Articles from David M. Siegel

Dischargeability of Student Loans The American Bankruptcy Institute recently released their final report on consumer bankruptcy. This report took place from 2017-2019 and analyzed dozens of issues as they relate to Chapter seven and Chapter 13 bankruptcy. The first issue that I would like to address is the non-dischargeability in general of student loans. As+ Read More

As the new year has begun, it is time to look at the bankruptcy filing statistics from the first part of 2019 as compared to the first part of 2018. This fact will dictate where we may be heading for the rest of 2019. As expected, total bankruptcy filings in January 2019 increased 5 percent+ Read More

When: Effective January 1st, there is new help for Chapter 7 debtors who owe money to the City of Chicago for  parking tickets and related fines.  A new Ordinance, sponsored by Mayor Emanuel provides in part that: Payment Plan: An eligible bankruptcy debtor may establish a payment plan to repay fines that were incurred within+ Read More

Taxes, Refunds & Dismissals During the past several years, there has been a huge increase in Chicago trustees under Chapter 13 demanding taxes and refunds of the debtors. The bankruptcy code requires that a debtor provide to the trustee, annually, a copy of his or her tax return. This statutory requirement was primarily to ensure+ Read More