Small Business

Judicial Debate: Tough Issues in Subchapter V Cases Past Presidents Debate: The Efficacy of Third Party Releases

As subchapter V use increases across the country, the courts continue to interpret and explore the bounds of the statute. This panel will discuss the emerging issues being addressed by practitioners and the courts, including developing eligibility questions and the varied applications of the statute to different and unique debtor situations, and will provide a review of the timeliest opinions that are impacting debtors and creditors in these proceedings.

Subchapter V arrived in 2020, offering qualifying individuals a restructuring alternative to standard chapter 11 and chapter 13. So what are consumer bankruptcy lawyers so afraid of?! This panel will review the differences between chapter 13 and subchapter V by looking at eligibility and reporting requirements, estate administration, and the nuanced differences of plan confirmation and discharge in each chapter. The panelists also will compare and contrast chapter 13 and subchapter V trustees, and will use several hypotheticals to highlight how a debtor’s particular circumstances will ultimately determine the choice between a 13 or a V.

Now that subchapter V's first three years are in the rearview mirror, this session will pull back the curtain on this latest reorganization tool to discuss what is (or is not) working. Attendees will hear from three practicing subchapter V trustees, a career bankruptcy law clerk, and a bankruptcy judge with an active subchapter V docket to examine what practitioners are doing right, and what they are doing wrong, when representing clients in subchapter V cases.

Subchapter V opinions of first impression are being entered around the country every year. This panel will discuss the most recent subchapter V opinions and analyze how bankruptcy practitioners and courts are creatively filling subchapter V's statutory gaps.

This panel will discuss the various tools and strategies available to insolvency professionals when small businesses attempt to restructure and avoid closure. The panelists will explore nonbankruptcy options available to these businesses, particularly in the current economic climate, including forbearance agreements, longer-term workouts and refinancing, as well as recent case law developments affecting out-of-court workouts for both debtors and creditors. The discussion also will include some of the bankruptcy options available to these businesses, how these businesses can analyze if and when chapter 11 (or chapter 7) provides the best (or only) path forward, and what creditors can do to prepare for an inevitable filing. Finally, the panelists will review bankruptcy eligibility requirements for small businesses in subchapter V and single-asset real estate cases, recent case law developments in subchapter V that practitioners must know about when evaluating bankruptcy options, and other important hurdles and considerations that these types of businesses can expect to encounter today.

Join ABI Editor-at-Large Bill Rochelle for this fun and informative session as he and several bankruptcy judges discuss circuit splits and hot topics on important bankruptcy issues. An attendee favorite!

Using case law examples, this panel will discuss various aspects of subchapter V in the three years since it became law. Topics will include § 523 and non-individual debtors, whether the minimum required information (e.g., cash flow, tax returns, MORs) is enough to allow creditors to make informed decisions, the role of the subchapter V trustee, the U.S. Trustee guidelines for subchapter V trustees and whether they broaden the role beyond what is set forth in 11 U.S.C. § 1183, what happens when the subchapter V trustee’s role becomes burdensome on small business debtors, and the issues on which a subchapter V trustee has standing to appear before the court.