Jul 08, 2019 · But your bankruptcy attorney must be diligent to object to the fee should it be in violation of these rules. If there is a post petition mortgage fee noticed and allowed, and the mortgage is paid directly by the debtor/borrower, then usually it is a fee added to the debt that must simply be paid from the sale of the home or prior to release of mortgage down the road.
Feb 22, 2019 · Circuit court allows post-petition attorney fees as unsecured claims By Rob Coughlin, Erik Schneider and Patrick MacDonald Joining the other U.S. Courts of Appeal that have ruled on the issue before, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit recently allowed a creditor’s unsecured claim for attorneys’ fees
A portion of the attorney fee award involved fees incurred by the plaintiffs post-petition. Based upon a 9th Circuit case In re Ybarra, 424 F. 3d 1018 (2005) where the court held that if an underlying contract had an attorney fee clause, if the debtor “returns to the fray” post-petition, the debtor can be liable for the post-petition fees.
The district court found that the chapter 7 trustee’s legal representative was deprived of due process when the bankruptcy court reduced a portion of its fees without providing notice and an opportunity to be heard. Arnall, Golden, Gregory, LLP, v. Stroud, No. 18-3755 (N.D. Ga. Jan. 28, 2019).
The district court found that the bankruptcy court did not abuse its discretion in holding the student loan servicer in contempt for failing to apply the student debtor’s payments outside the plan in accordance with pre-petition payments as required by the debtor’s confirmed chapter 13 plan. Penn. Higher Educ. Assistance Agency v. Berry, No. 18-444 (D. S.C. March 5, 2019).
Once the outstanding HOA fees have been paid, the debtor no longer has any financial obligation to the HOA. Instead, he simply owes his lender more money because the lender had to pay the fees on his behalf, so to speak, in order to foreclose on and ultimately sell the property.
This typically means that the nondischargeable HOA fees accrue until the debtor’s home is foreclosed on or sold.
In most states, including Arizona, past due HOA fees operate as a lien upon the property. So, in order to sell the home, the lender will have to pay off any outstanding liens or encumbrances, including any HOA fee lien.
There is good news though. Even though the Bankruptcy Code makes it very clear that post-petition HOA fees cannot be discharged, the debtor very rarely ends up the one ultimately responsible for paying them.
Trying to squeeze a broke debtor for some money during this relatively brief interim is typically going to be a waste of the HOA’s time and legal fees. Instead, an HOA would be wise to simply sit back, wait for foreclosure, and then collect its money without having expended any effort to get it.
Many debtors, and even practicing bankruptcy attorneys, are surprised to find that post-petition homeowner’s association fees are not dischargeable in bankruptcy. Section 523 (a) (16) of the Bankruptcy Code exempts from discharge any “fee or assessment that becomes due and payable after the order for relief to a membership association ...
That means that all the lender’s claims – including any claim for HOA fees – are based on prepetition agreements that will be discharged by the bankruptcy. In the end, the chances are very good that the debtor will never actually feel the financial sting of Section 523 (a) (16).