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Forward: Symposium On Interdisciplinary Perspectives On Bankruptcy Reform, Michelle A. Cecil
Forward: Symposium On Interdisciplinary Perspectives On Bankruptcy Reform, Michelle A. Cecil
Faculty Publications
In 2003, over 1.6 million consumers filed for bankruptcy protection, surpassing the previous record of 1.5 million bankruptcy filings set just one year earlier. In an effort to reverse the spiraling upward trend of consumer bankruptcies, and to prevent abusive debtors from using the bankruptcy system to avoid paying their debts, in April, 2005, Congress voted overwhelmingly in favor of passing the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005 (BAPCPA). Widely heralded as the most sweeping bankruptcy reform legislation in over a quarter of a century, BAPCPA was designed in large part to force debtors with the ability …
Including Retirement Benefits In A Debtor's Bankruptcy Estate: A Proposal For Harmonizing Erisa And The Bankruptcy Code, Michelle A. Cecil
Including Retirement Benefits In A Debtor's Bankruptcy Estate: A Proposal For Harmonizing Erisa And The Bankruptcy Code, Michelle A. Cecil
Faculty Publications
This Article first examines the conflicting policies of ERISA and the Bankruptcy Code. It then explores how the various courts have attempted to reconcile these policies when faced with the issue of whether a debtor's interest in retirement plan assets should be available for distribution to creditors in bankruptcy. In analyzing the relevant case law, the Article examines cases addressing the exclusion issue (whether pension plans should be excluded from the bankruptcy estate entirely). It also evaluates cases addressing the exemption issue (whether plan assets, once included in the bankruptcy estate, can be exempted out of the estate by the …