The court granted the U.S. Trustee's motion to dismiss this Chapter 7 case for abuse. The debtors are repaying a 401(k) loan, which is considered a "special circumstance" for rebutting the presumption of abuse. However, the loan will be paid off in 18 months, so those monthly payment amounts will be disposable income which would provide a significant payment to unsecured creditors.

The bankruptcy court recommended that the district court withdraw the reference of this adversary proceeding because a jury demand had been made. The court further ruled that the defendant's challenges to the bankruptcy court's jurisdiction did not need to be resolved in light of the right to a jury trial, which should be conducted by the district court.

An unsecured junior lien on the debtor's residential real estate may be avoided after the debtor completes Chapter 13 plan payments. The case law in the Eighth Circuit permits wholly unsecured liens to be stripped off.

An unsecured junior lien on the debtor's residential real estate may be avoided after the debtor completes Chapter 13 plan payments. The case law in the Eighth Circuit, interpreting Nobelman, permits wholly unsecured liens to be stripped off.

The bankruptcy trustee and a judgment creditor proposed a compromise by which the creditor's proof of claim would be allowed, the creditor would be paid a portion of its claim from the sale of certain assets, and the creditor's counsel would represent the trustee in litigation to recover certain other assets for the estate. The bankruptcy court denied the motion to approve this agreement because it implicated a variety of legal issues that had not been thoroughly considered or resolved before the settlement was reached.

The claim of the debtor's former wife should be allowed as a general unsecured claim rather than as a domestic support obligation. The claim was based on the parties' property settlement agreement, under which the debtor was to make a lump-sum payment to his former wife within five years after entry of the decree of dissolution. Nothing about the debt indicated it was "in the nature of support," so it was not entitled to priority or excepted from discharge.

The court previously ruled that traceable insurance proceeds for the fire loss of the debtor's home were exempt under the homestead exemption. The debtor then used the proceeds to purchase non-homestead tangible property. The court ruled that the proceeds lost their exempt status upon their use for something other than buying a new homestead or repairing the damaged homestead.

In the trustee's declaratory judgment action to determine competing ownership interests in an asset, the court denied the defendant's motion for summary judgment because both of her contentions – jurisdiction and statute of limitations – have previously been decided and the matter should move forward on the merits.

The court granted summary judgment to a creditor who brought a non-dischargeability action based on a state court judgment against the debtor under the Nebraska False Medicaid Claims Act. The debtor, a mental health practitioner, was found to have filed claims for reimbursement from the Medicaid program for which she had no supporting documentation. She was also found to have made fraudulent representations in connection with those claims.

In this fraudulent transfer action, the plaintiff's motion for summary judgment was denied because there was an issue of fact as to the element of insolvency, as the debtor's balance sheet from near the time of the transfer showed that assets exceeded liabilities.