Virginia Bankruptcy Alternatives - Credit Counseling

The sites below were reviewed for content which is relevant to the Virginia bankruptcy issues appearing within this site. For more information regarding our selection of sites, please see our review policy. If you have further questions, do not hesitate to email us at admin@virginia-bankruptcy.org. We welcome all sites submitted for review and respond to all requests within 3 business days.

Credit Counseling Resources:

1. Credit Counseling Resources - refresh.

Recent Notable Opinions from Virginia Bankruptcy Courts

In re Meloy, Case No. 98-31268-T before the Virginia Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District, Richmond Division, decided August 14th, 2000. The debtors originally filed a petition under Chapter 11. During reorganization, the debtors reaffirmed a debt owed to the defendant bank. Thereafter, the debtors failed to make timely payments as required by the reaffirmation agreement. The bank foreclosed upon RE securing the note and sought reimbursement for the deficiency balance. In response to the bank's attempt to collect the deficiency balance, the debtors then converted their case to Chapter 7 before the Virginia Bankruptcy Court.. All objections in connection with the Chapter 7 case were resolved and debtors received a discharge. Issue before the Virginia Bankruptcy court: Is the bank entitled to recover the deficiency balance following discharge? HELD: in this case, yes, the Virginia Bankruptcy court determined the bank may recover because the reaffirmation agreement was not specifically rescinded in the time allowed by statute. 11 USC 524 provides, in part, "(c) An agreement between a holder of a claim and the debtor, the consideration for which, in whole or in part, is based on a debt that is dischargeable in a case under this title is enforceable only to any extent enforceable under applicable nonbankruptcy law, whether or not discharge of such debt is waived, only if . . . (4) the debtor has not rescinded such [reaffirmation] agreement at any time prior to discharge or within sixty days after such agreement is filed with the court, whichever occurs later, by giving notice of rescission to the holder of such claim." In this case, the Virginia Bankruptcy court determined the debtor's  failure to provide proof of notice of recession excluded the debt from the discharge injunction.

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.

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