Principles of Bankruptcy Law
Authors:
Epstein, David G. / Nickles, Steve H.
Edition:
2nd
Copyright Date:
2017
32 chapters
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Unit 1 Question One: What Is Bankruptcy Law? 173 results (showing 5 best matches)
- Bankruptcy law is also in large part state law. We are not here suggesting that there are state bankruptcy laws. Since Article I of the Constitution empowers Congress to enact uniform laws of bankruptcy and Congress has enacted such laws, principles of federal supremacy preclude state legislatures from enacting bankruptcy laws. Rather, bankruptcy law is in large part state law because (1) in places, the Bankruptcy Code expressly incorporates state law [every time you see the phrase “applicable law” in the Bankruptcy Code, think state law and, to a lesser extent, federal law other than the Bankruptcy Code] and (2) in other places, courts applying the Bankruptcy Code look to state law to determine questions such as what are the property rights of the debtor and what are the claims of the creditors to that property.
- Bankruptcy law is federal law. Article I of the Constitution empowers Congress to “establish uniform laws on the subject of Bankruptcies throughout the United States.” For most of the 20th century, bankruptcy law was the Bankruptcy Act of 1898, commonly referred to as the “Bankruptcy Act.” It was replaced in 1978 by a law commonly referred to as the “Bankruptcy Reform Act of 1978” or “Bankruptcy Code.” The Bankruptcy Code has been regularly amended; the most comprehensive bankruptcy amendments were enacted in 2005.
- Third, the vocabulary of bankruptcy law is different from the vocabulary of state collection law. The Bankruptcy Code uses technical terms such as “property of the estate” and “automatic stay” that are not a part of state law. And the Bankruptcy Code uses other terms that are a part of state law such as “claim” and “secured claim” differently than state law. Accordingly, it is very important that you consistently and persistently check for the Bankruptcy Code’s definition of terms used in the Bankruptcy Code.
- While the Bankruptcy Code looks to state law to determine important questions such as (1) what are the property rights of the debtor and (2) what are the claims of the creditors to that property. bankruptcy law is very different from state debt collection law. More specifically, you should know three critical differences:
- The basic bankruptcy policy of “fresh start” is, in a sense, the “debtor counterpart” to “the basic bankruptcy policy of equality of distribution.” Bankruptcy judges in their opinions and law professors in their articles and classes consistently describe “fresh start” as an important, or even the most important, purpose of bankruptcy. The Bankruptcy Code nowhere uses the phrase “fresh start.”
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Unit 10. Question Ten: What Does a Law Student Need to Know About the Avoiding Powers in a Bankruptcy Case ? 33 results (showing 5 best matches)
- In the absence of bankruptcy, some transfers of a debtor’s property can be invalidated under state laws, such as state fraudulent conveyance laws. The Code incorporates these state laws in section 544(b) so that a transfer of a debtor’s property that can be invalidated under state law in the absence of bankruptcy can be invalidated under section 544(b) in the event of bankruptcy.
- To understand the avoidance provisions, remember that avoidance does not occur by operation of law. Avoidance in bankruptcy of a prebankruptcy transfer requires litigation and raises all of the usual litigation questions such as:
- When the bankruptcy trustee avoids an absolute transfer of property, that property then becomes property of the estate. Assume that
- We will see different time periods in different avoidance provisions such as “90 days” in section 547 and “2 years” in section 548.” These time periods are not statutes of limitations in that they do not limit the time within which the litigation must be filed. Rather, such a time period is part of the substantive law of that avoidance provisions; they limit the time before bankruptcy within which the transfer must have occurred.
