Consumer Debt

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

Representing public figures whose livelihood depends on their public image presents particular challenges for bankruptcy professionals. This panel of lawyers, each with their own experiences representing celebrities and other prominent figures in their bankruptcy cases, will share their thoughts on the process and the issues that are unique in these cases.

Litigation over what constitutes projected disposable income continues unabated post-BAPCPA. Is Social Security income included? Is a nonfiling spouse’s income included? What about the income of a significant other who is a nondebtor? Can a debtor make voluntary retirement contributions, or are they considered part of projected disposable income? This panel will address some current tricky issues in this area.

This panel will deal with the various issues that arise when a debtor owns a cause of action and the distinctions that occur depending on whether the debtor’s cause of action arose pre-petition, post-petition, post-confirmation, post-discharge or at any other time. How are pre-petition causes of action valued for purposes of confirming a plan? What happens if the debtor’s cause of action pays off during a chapter 13 case (who gets the money)? What obligations do debtors have to amend their schedules to deal with post-petition events that create causes of action? What are the debtor’s obligations to keep the bankruptcy court and the debtor’s creditors informed? Are there potential judicial estoppel arguments that can arise?

While they share many similarities, individual chapter 11 cases are markedly different from chapter 13 cases. This session will highlight the differences between these two types of cases and the potential pitfalls that exist for the uninformed practitioner.

As the elderly population continues to grow, the intersection between bankruptcy and elder law will continue to grow with it. This session will focus on issues unique to elder law and the various considerations every consumer practitioner should know when these two very unique areas of law intersect.

Our expert faculty will pull back the curtain on representing creditors and will examine current issues facing mortgage and automobile creditors. Topics will include updates on the mortgage and automobile loan servicing industry, new proofs-of-claim rules and forms, servicing standards, statutes of limitations, and compliance issues.