On April 20, 2005, President Bush signed into law the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005 (BAPCPA). BAPCPA was hailed by some as a sensible overhaul of the bankruptcy code aimed towards decreasing repeat bankruptcy filing rates. In this article, the authors consider specific changes that BAPCPA made to the Bankruptcy Code. Some of these changes were specifically targeted at the congressional view that repeat bankruptcy filings are largely the result of strategic and irresponsible behavior.
The characteristics of bankrupt households (such as income and asset levels) vary widely across states. This paper asks whether these variations can be attributed to state exemption laws or state garnishment laws. Using a new household-level dataset, the author finds that high exemption levels encourage high asset households to file for bankruptcy while high garnishment rates encourage low income households to file for bankruptcy.
In response to objections causing wasteful, unnecessary and inappropriate delay in the bankruptcy sale context, this article concludes that bankruptcy courts should employ a preliminary injunction-like standard for evaluating objections to bankruptcy sales.  Employing a strict, preliminary injunction-like standard should decrease the possibility that parties-in-interest will introduce an improvident delay into the bankruptcy sale process. By preventing inappropriate delay, courts will ensure that parties receive an appropriate amount of procedura
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This paper examines 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.