- Chapter 5 of the Code also contains several other “avoidance” provisions that are unique to bankruptcy. Accordingly, some payments, sales, exchanges, judicial liens, security interests, and other transfers that are valid under state law can be avoided in bankruptcy. The Code’s avoidance provisions reach both “voluntary” transfers such as a debtor’s making a gift to a relative or granting a mortgage to a creditor and “involuntary” transfers such as a creditor’s garnishing the debtor’s bank account or subjecting the debtor’s real property to a judgment lien. See 101 (54) (definition of “transfer”). Note also that the Code’s avoidance provisions reach both “absolute” transfers such as gifts, payments and sales, and “security transfers” such as mortgages and judgment liens.
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Title Page 3 results
Unit 4 Question Four: How Does an Individual Bankruptcy Case Begin? 35 results (showing 5 best matches)
- Any bankruptcy case, individual debtor or business entity debtor, begins with the filing of a bankruptcy petition. More than 99% of the bankruptcy petitions are filed by the person seeking bankruptcy relief, by the “debtor.” Remember that these bankruptcy cases are called “voluntary cases” by both section 301 and law professors.
- Less than 1% of the bankruptcy petitions are filed by creditors against a debtor. And, these bankruptcy cases are called “involuntary cases” by both section 303 and law professors. Both sections 301 and 303 provide that the case is “commenced” when a petition is filed by or against an eligible debtor.
- For some law professors, however, railing against the credit card issuers and the rest of the consumer finance industry, their lobbyists, and their “bought Congress” is a cause. If your professor is in that group, then you need to read carefully the next two parts on what an individual has to do (and not do) before filing for before bankruptcy and what an individual must file with her bankruptcy petition because it might be on you exam.
- A much more important “practical” effect of the BAPCPA amendments is to make it more difficult for individuals to file for bankruptcy. These 2005 changes affect the practice of lawyers who represent individuals and the lives of those individuals. Important changes in the real world. Kind of stuff that should be taught in continuing legal education programs and challenged in newspaper op-ed columns. Not the kind of stuff that should be covered in a law school class on basic bankruptcy.
- Credit counseling is what an individual debtor has to do before bankruptcy. BAPCPA adds a requirement of prebankruptcy credit counseling. Section 109(h) makes an individual ineligible to file for bankruptcy under any of the chapters unless within 180 days before her bankruptcy filing she received credit counseling from an agency approved by the United States Trustee. This “counseling” can be a group briefing and can be by telephone or on the internet.
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First Comments to Students 12 results (showing 5 best matches)
- three-volume bankruptcy treatise, does not cover all of bankruptcy law. We just cover all of the bankruptcy law that your exam is going to cover.
- We understand that different teachers teach and test bankruptcy law differently. We have taught at 20 different law schools, and we teach and test the basic bankruptcy/creditors course differently each time that we teach. We have taught courses that separate business bankruptcy from consumer bankruptcy and courses that combine business bankruptcy and consumer bankruptcy; we have taught courses primarily from problems and courses primarily from cases; we have used take-home exams and in-class exams and essay questions, multiple choice questions and true-false questions.
- We think that this book can be helpful to the lawyer who wants to excel in her law firm bankruptcy work or the law student who still wants to be a “gunner” in his third year of law school. That is not why we wrote the book though. Again, we have written the book with the primary objective of making your grade on your bankruptcy/creditors rights test, your best grade in law school.
- The phrase “teaching to the test” is generally a heresy both to law professors and real educators. Not to us in writing this book. While it might be heresy to say it, we are saying (as only someone who used to live in Arkansas can say) “look here, see how to make your bankruptcy/creditors rights grade your best grade in law school.”
- what legal issues can arise in a business bankruptcy case and what legal issues can arise In a consumer bankruptcy case and
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Unit 2. Question Two: Why Do People Do Bankruptcy (Requiring You to Be Able to Do Bankruptcy Law)? 27 results (showing 5 best matches)
- Third, the debtor might file for bankruptcy before its property is seized and sold. Bankruptcy law is the third reason for the decline in lawyers’ use of (and professors’ instruction in) state collection law. As we have seen, bankruptcy law only stops (i.e., “stays”) not yet completed collection efforts. As we will see, bankruptcy law also often undoes (i.e., avoids) completed state collection actions.
