You have been assigned as the paralegal to assist in this case. Ron Reacher is the attorney assigned and has asked you to research the facts of the case and provide a memorandum outlining the applicable issues, the applicable rules, how the rules apply to the facts and an opinion of the outcome of the case. He has also asked that you make sure to include:

How Bankruptcy Is Declared, Administration of the Bankruptcy Estate, Debtor's Duties and Exemptions, Discharge in Bankruptcy, Reorganization Plans under Chapter 11, and Payment Plans under Chapter 13.

Thomas Crowne is in your law office asking for legal help. He states he had over $300,000 in student loans that were used to finance his education at Mercer University where he obtained an A.B., an M.B.A, and another unspecified graduate degree as well as a large number of courses toward his J.D. degree. He did not make payments on these student loans. In 1996, he was elected assessor for Putnam County, Tennessee, a position he held for two years and four months. He was then convicted of the first-degree murder of state senator Tommy Burks. He exhausted all of his appeals and is currently serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole. The debtor has one dependent, a son born in August 1998. The circuit court for Putnam County, Tennessee, ordered Crowne to pay child support of $161.00 per month plus $7,254.20 in medical expenses. Crowne did not make any of the court-ordered child support payments and was in arrears by more than $23,515.00. Crowne asked to have his student loans discharged on the basis of his hardship.