Hot Topic: Stripping Wholly Unsecured Liens When Debtor Not Eligible For Discharge

Reprinted from Norton Bankruptcy Law Adviser, (August, 2011) with permission. Copyright © (2011) Thomson Reuters/West. For more information about this publication please visit www.west.thomson.com.

By William Houston Brown, United States Bankruptcy Judge, Retired, Western District of Tennessee

We have an avalanche of recent conflicting decisions with respect to whether Chapter 13 debtors not eligible for discharge because of § 1328(f) can strip off a wholly unsecured junior lien on their principal residence. Two recent decisions saying “Yes” and an en banc . . .

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