- Less obvious are the possible advantages of bankruptcy to creditors. It should be obvious from the fact that less than 1% of the bankruptcy cases are filed by creditors that most creditors in most situations believe that they do not want to deal with the restrictions and costs of bankruptcy. Possible advantages to creditors of bankruptcy are (1) judicial supervision of the debtor’s use of property of the estate protects creditors from fraud or waste and (2) the aggregate costs to all creditors of a bankruptcy are less than the total costs to individual creditors of individual collection efforts.
- WHY DO PEOPLE DO BANKRUPTCY
- We have already considered two of the three principal advantages of bankruptcy to debtors: (1) the automatic stay which protects the debtor from creditor collection efforts during the bankruptcy case, (2) the discharge which, if obtained, protects the debtor from creditor efforts to collect from them personally after the bankruptcy case. The third principal reason that debtors file for bankruptcy is to reduce the amount that they have to pay to their creditors.
- A debtor can try to work out some sort of debt repayment agreement with its creditors. Professors who teach first year contracts courses call these agreements “compositions” and “extensions.” Real lawyers and bankruptcy law teachers who want to sound like real lawyers call these agreements “workout agreements.”
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Unit 3. Question Three: Where Do Lawyers Do Bankruptcy? 56 results (showing 5 best matches)
- Use of bankruptcy law is not limited to the court room, to litigation. Bankruptcy law can also be important in the conference room or wherever deals are negotiated. Because an unanticipated bankruptcy can affect both the executory and executed parts of a contracts, good lawyers and “A” law students think about possible bankruptcy consequences when they are looking at a deal.
- a divided Supreme Court held that section 157(b))(2) was unconstitutional—at least as applied to a counterclaim based on state law. The decision is based on constitutional law principles, not Bankruptcy Code provisions. Justice Roberts, writing for the majority, looks to the core constitutional law of concept of separation
- The bankruptcy judge can enter final judgments in non-core proceedings only if the parties consent. In all other non-core proceedings, the bankruptcy judge can still hold the trial or hearing and make findings of facts and conclusions of law which are submitted to the district judge for final order. (In practice, district judges “rubber stamp” bankruptcy judges’ findings of fact and conclusions of law so that there is no real practical difference between core and non-core proceedings.)
- In the main, the substantive law of bankruptcy is in title 11 of the United States Code. Questions of judicial power over bankruptcy-related matters are, in the main, answered in title 28 of the United States Code.
- In understanding the present law allocating judicial powers over bankruptcy matters, it is necessary to understand three separate sections in title 28: (1) § 151, (2) § 1334, and (3) § 157. By understanding these three provisions you will understand that (1) bankruptcy courts are a part of the United States District Court but bankruptcy judges are different from district court judges, (2) bankruptcy cases are different from bankruptcy proceedings, (3) bankruptcy cases can be handled by either bankruptcy judges or federal district judges (depending on withdrawal of the reference), but not by state court judges and (4) bankruptcy proceedings can be tried by bankruptcy judges or federal judges (depending on withdrawal of the reference) or even state court judges (depending on where the lawsuit was filed and removal and abstention). To
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Unit 11 Question Eleven: What Does a Law Student Need to Know About Fraudulent Transfers and Obligations ? 49 results (showing 5 best matches)
- In bankruptcy, both
- And, state fraudulent conveyance can become a part of bankruptcy law by reason of section 544(b). Section 544(b) does not specifically provide for the avoidance of fraudulent conveyances. Rather, it empowers the bankruptcy trustee to avoid any prebankruptcy transfer that is “voidable under applicable law by a creditor holding an unsecured claim that is allowable.”
- And, remember, the “within two years” requirement of
- While section 548 is limited to transfers made or deemed made within two years of the bankruptcy filing, state fraudulent conveyance law generally is not so limited. The Uniform Fraudulent Transfer Act, for example, looks back four years.
