Michaela M White

Professor Emerita

Journal article Peer reviewed

Dog that didn't bark: Domestic support obligations and exempt property after BAPCA

by Michaela M. White and James P. Caher

Published Summer 2007

Family Law Quarterly, 41, 2, 299 - 320

Journal article Open access

Catching can-pay debtors: Is the means-test the only way?

by Marianne B. Culhane and Michaela M. White

Published Winter 2005

American Bankruptcy Institute Law Review, 13, 2, 665 - 700

Journal article Open access Peer reviewed

But can she keep the car? Some thoughts on collateral retention in Chapter 7

by Marianne B. Culhane and Michaela M. White

Published 2002

Fordham Journal of Corporate & Financial Law, 7, 1, 471 - 498

Journal article Open access

Taking the new Consumer Bankruptcy Model for a test drive: Means-testing real Chapter 7 debtors

by Marianne B. Culhane and Michaela M. White

Published Spring 1999

American Bankruptcy Institute Law Review, 7, 1, 27 - 77

Several bills pending in Congress would apply means-testing to Chapter 7 debtors, requiring those with apparent ability to repay to be dismissed from Chapter 7, leaving Chapter 13 as their main route to a discharge. Chapter 13 would require repayment over 5 years to prebankruptcy creditors.|The authors applied one proposed means-testing formula to a sample of 1043 Chapter 7 cases from seven states across the country. They found that only 3.6% of the debtors emerged as "can-pays" who would be barred from Chapter 7, and that unsecured creditors could expect to collect much less from such debtors than industry-sponsored studies have claimed. Further, the paper shows how predictable avoidance behavior, such as increasing secured debt and/or charitable contributions, could further reduce the number of "can-pays." Thus, the paper casts doubt on the efficacy of imposing burdensome additional requirements on all Chapter 7 debtors in order to bar 3.6% of those debtors from that chapter.

Journal article

Comments from the authors of the Creighton/ABI study

by Marianne B. Culhane and Michaela M. White

Published 1999

Personal Bankruptcy: Analysis of Four Reports on Chapter 7 Debtors' Ability to Pay, 80 - 85