Abstract:
Previous data collected during the 2007 meltdown of the subprime mortgage market showed that African Americans were approximately twice as likely to file chapter 13 bankruptcy than persons of other races, a significant policy issue given the generally less generous rules in chapter 13. We first update and replicate these findings with new data collected during 2013 2014 as the housing market recovered.
Abstract:
Filing for bankruptcy is the primary legal mechanism by which homeowners in foreclosure can exert control over ownership of their home, yet little is known about the interplay between bankruptcy chapters, mortgage servicers, state foreclosure laws, and home foreclosure auctions. We analyze 4,280 lower-income homeowners in the United States who were more than 90 days late paying their 30-year fixed-rate mortgages. Two dozen organizations serviced these mortgages and initiated foreclosure between 2003 and 2012.
Summary:
As an initial matter, the 4th Circuit affirmed, in a published opinion, that pursuant to 11 U.S.C. §§ 506(a) and 1322(b)(2), a junior lien against real estate that serves as the debtor’s principal residence can be stripped-off if there is no equity above the senior lien(s).
The Court of Appeals next proceeded to the question of whether a Debtor, who had recently obtained and Chapter 7 discharge and was thus ineligible for a Chapter 13 discharge, could similarly strip-off a junior lien.
Summary:
The Debtor’s corporation filed Chapter 7 and the Debtor agreed to buy the assets of the corporation from the Chapter 7 Trustee for $3,400.00. The Trustee was later contacted by an auctioneer, who informed the Trustee that the Debtor was attempting to sell additional corporate assets, that had not be listed in the bankruptcy petition filed by the corporation. The Debtor eventually did sell these non-disclosed assets for $4,000.00 and also filed his own personal Chapter 7 bankruptcy, with the same Trustee being appointed. The Trustee eventually settle
Summary and Commentary:
Starting by painting a vivid tableau of a §341 Meeting of Creditors, its atmosphere is aptly compared with the anxiety of an emergency room. The metaphor gets pushed too far, with the Trustee being likened to a doctor diagnosing people "with a financial emergency- bankruptcy." This would be a fully congruent comparison only if, and I hesitate to extend this metaphor, because most Trustees are truly good and caring people, who keep a debtor’s interest in mind, if not at heart, a medical doctor was charged by his Hippocratic Oath