- . The debt was secured by a deed of trust.
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Unit 13 Question Thirteen: What Does a Law Student Need to Know About the Other Avoiding Powers? 111 results (showing 5 best matches)
- Again, there is no bankruptcy law of recoupment. The Bankruptcy Code does not use the word “recoupment,” and the cases consistently hold that the Bankruptcy Code provisions affecting the exercise of a right of setoff do not affect the exercise of a right of recoupment. More specifically,
- First, the secured claim status of setoff under section 506. As section 506(a) states, bankruptcy law equates the right of setoff with a lien.
- a creditor who extended credit and obtained a lien on the date that the bankruptcy petition was filed or a bona fide purchaser of real property on the date of the bankruptcy petition comes within the class of persons protected by such state law.
- Section 544(a) focuses on the rights of hypothetical lien creditors and bona fide purchasers of real property. Section 544(a) empowers the bankruptcy trustee to invalidate any transfer that under non-bankruptcy law is voidable as to a creditor who extended credit and obtained a lien on the date of the filing of the bankruptcy petition or is voidable as to a bona fide purchaser of real property whether or not such a creditor or purchaser actually exists. In applying section 544(a), it is thus necessary to determine whether:
- Although it is easy to see the reason for invalidating liens that are not timely perfected, it is difficult to understand why section 547 should be the mechanism for invalidating such liens. The easy way to invalidate such liens would be to add a section to the Bankruptcy Code to the effect that any lien that can be recorded or otherwise perfected under state law must be recorded within 30 days after it is obtained in order to be valid in bankruptcy. While that is the “easy way,” it is not the way of the Bankruptcy Code. Basically, the Bankruptcy Code’s method is to “deem” that for purposes of applying the requirements of section 547(b), the date of transfers not timely recorded is the date of perfection, not the actual date of transfer.
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Unit 16. A Typical Chapter 7 Case 361 results (showing 5 best matches)
- Payments related to debt counseling or bankruptcy. List all payments made or property transferred by or on behalf of the debtor to any persons, including attorneys, for consultation concerning debt consolidation, relief under the bankruptcy law or preparation of the petition in bankruptcy within one year immediately preceding the commencement of this case.
- Assuming court approval under bankruptcy law, a reaffirmation agreement is essentially a contract that survives bankruptcy and is enforceable, after bankruptcy, under state law. The creditor gives no new consideration, but state law enforces the contract despite the
- More important, a Chapter 7 case can be dismissed which means: the debtor must seek relief under another chapter of the Bankruptcy Code for which she qualifies, or, if she chooses not to seek the other relief, the debtor is shut out of and off from any bankruptcy protection. In this event, the debtor’s rights against creditors are limited to the rights provided by state and nonbankruptcy, federal law, which are very tiny compared to a debtor’s rights under bankruptcy law.
- Here’s where the trustee’s avoiding (or avoidance) powers fit within the Chapter 7 bankruptcy process. These powers describe limited circumstances under which the bankruptcy court—upon request of the trustee through a proceeding in the bankruptcy court—can undo, i.e., avoid, the debtor’s prepetition transfer of property even though the transfer was perfectly legal and perfectly done under state law.
- In most cases, however, section 522(f) doesn’t work this way and adds nothing in terms of protecting the debtor’s exemptions. The reason is that state law usually controls the debtor’s exemptions in bankruptcy; and state law itself usually prevents a judicial lien from attaching to property to the extent that state law exempts the debtor’s interest in the property. So, in this example, the creditor’s judicial lien—before and after bankruptcy—would attach to the boat,
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Unit 14 Question Fourteen: What Does a Law Student Need to Know About Leases and “Executory Contracts”? 75 results (showing 5 best matches)
- An understanding of the bankruptcy law of leases and executory contracts requires an understanding not only of rejection, assumption and assignment, the three different elections available to the debtor under the Bankruptcy Code, but also an understanding of the election that is not available to the debtor under the Bankruptcy Code. A debtor does not have a legal right under the Bankruptcy Code to modify or change the terms of an unexpired lease or an executory contract.
