Opinion ID: 2653399
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Trustee Gore’s Objection to Confirmation

Text: 2 Based on the face of Brown’s plan, and the parties’ explanation of it at oral argument, all of Brown’s first $150 payment and most of his second $150 payment would go to paying the $281 court filing fee. Then payments towards the $2,000 attorney’s fee would start. 4 Case: 13-10260 Date Filed: 02/14/2014 Page: 5 of 23 Trustee-appellee Linda Gore, the Chapter 13 trustee, requested that the bankruptcy court not confirm Brown’s Chapter 13 plan. In her written objections, trustee Gore provided two reasons for her recommendation: (1) “the plan is not proposed in good faith in that debtor may need to be in a Chapter 7 case”; and (2) “it does not appear the debtor will be able to comply with the plan.” To understand trustee Gore’s objections to Brown’s Chapter 13 plan, it helps to explain how a straight Chapter 7 liquidation would have worked for Brown. The court filing fee for Chapter 7 is $306, which can be paid in four installments. The bankruptcy court noted that Brown appeared to qualify for an in forma pauperis waiver of the Chapter 7 filing fee but no such waiver is available in Chapter 13 cases. In a Chapter 7 case, Brown would not have to pay a trustee’s commission. Under Chapter 7, a debtor liquidates any non-exempt assets and receives a full discharge of his outstanding debts within just a few months. Brown had no non-exempt assets to liquidate, so he could have filed a Chapter 7 petition and received a full discharge a few months later. A successful Chapter 7 petition discharges all debts. 11 U.S.C. § 727(a)–(b). A Chapter 7 case was thus clearly more beneficial to Brown except for the fact that his attorney’s fees could not be financed through a Chapter 7. See Lamie v. U.S. Tr., 540 U.S. 526, 538–39, 124 S. Ct. 1023, 1032 (2004) (holding that the 5 Case: 13-10260 Date Filed: 02/14/2014 Page: 6 of 23 Bankruptcy Code “does not authorize compensation awards to debtors’ attorneys from estate funds” in a Chapter 7 case, unless the attorney is “employed by the trustee and approved by the court”). Rather, Brown would have to pay up front attorney’s fees of $750 to $1,000 for an attorney to file a Chapter 7. 3