Law Offices of Brian D. Lerner, APC

Cramdown is a slang term that refers to the discretionary powers that may be employed by a bankruptcy court when a company is attempting to submit a reorganization plan.

Unemployment benefits are received under the Act but are not direct Social Security benefits, so the official form designers “punted” and allowed the debtor or counsel to disclose it as Social Security or non-Social Security income.

The bankruptcy estate includes the debtor’s legal and equitable interests in property owned by the debtor at the time of filing, as well as the proceeds, profits, or rents from such property.

The legal guidance on preparing a Chapter 7 Bankruptcy 1. Determine if you meet the means test 2. Gather your supporting documents 3. Determine all of your assets 4. Determine the exemptions 5. Prepare all the petitions and schedules

The Sixth, Ninth, Tenth and Eleventh Courts all agree that student loan debt cannot be discharged, wholly or partially, without satisfying the undue hardship requirement of § 523(a)(8).

Chapter 13 eligibility should normally be determined by a debtor’s originally filed schedules, checking only to see if the schedules were made in good faith. 109(e).

The means test does not apply to individual consumer debtors whose “current family income” is below the median income of the individual’s state or to individuals whose debts are not substantially consumer debts.

The provisions of the Bankruptcy Code pertaining to Means Testing are found in 11 U..S.C. section 707( b) of the Bankruptcy Code pertaining to dismissal of Chapter 7 case or conversion of Chapter 7 case to either under Chapter 11 or Chapter 13. 

The debtor’s counsel must: (i) perform a reasonable investigation into the circumstances that gave rise to the petition, pleading, or written motion; and (ii) determine that the petition, pleading, or written motion.

To determine whether a debtor has proposed his plan in good faith, the court must satisfy itself whether the debtor has misrepresented facts in the plan; unfairly manipulated the Code or otherwise proposed his plan in some inequitable manner.