- “Applicable law” for purposes of section 365(c) can also be a statute so long as it is a statute other than the Bankruptcy Code. Assume, for example, that state law prohibits the assignment of a car dealer franchise contract without the approval of the franchisor.
- Contracts that are not assignable under “applicable law” are not assignable in bankruptcy, section 365(c)(1). “Applicable law” can be the common law of contracts. Under such law, for example, personal services contracts cannot be assigned and delegated. Batman contracts to patrol the streets of Gotham City. Batman later files a bankruptcy petition, Batman cannot assign this personal services contract to Madonna.
- Read literally (and most courts have read section 365(c)(1) literally), a debtor cannot assume a lease or executory contract in its bankruptcy case if, outside of bankruptcy, there would be legal bar (other than a contract provision) to assigning it. In other words, section 365(c)(1), by its terms, bars a debtor in a bankruptcy case from even assuming (i.e., keeping) a lease or executory contract where applicable nonbankruptcy law bars assignment (i.e., selling) of the contract to a third party.
- Section 365 applies to leases and executory contracts. The Bankruptcy Code does not define the term “lease.” There is probably no need for a definition. When there is a problem as to whether a “lease” of personal property is a disguised credit sale, bankruptcy courts look to a large body of case law under the Uniform Commercial Code.
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Unit 9 Question Nine: What Happens During a Business Chapter 11 Case? 219 results (showing 5 best matches)
- Now, cram down of unsecured claims. Bankruptcy law professors, lawyers and judges (but not the Bankruptcy Code) use the phrase “absolute priority” to describe the standard for “fair and equitable” treatment of unsecured claims.
- In sum, the typical single asset real estate case is a dispute between a debtor and one creditor over one asset. For some law professors and judges, such single asset real estate cases raise a bankruptcy policy question: should bankruptcy be used to resolve a dispute between a debtor and only one of its creditors?
- In the equipment example, assume further that the court concludes that the value of the equipment is declining by $10,000 a month. Under sections 361 and 363, the bankruptcy court could require the debtor to make monthly payments to
- files for bankruptcy owing
- The term “cross-collateralization” does not appear in the Bankruptcy Code. It is a creation and creature of the case law and commentary.
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Unit 7 Question Seven: What Happens During a Chapter 7 Case? 112 results (showing 5 best matches)
- The Bankruptcy Code does not expressly deal with the consequences of a debtor converting nonexempt property into other forms of nonexempt property. What if just before filing for bankruptcy,
- In 2005, Congress addressed that concern in three different provisions that you need to know. The most significant limitation on a debtor’s choice of exemption statutes is section 522(b)’s new two-year residency inquiry for state exemption laws. As a result of the 2005 legislation, the debtor can choose the exemption law of the state in which she was living at the time of the bankruptcy filing only if that was the only state in which she was domiciled for the entire two years preceding bankruptcy. If the debtor has not maintained her domicile in the same state for the 730 days (two years) before her bankruptcy filing, the governing exemption law is the exemption law
- Not much of what happens in a Chapter 7 case turns on the resolution of interesting bankruptcy law questions. And so not much of what happens in a Chapter 7 case is important to know for your bankruptcy exam. More specifically, we believe that you need to watch for two (at most three) legal problem areas that can be part of a Chapter 7 law school exam fact pattern:
- Section 522 provides that an individual debtor in a bankruptcy case—7, 11, or 13—can assert the exemptions to which she is entitled under the laws of the state of her domicile [as determined by section 522(b)(3)] and under federal laws other than Title 11.
