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In 2005, Congress enacted sweeping changes in the Bankruptcy Code in a law commonly known as BAPCPA (bap-SEE-puh). Most insolvency professionals recognize BAPCPA’s changes to consumer bankruptcy, such as the means test, modifications to the discharge exceptions and new limits on homestead exemptions. But BAPCPA affected business bankruptcy too, making chapter 12 permanent and creating the notion of a “small business case” in chapter 11. As BAPCPA turns 20, this panel reflects on its past two decades: what worked, what didn’t, and what might come next.
Using the current proposed amendments to Bankruptcy Rule 9031 as an example, this panel will provide an overview on how to add, delete or revise the Bankruptcy Rules from concept to a successful enacted rule change.
The increased debt limit applicable to subchapter V cases expired in June 2024. This webinar, hosted by ABI's Business Reorganization and Legislation Committees, will examine the effects of the increased debt limit's expiration, where small business debtors and their attorneys can go from here, best practices and potential workarounds, prospects for further congressional action and more.
Small business debtors and other stakeholders hoping for an extension of the increased ($7.5 million) debt-eligibility limit for subchapter V cases, which sunsetted on June 21, 2024, will need to wait until the fall. On a more encouraging note, in July Sen. Richard Durbin attempted to break through several months of stagnation on the effort to pass an extension by proposing an amendment to Congress’s annual defense authorization bill that would extend the increased debt limit for two additional years, through June 21, 2026.
Over the last several years, an increasing number of states, including New York, have adopted the UniformVoidable Transactions Act (UVTA), the latest update to the Uniform Voidable Transfer Act. The UVTA made a number of minor changes and updates to the Uniform Fraudulent Transfer Act (UFTA), including changingthe name. What changes were significant? What opportunities to fix problems/vagaries in the UFTA did the drafters miss? What amendments should the UVTA drafters consider?
The steep rise in student loan debt is one of the most pressing issues our country faces as it strives to create a more just and equitable society. Getting a college degree has become steadily more expensive, and graduates are often left with overwhelming debt burdens that sometimes take decades to repay. Coupled with the nondischargeability of student debt under the Bankruptcy Code, the “student debt problem” has become one of the most pressing issues of our time.
This panel will explore the various roles of neutrals in bankruptcy, including applicable provisions of the Bankruptcy Code and Rules, as well as the limitations on the use of neutrals in bankruptcy. Examples of neutral roles in bankruptcy include mediators, fee examiners, subchapter V trustees, and mass tort personal-injury plan administrators. Limitations on the use of neutrals in bankruptcy can be found in Bankruptcy Rule 9031, and there is growing support to modify the rule to eliminate this limitation.
There are situations where the bankruptcy court extends protections to nondebtor parties, either in the form of a release of claims or a stay of litigation, to facilitate the restructuring of a debtor.
