Bankruptcy Law Commons^™

At The Intersection Of Bankruptcy And Divorce: Property Division Debts Under The Bankruptcy Reform Act Of 1994, Meredith J. Harbach

Law Faculty Publications

Bankruptcy has long had unique implications for divorce settlements and debts between ex-spouses. Historically, some marital debts owed from one ex-spouse to another were excepted from the traditional policy of "discharge. " Bankruptcy law distinguished between debts in the nature of alimony, maintenance, and support, which were protected from discharge, and property division debts, which were not. This distinction often had harsh consequences for creditor ex-spouses. Reeently, Congress enacted the Bankruptcy Reform Act of 1994, in part to ameliorate this problem. The amended Bankruptcy Code providP..s better protection for some property division debts. In this Note, Ms. Johnson argues that …

Resolving Still Unresolved Issues Of Bankruptcy Law: A Fence Or An Ambulance, David G. Epstein

Law Faculty Publications

Congress established a Bankruptcy Review Commission ("'Commission") when it enacted the Bankruptcy Reform Act of 1994. Although the Commission is empowered to review the Bankruptcy Code and make recommendations based upon its findings and conclusions, its focus is directed toward making suggestions that do not disturb the fundamental principles and balance of current law. Instead, the stated purposes of the Commission are: ( 1) to investigate and study issues and problems relating to title 11, United States Code (commonly known as the "'Bankruptcy Code"); (2) to evaluate the advisability of proposals and current arrangements with respect to such issues and …

Postpetition Lending Under Section 364: Current Issues - Incentives To Lenders To Provide Financing To Borrowers Who Are The Subject Of Bankruptcy Cases, David G. Epstein

Law Faculty Publications

A bankruptcy debtor is not viewed by most lenders as a desirable customer. Most lenders arc understandably reluctant to extend credit to such a borrower. This reluctance compounds the difficulties of a bankruptcy debtor. Without new financing, the cash needs of a debtor often will cause the debtor's assets to be liquidated, thereby foreclosing any hope of reorganization and defeating the rehabilitative purposes of the Bankruptcy Code. To counter the understandable reluctance of financial institutions to lend to bankruptcy debtors, section 364 of the Bankruptcy Code provides incentives to lenders to provide financing to borrowers who are the subject of …

University Of Richmond Law Review

University of Richmond Law Review

No abstract provided.

Annual Survey Of Virginia Law: Bankruptcy Law, Michael A. Condyles

University of Richmond Law Review

This article is intended to advise the general practitioner of significant recent developments that have occurred in the bankruptcy area during the period April 1992 through April 1993. Virginia and federal decisions issued by the Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit involving bankruptcy related matters are the main focus of this article.

Annual Survey Of Virginia Law: Bankruptcy Law, Michael A. Condyles

University of Richmond Law Review

This survey article reviews and analyzes legislative and judicial developments that have occurred in bankruptcy law between April, 1991 and April, 1992. The article is intended to alert the general practitioner to significant recent developments in the bankruptcy area. Legislative changes made to Virginia statutory law and federal bankruptcy decisions issued within the Fourth Circuit are the focus of this article.

Postpetition Lending Under Section 364: Issues Regarding The Gap Period And Financing For Prepackaged Plans, David G. Epstein

Law Faculty Publications

If the priorities provided by section 364(c) are insufficient to entice potential lenders to provide sufficient :financing to a Chapter 11 debtor, the debtor may, with the court's approval, obtain credit by granting the lender a lien on property of the debtor that is senior to existing liens on such property (a "priming lien"). The granting of such a priming lien, however, is subject to several statutory conditions. First, as with section 364(c), the debtor must prove that it cannot obtain credit on any less intrusive basis (i.e., through the use of section 364(a), (b), or (c)). Second, the debtor …

University Of Richmond Law Review

University of Richmond Law Review

No abstract provided.

University Of Richmond Law Review

University of Richmond Law Review

No abstract provided.

Annual Survey Of Virginia Law: Bankruptcy Law, Michael A. Condyles

University of Richmond Law Review

This survey article reviews and analyzes legislative and judicial developments that have occurred in bankruptcy law between April 1989 and April 1991. This article intends to alert the general practitioner to significant recent developments in the bankruptcy area. The article focuses on legislative changes that have been made to the Bankruptcy Code and to Virginia statutory law, along with federal bankruptcy decisions issued within the Fourth Circuit. Where appropriate, Virginia state court cases dealing with bankruptcy issues are also addressed.

