Copeland, et al. v. Fink, No. 12-4018 (8th Cir. 2014)
Annotate this CaseDebtors filed for Chapter 13 bankruptcy relief and proposed a plan to pay nondischargeable state and federal tax debts before other unsecured creditors. The bankruptcy court rejected the plan and the Bankruptcy Appellate Panel (BAP) affirmed. Applying the four-part test for unfair discrimination in In re Leser, the court concluded that the plan unfairly discriminated against other unsecured creditors, leaving the unsecured creditors with little or nothing. The court rejected debtors' argument that their post-petition tax preparation fees should be treated as pre-confirmation legal fees or trustee administration fees where debtors did not file their pre-petition tax returns on time. Accordingly, the court affirmed the judgment of the bankruptcy court.
Court Description: Civil case - Bankruptcy. The Bankruptcy Court did not err in finding debtors' Chapter 13 Plan to pay nondischargeable state and federal tax debts before paying their unsecured creditors, leaving those unsecured creditors with little or nothing, unfairly discriminated against the unsecured creditors.
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