Bankruptcy

This is FindLaw’s collection of Bankruptcy articles, part of the Finance section of the Corporate Counsel Center. Bankruptcy law is federal statutory law contained in Title 11 of the United States Code. Congress passed the Bankruptcy Code under its constitutional grant of authority to "establish… uniform laws on the subject of Bankruptcy throughout the United States." Bankruptcy proceedings are supervised by and litigated in the United States Bankruptcy Courts. Find information about bankruptcy laws, including answers to some of the most frequently asked questions. Law articles in this archive are predominantly written by lawyers for a professional audience seeking business solutions to legal issues. Start your free research with FindLaw.

Finance

Bankruptcy Articles

Unsecured Second Mortgage Not Protected by Anti-modification Provision of Chapter 13

Recently the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit held that a second mortgage on a chapter 13 debtor's primary residence is not immune from modification if the junior mortgage is wholly unsecured by any remaining value in the ...
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Use of False Financial Statements in Bankruptcy: A Lender’s Checklist

Lenders, who attempt to establish that a debt is not dischargeable on the grounds that the debtor provided the lender with a false financial statement, are often unsuccessful because bankruptcy courts frequently find that the lenders have failed to ...
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Use of FFO in SEC Filings after Recent Rulemaking on Non-GAAP Financial Information

Funds from Operations (FFO) has been a key metric for real estate investment trusts (REITs) since the National Association of Real Estate Investment Trusts (NAREIT) first adopted a definition of FFO in 1991. The SEC's recently-adopted rules ...
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Vehicle Repossession

When you finance or lease a car, truck or other vehicle, your creditor or lessor holds important rights on the vehicle until you've made the last loan payment or fully paid off your leasing obligation. These rights are established by the signed ...
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What Bankruptcy Lawyers Need to Know About the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 and the Corporate and Criminal Fraud Accountability Act of 2002

On July 30, 2002, President George W. Bush signed the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, which contained as one of its component parts the Corporate and Criminal Fraud Accountability Act of 2002 (collectively, the "Sarbanes- Oxley Act"). Pub. L. No ...
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What You Should Know About Business Bankruptcies

A business bankruptcy is a legal proceeding filed by a business for protection from its creditors. Two types of business bankruptcies are available -- a Chapter 11 brought to financially reorganize the business, or a Chapter 7 to liquidate the ...
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What You Should Know About Consumer Bankruptcy

Bankruptcy can be a powerful tool to gain relief from your debts. But, it can be a complicated process and should not be engaged in lightly. The purpose of a consumer bankruptcy is to provide the debtor with a "fresh start." This "fresh start" is ...
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When Is a Lease Unexpired And Assumable Under The Bankruptcy Code?

Bankruptcy may be viewed by a residential tenant as providing an opportunity to stave off eviction, since the automatic stay that is triggered by the filing of a bankruptcy petition generally prohibits a landlord from taking any actions postpetition ...
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When Is Your “Debt” Claim Not A Debt Claim?

Traditionally, bankruptcy law honored the basic axiom that debt should be paid before equity. As corollaries: Recent cases have spawned a new corollary which "recharacterizes" debt as equity in certain circumstances. While the courts apply an array ...
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When the going gets tough for your customers, the tough creditor gets going

The economic growth in the stock market is not reflective of the tough times currently faced by many companies in the trenches. With rising interest rates and stiff foreign competition, many companies here in the Triad are shutting their doors or ...
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