The court granted default judgment to the debtors, ordering that a wholly unsecured junior lien on the debtors’ residential real estate may be avoided after the debtors complete Chapter 13 plan payments.

Unexpected excess funds remain after the sale of farm equipment by the senior secured creditor. The Chapter 12 trustee proposes to pay the funds to unsecured creditors, but another creditor also claims rights to them, and the debtors would like to use them in their farming operation.

The court had granted relief from the automatic stay to sell the equipment because the evidence indicated the debtor sold the equipment to another creditor, so it was no longer property of the estate.

The court denied summary judgment on the United States Trustee’s complaint seeking a denial of discharge under §§ 727(a)(2), (a)(4)(A), and (a)(4)(D). While the plaintiff proved that the debtor failed to disclose several bank accounts, gave incorrect balances for accounts that were disclosed, and failed to disclose a number of cash transfers, under circumstances that lead to a presumption of intent to deceive, the debtor should be given the opportunity to rebut that presumption at trial.

On stipulated facts, the court denied the creditors’ motions to approve a purported settlement or extend the deadline to file an adversary proceeding. The parties had already obtained an extension of time in which to file an adversary complaint while they negotiated the non-dischargeability of and a payment plan for the debts owed to these creditors. However, that extended deadline expired while the parties were close to, but had not yet completed, a settlement.

After a trial, the court reluctantly denied the debtor’s complaint to discharge his private student loan debt. The court found that the debtor, a combat veteran, holds a stable position with a good salary in the Veterans Administration in a field that will qualify him for debt forgiveness on student loans from the U.S.

After a trial, the court ruled in the debtor’s favor in a § 523(a)(2) non-dischargeability action. The debtor had given security interests in personal property to two creditors – the bank and his father; the lien priorities are the subject of a pending state court action between the creditors. The bank filed this adversary proceeding to except the deficiency, if any, from discharge under § 523(a)(2)(A) and (B).

The court granted summary judgment to the debtor-defendants in this § 523(a)(2)(A) action because the debt is owed by a separate business, not by the debtors.

The court granted a creditor’s motion to file a proof of claim more than two years late in a Chapter 7 case. Section 509(b) permits the allowance of a late-filed claim if it falls within the scope of § 726(a)(1), (2), or (3). Here, the claim is not a priority claim under § 507 and the movant had timely notice of the case, so the only applicable subsection is § 726(a)(3) as the trustee has not yet made a final distribution of assets.

The court denied the debtor’s motion for judgment on the pleadings and gave creditors who moved for an extension of time to file a dischargeability proceeding – after the deadline had expired – an opportunity to show that equitable grounds exist for extending the deadline. To equitably toll the deadline, the creditors must prove they pursued their rights diligently and that some extraordinary circumstance stood in their way. An evidentiary hearing was scheduled on the creditors’ motion.

After a trial in four related adversaries concerning competing rights to the proceeds of the sale of cattle subject to a calf-share agreement, the court determined the appropriate division of the proceeds among the debtors, the owners of the cattle, and the debtors’ lender. One of the debtors had also filed an agister’s lien against the plaintiffs, which the court found to be invalid and unenforceable.