Oren L. Benton - Page 17

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               The approval of the plan and the concurrent discharge                  
          facilitates the debtor’s continuing his prebankruptcy activity.             
          At that juncture, the estate is generally relieved of the                   
          administration of the debtor’s property.  Logically, the debtor             
          should be able to go forward with prebankruptcy activity,                   
          including any assumption of tax attributes of the bankruptcy                
          estate.  It would be illogical to keep a debtor from a tax loss             
          that might assist in the rehabilitation process during a period             
          when the estate was, for all effects and purposes, dormant.                 
               In the case we consider, petitioner was the debtor in his              
          chapter 11 reorganization.5  Recognizing that chapter 11                    
          bankruptcy reorganizations are intended to rehabilitate the                 
          debtor, we note that section 1141 of the Bankruptcy Code provides           
          “Except as otherwise provided in the plan or the order confirming           
          the plan, the confirmation of a plan vests all of the property of           
          the estate in the debtor.”  11 U.S.C. sec. 1141(b) (2000).  Those           
          bankruptcy cases which have held that termination occurs upon               
          confirmation were chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganizations, and the            
          deciding courts placed reliance on section 1141 of the Bankruptcy           
          Code.  We must note that section 1141 of the Bankruptcy Code                
          applies only to chapter 11 bankruptcies.  See Cusano v. Klein,              
          264 F.3d 936 (9th Cir. 2001).  We also recognize that the phrase            


               5 We do not consider here whether the phrase “termination of           
          an estate” should be universally understood in the context of all           
          types of bankruptcy proceedings.                                            




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