The Rtc: A Practical Guide To The Receivership/Conservatorship Process And The Resolution Of Failed Thrifts, Vicki O. Tucker, Patti G. Meire, Phyllis M. Rubinstein

University of Richmond Law Review

In response to a growing crisis in the thrift industry, Congress enacted the Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery, and Enforcement Act of 1989 ("FIRREA" or "Act"). The crisis was evidenced by the failure of over 500 thrifts between 1980 and 1988-more than three and one-half times as many in the previous forty-five years combined. In 1988 alone, the Federal Savings and Loan Insurance Corporation ("FSLIC," which prior to FIRREA insured most of the thrift industry's deposits) merged or liquidated over 200 insolvent thrifts, and the U.S. Government's General Accounting Office ("GAO") estimated in 1989 that at least 338 additional thrifts were …

As We Forgive Our Debtors: Bankruptcy And Consumer Credit In America, Michael J. Herbert

University of Richmond Law Review

Bankruptcy may soon join death and taxes as an inevitable consequence of human life. During the year ending June 30, 1988, (the most recent year for which there are conveniently available figures) 594,567 American individuals and companies filed for bankruptcy. There is more than a sporting chance that, come the next recession, bankruptcies will top one million per year. Good news for lawyers, if not the economy.

Annual Survey Of Virginia Law: Creditors' Rights, Joseph E. Ulrich

University of Richmond Law Review

This article addresses developments in Virginia creditors' rights from April 1988 to April 1989. It is aimed at the non-specialist who nonetheless handles creditors' rights problems in practice. The following will describe the more important holdings and offer some comments about these holdings.

Foreward, David G. Epstein

Law Faculty Publications

The decision by the Board of Editors of the Mississippi College Law Review to publish a bankruptcy symposium issue is a timely one. In the boardrooms of American businesses and the kitchens of American families, more and more people are talking about bankruptcy; more and more people are deciding to file bankruptcy petitions. This increase in bankruptcy filings is in part attributable to world, national, and local economic changes, in part attributable to changes in business and society and in business and societal values, in part attributable to changes in the bankruptcy law.

Down And Out In Richmond, Virginia: The Distribution Of Assets In Chapter 7 Bankruptcy Proceedings Closed During 1984-1987, Michael J. Herbert, Domenic E. Pacitt

University of Richmond Law Review

An explosion of interest in the practical workings and economic significance of the bankruptcy system has, in recent years, led to many efforts to study that system through data other than that contained in reported cases. In some key respects, the mere articulation and analysis of legal rules is no longer satisfactory. Indeed, it has been argued that such analysis is sometimes scarcely relevant. This article is intended to add a little more information to that already compiled regarding the actual nature and function of modern American bankruptcy law. It further attempts to place this information into the context of …

Adequate Protection- The Equitable Yardstick Of Chapter 11, Amy S. Ashworth

University of Richmond Law Review

A debtor who files a petition for relief under the Bankruptcy Reform Act of 1978 (the Code) triggers the automatic stay provisions of the Code. The automatic stay precludes creditors from enforcing their rights in the collateral pending further order of the Bankruptcy Court. An issue which has spurred continued controversy is whether undersecured creditors who are stayed from repossessing their collateral are entitled to compensation for the delay in enforcing their rights in the collateral. It is agreed that the concept of adequate protection provides for the preservation of the value of the collateral due to its use, depreciation, …

Maginot Line Defenses To A Preference Action? 11 U.S.C. § 547(C )(2) & (C )(4), Charles E. Reynolds

University of Richmond Law Review

Suppliers of goods and services on credit understand that the recipient may be unable to pay for some or all of the goods provided or the services rendered. However, many of these suppliers have a difficult time "giving back" money previously received from a debtor who has filed for protection under the United States Bankruptcy Code. Judicial interpretation of the broadly written bankruptcy law has made it difficult to defeat a preference action instituted by a trustee in bankruptcy or a debtor-in-possession. As a result, any supplier who has several transactions with a debtor during the preference period is particularly …

Understanding The New Family Farmer Bankruptcy Act, Bruce H. Matson

University of Richmond Law Review

In response to the crisis in the United States farm economy and the inability of farmers to obtain meaningful relief from either Chapter 11 or 13 of the Bankruptcy Code, Congress passed the Bankruptcy Judges, United States Trustees and Family Farmer Bankruptcy Act of 1986 (the "Act") in October of 1986. The Act includes a new chapter in the Bankruptcy Code-Chapter 12-exclusively for family farmers. This article outlines the substantive provisions of the new Chapter 12 and who may be eligible to take advantage of this new statute. In reviewing Chapter 12, the article attempts to show how concepts from …

Consequences Of Converting A Bankruptcy Case, David G. Epstein

Law Faculty Publications

This paper discusses some of the consequences of converting a bankruptcy case from one chapter to another. At present, there are four different forms of bankruptcy: chapter 7, chapter 9, chapter 11, chapter 13. Congress is currently considering creating yet a fifth form of bankruptcy for farmers. Most individual debtors are now eligible for relief under three of the chapters, 7, 11, or 13. Corporate and partnership debtors can now choose between chapter 7 and chapter 11. The various chapters of the Bankruptcy Code differ in both policy and particulars. A chapter 7 case involves liquidation of the "property of …

The "Fresh Start" Policy In Consumer Bankruptcy: A Historical Inventory And An Interpretive Theory, Charles G. Hallinan

