August 02, 2019

Fifth Circuit Makes Student Loans Even More Difficult to Discharge

Fifth Circuit now says that student loans must ‘impose intolerable difficulties’ to be dischargeable.

5th Circuit

July 29, 2019

A ‘Plausible’ Claim for a Discharge Violation Is No Longer Sufficient after Taggart

An Alabama case shows how Taggart heightened the pleading standards for a complaint alleging a violation of the discharge injunction.

11th Circuit, Alabama, Alabama Middle District

July 22, 2019

In the More Lenient Eighth Circuit, Debtors Knock Off $130,000 in Student Loans

Judge Collins discharges all but $23,900 among nine student loans totaling $154,000.

8th Circuit, Iowa, Iowa Northern District

July 18, 2019

How to Draft a Judgment to Be Nondischargeable in Bankruptcy

To be nondischargeable, a stipulated judgment must lay out facts showing the debt was incurred by false representation or actual fraud.

9th Circuit, California, California Southern District

July 02, 2019

Overpaying a DSO Doesn’t Result in a Nondischargeable Debt, Seventh Circuit Holds

On an issue dividing the courts, the Seventh Circuit rules that an obligation to repay a domestic support obligation is a dischargeable debt, not a nondischargeable DSO.

7th Circuit

July 01, 2019

Self-Inflicted Disability Won’t Make Student Loans Dischargeable, BAP Says

The BAP avoided making a rule that would have allowed convicted felons to discharge student loans more easily than debtors with clean records.

9th Circuit

June 28, 2019

Second Circuit Opinion Raises Questions Left Open by Taggart v. Lorenzen

If a lower court buys an argument that’s clearly wrong, is the argument nonetheless ‘objectively reasonable?’ And does Taggart apply to an automatic stay violation?

2nd Circuit

June 14, 2019

Religious Contributions Not Considered in Dischargeability of Student Loans

First Amendment doesn’t compel deduction of religious contributions in finding an ‘undue hardship’ justifying the discharge of student loans.

2nd Circuit, New York, New York Southern District

June 03, 2019

Supreme Court Rejects Strict Liability for Discharge Violations

‘No objectively reasonable basis’ is the high court standard to find civil contempt for violating the discharge injunction.

Supreme Court

May 16, 2019

Direct Mortgage Payments Are ‘Under the Plan,’ Ninth Circuit BAP Says

BAP joins the majority of courts by saying that defaulting on direct mortgage payments precludes a chapter 13 debtor from receiving a discharge.

9th Circuit