trouble, analyzing and counseling the client on the vulnerability of transfers of property that the debtor already made to family members or trusts before seeking your counsel, permissible actions to mitigate liabilities on account of a debtor’s pre-petition transfers, what can legitimately and ethically be done to enable debtors to maximize their exemptions without jeopardizing their discharges, and the use of family trusts, self-settled trusts and the effect of the new Domestic Asset Protection Trust Act in Michigan.

This panel will discuss recent case law highlighting the fallout from failing to reaffirm, what “surrender” really means, and what you need to know when advising your client on the benefits and burdens of reaffirmation and surrender.

This panel will discuss recent case law highlighting the fallout from failing to reaffirm, what “surrender” really means, and what you need to know when advising your client on the benefits and burdens of reaffirmation and surrender.

Join this superstar panel in exploring the very latest developments in consumer bankruptcy law.

You’ve filed the petition and schedules and attended the § 341 meeting. What happens next? This session will focus on the ongoing representation and responsibilities of a debtor’s attorney after filing a chapter 7 petition and completing the § 341 meeting to ensure that the debtor gets and keeps a discharge and any assets they are entitled to. What should a debtor’s attorney do if the asset values that the debtor lists on his or her schedules change after the petition is filed? What ongoing responsibilities does a debtor’s attorney have regarding reaffirmation agreements and assumption of leases by the debtor? What can a debtor’s attorney do to monitor and ensure the prompt administration of assets in the chapter 7 case by the trustee? Can the debtor’s attorney move for abandonment of assets that the trustee is not administering, and what are the legal standards for abandonment? How can a debtor’s attorney best counsel a chapter 7 debtor to cooperate with the trustee so as to avoid jeopardizing their discharge or, if a discharge has already been granted, to avoid creating a basis for revocation of discharge? What are the standards for revocation of discharge?

This panel will consist of four short "moot court/pro-con" presentations on current chapter 11 issues, with the Judge to be a “hot bench” and also give his insights at the conclusion of each segment.