Consumer

This session will discuss the recent changes with the Department of Justice’s new Student Loan Discharge program. The panelists will explore the scope and limitations of the program, as well as best practices, including the importance of a client's present financial circumstances, expenses and repayment ability.

In this session, financial professionals will discuss understanding the client's current financial situation, tax implications of attorney decisions, and how to build projections and budgets.

ABI Editor-at-Large Bill Rochelle will lead a discussion with regional bankruptcy judges on insolvency's most talked-about current events and controversial opinions.

What is a DSO, and what does that bankruptcy provision in every Property Settlement Agreement mean, anyway? What debts are dischargeable, and if it is called “support,” is it truly support? Does the stay need to be modified post-petition in a chapter 13, and what do you do when a current chapter 13 client ends up in divorce court? This panel will address these questions and more, including the differences between chapters 7 and 13, and what actions are stayed.

This panel will explore industry trends and commonalities between the parallel issues of failing health care systems and debtors bankrupted by medical debt. The panelists will discuss and debate what could happen when these two debtor groups overwhelm the bankruptcy system, the challenges that health care debtors, consumer debtors and insurance payors face today, and how practitioners across various insolvency disciplines involved in these industries can plan for the future with these trends on the horizon.