Consumer Bankruptcy

Who Pays the Price for Health Care Insolvencies: the Consumer, the Vendors or the Public at Large?

This panel provides updates on the law and suggests the necessary tools for your consumer tax toolbox, in particular concepts of cancellation of indebtness, home mortgage modiifcations, issuance of 1099s by creditors, separate-entity treatment under IRC section 1398, priority of tax claims, nondischargeability of tax claims, and other thorny tax issues frequently facing consumer bankruptcy lawyers.

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.