Commercial Law Commons^™

'No Look' Attorneys' Fees And The Attorneys Who Are Looking: An Empirical Analysis Of Presumptively Approved Attorneys' Fees In Ch. 13 Bankruptcies And A Proposal For Reform, Bruce Price

Bruce M Price

This article presents original empirical research on the issue of “No Look” or presumptively approved attorneys’ fees in consumer Chapter 13 bankruptcy cases. 11 U.S.C. section 330 requires court approval of attorneys’ fees. Courts are frequently unable to address the volume of applications if individual review were required. As such, many courts have set presumptively approved attorneys’ fees in which the attorneys’ fees for routine services are approved administratively. Circuits are split as to whether this practice can be rationalized with existing case law, the Bankruptcy Code or legislative intent. The study examines the practices of each Bankruptcy Court and …

In Or Out Of Mortgage Trouble? A Study Of Bankrupt Homeowners, Melissa B. Jacoby, Daniel T. Mccue, Eric M. Belsky

Melissa B. Jacoby

We examine the determinants of missed payments and foreclosure initiation among a national sample of homeowners who filed for personal bankruptcy in 2007, using a rich dataset from the 2007 Consumer Bankruptcy Project.

Credit access had a significant effect on keeping mortgages current across all of our models: access to, and reliance on, credit cards reduced the chance of missed payments and default, increasing the likelihood that bankruptcy could produce a fresh start. Missed mortgage payments also were associated with a substantial drop in income and with the use of a mortgage broker. The probability of foreclosure initiation was lower …