The Bankruptcy Code allows a chapter 13 debtor to propose a plan that bifurcates undersecured claims into secured and unsecured claims except where the claim is one secured “only by a security interest in real property that is the debtor’s principal residence”.[1] If the sole collateral securing the claim is the debtor’s princ
While lawyers and trustees in individual debtor bankruptcy cases are likely familiar with § 363(h) of the Bankruptcy Code, many commercial bankruptcy lawyers often forget its existence.
[1]In yet another example of the lingering impact of the recession on the residential mortgage industry, the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Hawaii has weighed in on the meaning of a debtor's election to "surrender" his or her residence in a chapter 7 case.
The recent spate of major retail bankruptcy filings — Sports Authority, Radio Shack, Wet Seal, PacSun and Aeropostale, to name a few — have thrust landlords into the middle of unfamiliar and complex chapter 11 restructurings and asset sales.
It’s been another great year for the Real Estate Committee. First, as co-chairs, we would like to thank its members for their support and continued participation on the Real Estate Committee for 2016. The committee is really only as good as its members and their contributions.
One of the benefits of purchasing a debtor’s assets through the bankruptcy process is the opportunity to obtain an order from a bankruptcy court approving the sale free and clear of other parties’ interests in the purchased property, pursuant to § 363(f) of the Bankruptcy Code.
In a recent opinion delivered by Judge Huennekens in the case of In re Alpha Natural Resources Inc., et al.,[1] the bankruptcy court permitted the debtor, Alpha Wyoming Land Co., to reject a settlement agreement that required the payment of a royalty, the amount of which was based on a percentage of the coal mined and subseque
Considering that bankruptcy cases typically involve divvying up a less-than-whole pie, it should not come as a surprise when a court disfavors debtors trying to have their cake and eat it, too.
Lenders frequently require that the insiders of single-asset real estate borrowers[1] personally guarantee their companies’ debt to the lender.
There is a split among bankruptcy courts as to whether a debtor may modify his or her state law right of redemption through a chapter 13 plan after his or her real property is sold at a tax sale.[1] Section 1322 of the Bankruptcy Code permits a debtor to modify the rights of secured claims through a plan under certain enumerated circum
