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Collection Actions: 1.2.1 Debt Defense Checklist

Section 1.4, infra, is a debt defense checklist that, for a given type of debt and phase of collection, immediately links the user to appropriate material to review. It is recommended that readers use the digital version of the debt defense checklist because it contains live links that will speed up access to the relevant material.

Consumer Bankruptcy Law and Practice: 2.4.2 Jurisdiction

A principal goal of the 1978 Bankruptcy Reform Act had been to simplify a jurisdictional scheme that had caused endless litigation for the previous eighty years under the Bankruptcy Act of 1898. This simplification was to be accomplished by giving the bankruptcy court broad and pervasive jurisdiction over all matters related in any way to the bankruptcy case.18 But granting such broad jurisdiction to a non-Article III court was found unconstitutional by the United States Supreme Court.19

Consumer Bankruptcy Law and Practice: 2.5.6 Tax Refunds and the Earned Income Tax Credit

The right to receive a tax refund for a tax year that has ended before the petition date is clearly property of the estate.137 The debtor may also have a property interest in excessive withholding by an employer for the then-current tax year that becomes a part of a refund due after the filing of the bankruptcy.138 When such withholdings do result in a refund, the refund is often prorated over the entire year, with the prebankruptcy portion considered property of the estate.

Consumer Bankruptcy Law and Practice: 2.5.7 Personal Injury Claims and Other Causes of Action

There can sometimes be significant issues concerning whether a cause of action accrued prior to the bankruptcy petition and therefore is the property of the estate. These issues have come to the fore when debtors and trustees have been contacted long after the bankruptcy case and informed that the debtor has a right to a class action settlement payment, often in cases involving defective medical devices. In some cases, debtors have received these settlement payments even though they have suffered no injury.

Consumer Bankruptcy Law and Practice: 2.7 The United States Trustee

Every judicial district, with the exception of those in Alabama and North Carolina, is part of a larger United States Trustee District, served by a United States trustee and one or more assistant United States trustees.190 For political reasons, neither Alabama nor North Carolina has a United States trustee.191

Consumer Bankruptcy Law and Practice: 5.2 The Importance of Getting All the Facts

Before a bankruptcy case can be filed, it is necessary that a decision be made that bankruptcy is, in fact, the best vehicle for dealing with the problems facing a particular client. Indeed, most of the legal analysis that occurs in a typical consumer bankruptcy case involves comparing bankruptcy with other possible avenues of relief.

Consumer Bankruptcy Law and Practice: 5.3.2 Filling in the Complete Picture

Once bankruptcy is being seriously considered, and has perhaps been tentatively decided upon, much more information is necessary. Only after all of this information is gathered can bankruptcy be finally recommended. Again, the principal source of information is usually the client, but methods of tapping this source may vary.

Consumer Bankruptcy Law and Practice: 5.3.3.2 Property

Among the types of property clients often forget in reporting their assets are long-dormant accounts with savings institutions, such as banks and credit unions. Especially in the case of the latter, the client may not have access to a share balance (deposit) that was required to secure a loan. Nonetheless, such a balance belongs to the client and may become important to the case.

Consumer Bankruptcy Law and Practice: 5.3.3.3 Liabilities

Naturally, the opportunity for discharge of debts in bankruptcy should be used to its fullest, and every conceivable liability should be searched out and considered in weighing the advantages of a petition. Clients do not always realize that they have certain types of debts, especially if payment has not been demanded. Just as a legal claim may be a form of property, so too may a legal claim give rise to a liability if the client is the potential defendant.

Student Loan Law: 3.2 Student Loan Payment Pause and Flexibilities for Returning to Repayment

In response to the unpreceded COVID-19 national emergency, the obligation to make payments on eligible federal student loans (including all Direct Loans and Department-held FFEL Program loans and Perkins Loans) was temporarily suspended and interest rates were temporarily set to 0%. This emergency relief—often referred to as the student loan payment pause (payment pause)—began on March 13, 2020 and ended on August 31, 2023.

Student Loan Law: 3.1 Overview

When a federal student loan enters repayment, the borrower is automatically enrolled in the standard repayment plan with fixed monthly payments based on their loan balance, interest rate, and repayment term. However, borrowers may choose to enroll in—or switch to—a different repayment plan.

Truth in Lending: 11.1 Introduction

With few exceptions,1 violations of Truth in Lending Act (TILA) requirements give rise to several remedies: actual damages, individual statutory damages, class action statutory damages, and attorney fees.