California Bankruptcy Alternative Resources - Credit Counseling

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Credit Counseling Options:

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Recent Notable Opinions of the Supreme Court of The United States:

Lamie v. United States, No. 02-693 (2004), Argued November 10, 2003, Decided January 26, 2004, CERTIORARI TO THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT. Prior to 1994, 11 U.S.C. 330(a) authorized courts to award trustees, examiners, professional persons employed under 11 U.S.C. 327, or debtors' attorneys reasonable compensation for services rendered. In 1994, Congress amended 11 U.S.C. 330(a) by deleting "or to the debtor's attorney" from what was 11 U.S.C. 330(a) and is now Sec. 330(a)(1). This change was apparently a legislative drafting error. The section is missing "or" that infects its grammar. And its inclusion of "attorney" in what was Sec. 330(a)(1) and is now Sec. 330(a)(1)(A) defeats the parallelism between current Secs. 330(a)(1) ("trustee, examiner, or professional person") and 330(a)(1)(A) ("trustee, examiner, professional person, or attorney"). In this case, the petitioner filed an application seeking attorney's fees under new 11 U.S.C. 327330(a)(1) for the time he spent working on a behalf of a debtor in a chapter 7 proceeding. The Government objected. Petitioner admitted he was not employed by the trustee or approved by the court , but nonetheless contended new 11 U.S.C. 330(a)(1) authorized a fee award because he was a "debtor's attorney." In denying the petitioner's application, the Bk. Court, District Court, and 4th Circuit all held 11 U.S.C.330(a)(1) does not authorize payment of attorney's fees to debtors' attorneys unless the attorney has been appointed under Sec. 327. Held: under the Code's plain language, Sec. 330(a)(1) does not authorize compensation awards to debtors' attorneys from estate funds unless employed under 11 U.S.C.327.

Recent Notable Opinions from California Bankruptcy Courts

In re Adler, Case Number 01-51848-ASW, Adversary No. 01-5174, before the California Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District. Facts: Adler amassed approximately $211,000 in student loan loans in the course of receiving a PhD in 1991. For the next 10 years, he practiced as a licensed psychologist. He and his wife filed California bankruptcy under Chapter 7 while jointly earning approximately $76,000 per year. Their take-home pay was approximately $4,022 per month and monthly expenses was approximately $3,844. Additionally, the Adlers owed approximately $1,200 per month for payments on student loans. Issue: are the Adler student loans dischargeable? The California Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District held yes, the loans are dischargeable. Under 11 U.S.C. 523(a), student loans are not dischargeable, subject to "(8) for an educational benefit overpayment or loan made, insured or guaranteed by a governmental unit . . .unless excepting such debt from discharge under this paragraph will impose an undue hardship on the debtor and the debtor's dependents." The California Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District. determined hardship was established.

The resources we list relate in some way to filing California Bankruptcy, whether laws, discharge, reorganization or other topics . Vast bodies of law apply to California Bankruptcy proceedings and are incorporated by the courts within each case. As new California Bankruptcy laws are enacted each year, the scope of this website continues to grow.