- The Bankruptcy Code does not expressly deal with the consequences of a debtor converting nonexempt property into exempt property on the eve of bankruptcy. What if, just before filing for bankruptcy,
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Unit 12 Question Twelve: What Does a Law Student Need to Know About Preferences? 98 results (showing 5 best matches)
- Bankruptcy law
- At the time of its bankruptcy petition,
- There is no state law counterpart to the Code’s preference provisions. State creditor’s rights law does not “condemn” a preference. Outside of bankruptcy, a debtor, even an insolvent debtor, can treat some creditors more favorably than other similar creditors. Although
- The purpose of the preference section is two-fold. First, by permitting the trustee to avoid prebankruptcy transfers that occur within a short period before bankruptcy, creditors are discouraged from racing to the courthouse to dismember the debtor during his slide into bankruptcy. The protection thus afforded the debtor often enables him to work his way out of a difficult financial situation through cooperation with all of his creditors. Second, and more important, the preference provisions facilitate the prime bankruptcy policy of equality of distribution among creditors of the debtor. Any creditor that received a greater payment than others of his class is required to disgorge so that all may share equally.
- a security interest on a piece of equipment. Under relevant nonbankruptcy state law,
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Unit 15 Question Fifteen: What Does a Law Student Need to Know About the Bankruptcy Claims Process : A Review and Overview 40 results (showing 5 best matches)
- In bankruptcy, some claims—secured claims—are treated differently from others because, pursuant to nonbankruptcy law, the holder of the claim has obtained a lien. And, in bankruptcy, some unsecured claims are treated differently from others because the unsecured claims—priority claims—meet the section 507 priorities requirements.
- If your bankruptcy class covered
- The most frequently invoked ground for disallowance of a claim is section 502(b)(1): “The claim is unenforceable . . . under any agreement or applicable law for a reason other than because such claim is contingent or unmatured.” In other words, a defense that the debtor would have had to the enforceability of the claim outside of bankruptcy is a defense to the allowance of the claim in bankruptcy. Statute of limitations and failure of consideration are examples of such defenses.
- A creditor can participate in bankruptcy distributions (i.e., get paid) only if it has actually filed a proof of claim or is deemed to have filed a proof of claim. Regardless of whether it has filed a proof of claim and participates in bankruptcy payments, a creditor is barred by the automatic stay from trying to get paid by the debtor during
- In all bankruptcy cases, the debtor is required to file a list of its creditors. The bankruptcy court will then send a notice of the bankruptcy to the listed creditors.
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Unit 8 Question Eight: What Happens During a Chapter 13 Bankruptcy Case? 95 results (showing 5 best matches)
- It’s not the Bankruptcy Code that uses the phrase “cram down.” Neither cram down nor cramdown appears anywhere in the Bankruptcy Code. Rather it is the bankruptcy lawyers, judges, and law professors who have come to use the term cram down to describe court approval of a plan provision that effects changes in the payment of a claim that the claim holder objects to.
- The plurality identified three reasons for adopting the formula rate. First, bankruptcy judges should be uniform in their approach to determining interest rates. The formula approach requires less expensive evidentiary hearings than the other approaches, and is familiar to the financial community. Second, the fact that the Chapter 13 debtor has proposed a feasible plan, as determined by the bankruptcy court, and payments are being made through the
- off in Chapter 7 bankruptcies look to section 506. In
- The bankruptcy court may grant a discharge in a Chapter 13 case even though the debtor has not completed payments called for by the plan. Section 1328(b) empowers the bankruptcy court to grant a “hardship” discharge if:
- In order to cram down a Chapter 13 modification of a secured claim, the bankruptcy court must apply section 1325(a)(5)(B). And, in order to apply section 1325(a)(5)(B), it is necessary to determine the nature of the proposed modification.
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Unit 6 Question Six: What Are the Immediate Legal Consequences of a Bankruptcy Filing? 27 results (showing 5 best matches)
- What is important for you to remember is that for voluntary bankruptcy cases, i.e., the more than 99% of all bankruptcy cases in which the debtor filed the bankruptcy petition, the date of the filing the bankruptcy petition is BOTH the date of the commencement of the case and the date of the order for relief. If
- The commencement of the case (i.e., the date of the filing of a petition) is an important point of reference in doing bankruptcy law, an important dividing line. In the “racier language” used by many courts, the date of the filing of the petition is “the date of cleavage.”
