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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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