By: Michael L. Moskowitz and Melissa A. Guseynov

A chapter 7 debtor in Louisiana recently succeeded in avoiding a $180,000 judgment lien on her home after a bankruptcy judge concluded that the United States Supreme Court's holding in Dewsnup v. Timm, 502 U.S. 410 (1992) is not applicable to non-consensual judicial liens. In re Mayer, 2015 WL 7424327 (Nov. 20, 2015).  

By Richard E. Weltman and Melissa A. Guseynov

We have previously reported on judicial treatment of student loan debt dischargeability in bankruptcy—more specifically, how federal courts construe section 523(a)(8) of the Bankruptcy Code, which prohibits bankruptcy courts from discharging most student loan debt “unless excepting such debt from discharge under this paragraph would impose an undue hardship on the debtor and the debtor’s dependents.” 11 U.S.C. § 523(a)(8).