- Similarly, the automatic stay protecting the property of the estate from creditors becomes legally effective from the moment that a bankruptcy petition is filed. Not the time that a creditor learns of the bankruptcy filing but the time of the bankruptcy filing.
- Property of the estate is one of the important bankruptcy concepts that uses “commencement of the case,” i.e., the date that the bankruptcy petition, was filed as a point of reference. Under section 541 an estate is created the instant the bankruptcy petition is filed regardless of whether the petition is for Chapter 7 relief, Chapter 11 relief, or Chapter 13 relief.
- Automatic stay: Many of the automatic stay provisions contain the limiting phrase “that arose before the commencement of the case,” section 362(a)(1), (2), (5), (6), and (7). If, for example,
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Unit 5. Question Five: How Does a Business Bankruptcy Case Begin? 19 results (showing 5 best matches)
- First, bankruptcy is limited to a “person” as that term is defined in section 101. The definition includes corporations, partnerships, limited partnerships, limited liability companies, . . . ; it does not include sole proprietorships. If Epstein owns and operates (1) the Law School Legend Laundry as a sole proprietorship and (2) the Law School Legend Lounge as a separate sole proprietorship, then Epstein can file bankruptcy petition but he cannot file a bankruptcy petition that is limited to one of his sole proprietorships.
- Any bankruptcy case begins with the filing of a bankruptcy petition. Recall from Unit 4 that most bankruptcy petitions involving individuals are filed by the debtor under section 301. Similarly, most bankruptcy petitions involving businesses are filed by the debtor.
- Again, most of what businesses do before filing for bankruptcy are business decisions, not legal decisions. The legal consequences of a bankruptcy filing of course obviously affect these decisions. We will be covering these legal consequences in later chapters.
- Most business bankruptcy cases involve small businesses and are filed in the bankruptcy court in the district in which the business operates. A very small number of Chapter 11 cases involve large corporations. These cases are usually filed in Delaware or the Southern District of New York.
- The short answer to the question of what a business does before filing for bankruptcy is “a lot of stuff.” The more immediate answer to that question is “it will not be on your exam.” With the exception of (1) prebankruptcy payments to creditors which will be covered in the Unit on preferences and (2) prebankruptcy sales of assets which will be covered in the Unit on fraudulent transfers, and (3) prepackaged Chapter 11 plans which will be covered in the Unit on Chapter 11, the business decisions a business makes before filing for bankruptcy (such as who to hire and fire and who to tell) are not covered in a basic bankruptcy course.
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Summary of Contents 68 results (showing 5 best matches)
- Why Do People Do Bankruptcy
- What Is Bankruptcy Law?
- What Does a Law Student Need to Know About the Bankruptcy Claims Process
- UNDERSTANDING WHAT HAPPENS IN YOUR BANKRUPTCY COURSE BY UNDERSTANDING WHAT HAPPENS IN REALISTIC, CONSUMER BANKRUPTCY CASES
- § 2.2Possible “Legal” Solutions to the Debt Default Problem Outside of Bankruptcy
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Table of Contents 118 results (showing 5 best matches)
- Why Do People Do Bankruptcy
- (3)Role of Bankruptcy Law in LimitingConversion of Nonexempt Property intoOther Forms of Exempt Property
- a.What Is the Bankruptcy Law Importance of Property of the Estate?
- (b)Overview of Bankruptcy Law of Setoff
- (2)Role of Bankruptcy Code in DeterminingWhich State’s Law DeterminesExemptions
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- We have not included a unit on a typical business case because (i) real world business bankruptcy cases are much more about “business” than about bankruptcy; (ii) business cases are typically atypical (e.g., cases involving family-owned businesses are dramatically different from cases involving public corporations; cases involving manufacturing businesses with products liability problems are dramatically different from cases involving high tech businesses with cash-flow problems, and so on); and (iii) this book is principally designed for law students, and the typical law school bankruptcy course focuses mostly on consumer cases under Chapters 7 and 13.
