Family/Divorce Issues

Years after the creation of the concept of domestic-support obligations, the panel will discuss how bankruptcy courts have interpreted this concept and how “alimony, maintenance and support” is a key element in BAPCPA cases. The presentation will also highlight the complex relationship between bankruptcy and domestic-relations law, and whether bankruptcy courts are bound by state courts’ determinations when issues of claim classification are raised. This panel will also discuss the criteria for the approval of applications for employment and reimbursement of fees, the role of the different trustees in those processes, the independent role of the bankruptcy judges and the consequences of not filing a timely application. Consideration will be given to the perspectives of debtor’s attorneys, special counsel, other professionals and secured creditors’ attorneys.

This year’s installment of the Boris Badenough ethics play centers primarily around Boris’s romantic problems, rather than his traditional financial woes. Boris’s latest wife, Sophia “Sting” Shire, an up-and-coming photo artist, has just filed for divorce and is seeking to void her prenuptial agreement with Boris so she can get the $100,000 per week in support she believes she is entitled to. Boris isn’t distressed about the loss of his sixth (or is it seventh?) wife, but the fact she wants money and half of his massive snowglobe collection enrages him. However, Boris has a plan to put Sting into an involuntary bankruptcy with two other creditors, have a trustee appointed (Boris does know how to dig up dirt!) and settle any claims that Sting may have with her trustee for a small amount of his hoard. Unfortunately for Boris, Sting and her counsel, Bill “Bo” Baggins, have a few tricks of their own up their sleeves, including the discovery of Boris’s deepest and perhaps most profitable secrets in Hidden Hoard LLC, a company Sting owns 1% of (through Boris’s attempt to make her a minority contractor). Will Baggins and Sting be able to discover the secret Hidden Hoard, or will Boris’s counsel, Tom “Bomber” Dill, prevail and save his client’s “preeciousss”?

The panel will discuss the pitfalls that chapter 13 debtors encounter when dealing with claims that may or may not be dischargeable or have priority status.

Consumer Track: When Divorce and Bankruptcy Collide, Breaking Up Is Hard to Do The panel will explore the overlapping and sometimes conflicting state and federal objectives and law that can lead to unfair results when a bankruptcy proceeding intervenes in a divorce case.

This panel will discuss domestic support obligation (DSO) and alimony/property settlement dischargability issues. When does the automatic stay apply and not apply? Should a bankruptcy be considered before, during or after the divorce? What about exemptions? In addition, the panel will discuss the threshold amount that a trustee is likely to pursue, as well as locating real estate assets and checklists for managing a real estate asset. The panel will also examine procrastination as the greatest enemy of a chapter 7 trustee, and pushing an asset liquidation to closing as quickly as possible.