University of Richmond Law Review

In part II, the article traces the historical development of the idea of providing relief to troubled debtors in bankruptcy, an idea usually summarized as the "fresh start" policy of bankruptcy law. The article catalogs and describes the empirical assumptions and normative judgments underlying the various explanations offered for the availability of a discharge or "fresh start" in bankruptcy. In part II, the article examines the existing Bankruptcy Code in the light of these various theories. The article concludes that the Code's debtor relief provisions are best understood as a form of compulsory insurance for debtors. The nature of insurance …

Bankcard's Revenge: A Critique Of The 1984 Consumer Credit Amendments To The Bankruptcy Code, Paul M. Black, Michael J. Herbert

University of Richmond Law Review

Virtually from the enactment of the Bankruptcy Code in 1978, creditors attempted to roll back what they perceived to be the Code's undue bias toward bankrupts. The Code was branded a debtor's paradise practically beckoning borrowers to shed their debts painlessly and needlessly. It was certainly true that the number of bankruptcy filings rose substantially during the late 1970's and early 1980's, and that some creditors attributed at least some of this to the Code's presumed generosity. Whether the Code actually caused any of the increase in filings is, to put it mildly, controversial. Other factors, most significantly the general …

Chapters 11 And 13 Of The Bankruptcy Code--Observations On Using Case Authority From One Of The Chapters In Proceedings Under The Other, David G. Epstein

Law Faculty Publications

This Article will focus on the relationship between Chapter 11 and Chapter 13 of the Bankruptcy Code. A number of issues are similar or identical in Chapter 11 and Chapter 13. Furthermore, much of the language of Chapter 13 mirrors that of Chapter 11. This Article explores whether courts should apply case law and concepts of one chapter when similar issues arise in proceedings under the other chapter. Parts II and III of this Article address basic similarities and differences between Chapters 11 and 13. Parts IV, V, and VI examine three issues governed by statutory language common to both …

The Trustee Versus The Trade Creditor: A Critique Of Section 547(C)(1), (2) & (4) Of The Bankruptcy Code, Michael J. Herbert

University of Richmond Law Review

The Bankruptcy Code, like its predecessor the Bankruptcy Act, permits the trustee to avoid certain preferential transfers made or suffered by the bankrupt just prior to bankruptcy. Generally, any transfer relating to an antecedent debt made to or for a creditor by an insolvent within ninety days before the filing of the bankruptcy petition is avoidable by the trustee. The trustee may sue the creditor to recover the preference. In addition, the preferred creditor will not be entitled to any dividend from the estate until the preference is repaid.

Discharges Under The New Bankruptcy Code, David G. Epstein

Law Faculty Publications

Prepared for the ALIABA Course of Study on Consumer Debtors and the Bankruptcy Code, September 24-25, 1981; revised by the author prior to publication in the Course Materials Journal.

Unless otherwise indicated, all section references are to the Bankruptcy Act of 1978, Title 11 of the United States Code ("Code"). "B.C.D." refers to the Bankruptcy Court Decisions; "B.R.," to West's Bankruptcy Reporter; "C.B.C.," to Collier's Bankruptcy Cases; and "UCC," to the Uniform Commercial Code.

Chapter 13: Its Operation, Its Statutory Requirements As To Payment To And Classification Of Unsecured Claims, And Its Advantages, David G. Epstein

Law Faculty Publications

This article will explore the operation of Chapter 13, the two major legal questions raised by the present Chapter 13, and the advantages of Chapter 13 over Chapter 7 and 11.

Bankruptcy Reform: Relief For Individuals With Regular Income, Pete Connors

University of Richmond Law Review

The consumer debtor faced with insolvency is given two options under the present Bankruptcy Act: (1) straight bankruptcy, and (2) wage earner proceedings. In contrast to straight bankruptcy, which is a liquidation oriented remedy, the debtor in a wage earner proceeding is not required to surrender any assets to the bankruptcy trustee, nor is he actually adjudicated a bankrupt. On the contrary, under Chapter XIII of the Bankruptcy Act (the wage earner sec- tion), the debtor is given a means of repaying his debts from future earnings under the protection of the court.

Bankruptcy Lien Invalidation: Role Of Recordation, David G. Epstein

Law Faculty Publications

Congress is currently considering new bankruptcy legislation. To date, its focus has been on two bills, one prepared by the National Commission on Bankruptcy Laws, the other by the National Conference of Bankruptcy Judges. Both bills call for substantial changes in present bankruptcy practices. Affirmative action on some combination of the two now seems likely. It appears that Congress soon will, for the first time in 77 years, comprehensively revise bankruptcy law. Accordingly, this is an appropriate time to examine closely basic bankruptcy concepts and policies. This article will deal with one very specific topic: the effect of recordation on …

Proceeding Under The Uniform Commercial Code, David G. Epstein

Law Faculty Publications

The Uniform Commercial Code is the "most important piece of business legislation ever prepared in the United States .... " "Article 9 is the most novel and probably the most important article in the Code." "The greatest change under the Code will probably come about in due time because of the so-called 'floating lien' "made possible in part by the Code's proceeds provision, section 9-306. The proceeds provision represents an innovation significant to both debtors and creditors. For example, in order to carry on his business, the borrower who avails himself of inventory financing often desires some right to dispose …