The debtors’ lawyer’s lack of diligence allowed the creditor to invoke laches and beat a belated motion to avoid a lien that impaired a homestead exemption.

When personal property loans are cross-collateralized, a chapter 13 plan must use the same option for cramming down both loans, the Fifth Circuit says.

Where the courts are split, Idaho judge sides with the Tenth Circuit BAP and allows a chapter 13 debtor to retain post-petition appreciation in the value of a homestead following conversion to chapter 7.

The appeals court allows a tiny lien to wipe out a big mortgage if the bank wasn’t vigilant at the time of foreclosure.

A subordinate lender lacked appellate standing to appeal the annulment of the automatic stay in favor of a senior lender.

Lender soon recognized that home foreclosure violated the stay but continued denying liability through seven years of litigation.

On an issue where the courts are split, the Tenth Circuit BAP sides with debtors and allows them to retain postpetition appreciation in the value of assets that were in the estate on filing.

A homestead exemption does not bar selling a home when the chapter 7 debtor has no equity in the property, Judge Robert Grossman says.

In a SARE case, the BAP says that the bankruptcy court cannot deny a lift-stay motion without finding that confirmation is reasonably possible in a reasonable time.

A claim must be disallowed based on the invalidity of the debt before the associated lien can be voided under Section 506(d), the Ninth Circuit ruled in upholding the BAP.