- UNDERSTANDING WHAT HAPPENS IN YOUR BANKRUPTCY COURSE BY UNDERSTANDING WHAT HAPPENS IN REALISTIC, CONSUMER BANKRUPTCY CASES
- We have had students who best understand legal concepts by seeing how those concepts apply in a “real world” context. (And these students seem to turn out to be the best lawyers.) Accordingly, Unit 16 uses a realistic, Chapter 7 consumer debtor case and Unit 17 uses a realistic Chapter 13 to show you how the legal concepts discussed in your law school course and in the earlier units of this book apply in real cases.
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Unit 17 A Typical Chapter 13 Case 296 results (showing 5 best matches)
- U.S. Bankruptcy Court Middle District of North Carolina (Winston-Salem)Bankruptcy Petition #: 06–72C818
- In every kind of bankruptcy case, including the Kaddours’ Chapter 13 case, the filing of the petition “operates as a stay, applicable to all entities.” This section 362 stay enjoins and prevents all creditors from taking or continuing any action in or outside of court (except the bankruptcy court) against the debtors, their property, or property of the estate to collect the creditors’ claims.
- By filing a Chapter 13 case, the Kaddours don’t avoid having to provide Larry with all the information about their assets, liabilities, and incomes. They also don’t avoid having to get a credit counseling briefing before Larry can file their case. The Bankruptcy Code requires such a briefing, within 180 days before the date of filing, for any “individual” filing any kind of bankruptcy case.
- M & I CORPORATION (“M&I”) by and through counsel, moves this Court for valuation of its security interest pursuant to
- As in every kind of bankruptcy case, the property the stay protects in a Chapter 13 case includes property of the debtor and, even more widely, property of the estate. And, under Chapter 13, the estate is wider than under Chapter 7.
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Dedication 1 result
Last Comments to Students 4 results
- When did this happen, i.e., after bankruptcy or before bankruptcy and, if before, how many days before?
- It has been a pleasure for us to write this book. We hope that it has been a pleasure for you to read the book and that it will be a pleasure to read the grade on your bankruptcy exam.
- Who is the “debtor,” i.e., who is the person in bankruptcy?
- One last comment about the exam. Before you start writing, be sure that you have read your law school exam at least as carefully as you have read this book. In reading your exam questions, look for the following 5 pieces of information:
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Index 190 results (showing 5 best matches)
West Academic Publishing’s Law School Advisory Board 10 results (showing 5 best matches)
- Professor of Law Emeritus, University of San Diego Professor of Law Emeritus, University of Michigan
- Professor of Law, Chancellor and Dean Emeritus, University of California, Hastings College of the Law
- Professor of Law, Pepperdine University Professor of Law Emeritus, University of California, Los Angeles
- Earle K. Shawe Professor of Law, University of Virginia School of Law
- Distinguished University Professor, Frank R. Strong Chair in LawMichael E. Moritz College of Law, The Ohio State University
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Table of Cases 6 results (showing 5 best matches)
Copyright Page 2 results
- The publisher is not engaged in rendering legal or other professional advice, and this publication is not a substitute for the advice of an attorney. If you require legal or other expert advice, you should seek the services of a competent attorney or other professional.
- Printed in the United States of America
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- Publication Date: December 13th, 2016
- ISBN: 9781634596220
- Subject: Bankruptcy/Creditors' Rights
- Series: Concise Hornbook Series
- Type: Hornbook Treatises
- Description: This book focuses on the material covered in a typical law school course on Bankruptcy. It covers both business and consumer bankruptcy. The book explains basic bankruptcy concepts and then uses those concepts to make code provisions understandable.