Attorney Fees in Bankruptcy
| Author | Shayna M. Steinfeld |
| Pages | 26-31 |
26 FAMILY ADVOCATE www.shopaba.org
tic support obligations remain due and owing at the end of
the bankruptcy case from cases led under Chapters 7, 11,
and 12. e net eect of these provisions is that nondomes-
tic support obligations are dischargeable only in completed
Chapter 13 cases. ere is an exception where debtors in
Chapter 13 cases receive a “hardship” discharge that then
mimics Chapter 7, and then the nondomestic support
obligation becomes nondischargeable.
Domestic Support Obligations Dened
Support payments due from one spouse to another spouse
have, generally speaking, always been nondischargeable
under the Bankruptcy Code. Congress, with its changes to
the Bankruptcy Code under the Bankruptcy Abuse Preven-
tion and Consumer Protection Act of 2005, known to
bankruptcy attorneys as BAPCPA, passed a number of
amendments to the Bankruptcy Code to favor the creditor,
ex-spouse of a debtor. ese changes included making all
divorce-related debts nondischargeable from Chapters 7, 11,
and 12 cases, automatically, by virtue of the overlay of 11
U.S.C. § 523(a)(5), (a)(15), and (c).
e Bankruptcy Code denes a “Domestic Support
Obligation” (DSO) at § 101(14A) to mean
This article seeks to provide a basic overview of
attorney fees in bankruptcy. e author and
her husband, Bruce R. Steinfeld, invite you to
consult e Family Lawyer’s Guide to Bank-
ruptcy, published by the Family Law Section
of the American Bar Association, for a more detailed review
of the intersection of bankruptcy and domestic relations.
e ultimate goal of a bankruptcy case is for the debtor,
that is, the individual ling a bankruptcy case, to receive his
or her discharge. e discharge is the vehicle that enjoins
creditors from pursuing collection activities after the
bankruptcy case ling. Once the discharge enters, the
creditor is thereafter prevented from collecting the discharged
debt from the debtor. e discharge is issued under the
Bankruptcy Code by chapter, meaning that it is chapter
otherwise noted, all references are to the Bankruptcy Code,
charge is governed by § 524, which applies to all chapters. In
summary, as it relates to domestic relations’ obligations, all
domestic support obligations remain nondischargeable, that
is, due and owing, at the end of the bankruptcy case, from a
case led under any bankruptcy chapter; and all nondomes-
Attorney Fees in BANKRUPTCY
By SHAYNA M. STEINFELD
Published in Family Advocate, Volume 42, Number 4, Spring 2020. © 2020 by the American Bar Association. Reproduced with permission. All rights reserved. This information or any portion thereof
may not be copied or disseminated in any form or by any means or stored in an electronic database or retrieval system without the express written consent of the American Bar Association.
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