2021 has been an incredibly productive year for the Young and New Members Committee. The committee continued to produce high-quality newsletters and educational programs, while branching out and trying some new things, too. Below are some highlights.
Quarterly Newsletters
Can chapter 13 debtors deduct voluntary 401(k) contributions under § 541(b)(7)(A) when calculating disposable income? If so, can they plan for bankruptcy in good faith by making pre-petition 401(k) plan contributions to their 401(k) plans prior to filing to decrease their disposable income? The Sixth Circuit recently broke with dicta from Seafort v.
As the Young and New Members Committee, we (unsurprisingly) count many young and new members among our ranks. Many of our members may be new to practice or to the insolvency field, and/or new to ABI. It can be daunting to navigate a new role, new industry and new organization.
The Small Business Reorganization Act (SBRA) became effective in February 2020.[1] The SBRA, or subchapter V, is intended to encourage small businesses to use the Bankruptcy Code to reorganize by reducing the costs and administrative burdens associated with a typical chapter 11 case.
The U.S. Trustee Program (USTP), an arm of the Department of Justice that provides oversight for bankruptcies in all but two states, is funded by fees charged to debtors (U.S. Trustee fees). In Alabama and North Carolina, a Bankruptcy Administrator program, run by the Judicial Conference of the United States, provides a similar function and charges its own fees (Bankruptcy Administrator fees).
In a recent decision in “a matter of first impression,” the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit squarely rejected the view that “triangular setoffs” fall within the protective circle of § 553 of the Bankruptcy Code.
On March 27, President Joseph Biden signed the COVID-19 Relief Extension Act into law. The Act extends for another full year the provisions of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act (CARES Act) that temporarily modified the Bankruptcy Code and the Small Business Reorganization Act of 2019 (SBRA), or subchapter V of chapter 11.
In 2020, New York State passed the COVID-19 Emergency Eviction and Foreclosure Prevention Act of 2020[1] (“moratorium”).
Although COVID-19 forced many in our legal community to adapt to working remotely, the Young and New Members Committee remained incredibly productive this year. Below are some highlights — both past and future — since our update earlier this year.
Quarterly Newsletters
On April 10, 2020, a panel of the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously held in Lawson-Ross v. Great Lakes Higher Ed.
