Law Commons^™

Shooing The Vultures Away From The Consumer Bankruptcy Carcass: Attorney Fees Owed By Debtors For Marital Dissolution Are Not Domestic Support Obligations, Christopher V. Davis

University of Massachusetts Law Review

This Note will focus on consumer bankruptcy related to chapter 7 and chapter 13 filings. Section I provides an introduction to DSOs and the goals of enforcing them through bankruptcy. Section I also discusses the impact of DSO status on the automatic stay, discharge, priority status for property distribution of the bankruptcy estate, capability to reach exempt property, and application to attorney fees. Section II argues that, where attorney fees are not owed to a spouse, former spouse, or child, and do not fit within an impact exception, the fees are not DSOs, but instead are merely general non-secured claims. …

Reaffirmation Agreements In Consumer Bankruptcy Cases, Daniel A. Austin, Donald R. Lassman

University of Massachusetts Law Review

The following is from Chapter II of our book, Reaffirmation Agreements in Consumer Bankruptcy Cases. This chapter sets forth the debtor’s obligations in connection with reaffirmation of secured debt.

The Changing Practice Of Bankruptcy Law: An Analysis Of How Bankruptcy Practice Has Changed In The Last Decade, Michael Goldstein, Samantha Einhorn, Jill L. Phillips

University of Massachusetts Law Review

The practice of bankruptcy law has changed drastically over the last decade. An attorney starting out in the field in 2009 faces different issue than one who began in 1999. However, it’s not just the issues that come up with clients that make the practice so different, but the law of bankruptcy itself has changed. The economic downturn of the last eighteen months has changed the way the public views bankruptcy. The Bankruptcy Reform Act of 2005 and In re Bateman, a case decided in 2008, altered the landscape of bankruptcy practice forever. This article will walk through a …

The Story Of Ymps (“Yield Maintenance Premiums”) In Bankruptcy, Michael G. Hillinger, Ingrid Michelsen Hillinger

Faculty Publications

This article tries to tell the story of YMPs in bankruptcy. It is not an easy story to tell. It has so many subplots: the court’s position on freedom of contract, the debtor’s solvency or insolvency, the effect of recognizing the YMP on other creditors, whether the YMP claim arose pre- or post-petition, the proper relationship between section 502 claim allowance and section 506(b) which permits oversecured claims to include reasonable fees, costs, or charges as provided for in the loan agreement, and the effect of YMP enforcement on chapter 11 plan configuration.

In terms of basic plot line though, …

2001: A Code Odyssey (New Dawn For The Article 9 Secured Creditor), Michael G. Hillinger

Faculty Publications

This Article attempts to describe what bankruptcy lawyers and judges most need to know about the Revised Article 9. (Of course, if bankruptcy judges and lawyers need to know it, a fortiori, secured creditors’ attorneys need to know it.)

At the top of the most-need-to-know list are Revised Article 9’s choice-of-law and filing rules. Section 544(a) of the Bankruptcy Code, the “trustee’s strong-arm” clause, permits the trustee (and debtor-in-possession) to avoid unperfected security interests. For many transactions, Revised Article 9’s choice-of-law provisions will change where the creditor must file to perfect its interest. Those who do not know about Revised …

Section 365 In The Consumer Context: Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed, Something Blue, Michael G. Hillinger, Ingrid Michelsen Hillinger

Faculty Publications

The § 365 consumer debtor case law has a further complication. Much of it arises in the context of the last great bankruptcy frontier, Chapter 13. Until recently, Chapter 11 has occupied the minds and hearts of courts and attorneys. Not any more. And, as attorneys and courts take a closer, harder look at Chapter 13, it is no longer possible to describe it as a “streamlined creditors-can’t-vote Chapter 11”. Chapter 13 is unique, presenting its very own quandaries, not the least of which is how its provisions and § 365 interact. We live in interesting times.