A situation that plays out far too often in bankruptcy courts: a debtor files bankruptcy on the eve of a foreclosure sale or the sale of a repossessed vehicle in an attempt to delay a lender from recovering and/or selling its collateral. Oftentimes, the debtor will repeat this process over the course of multiple years to the detriment of not only the secured lender, but also the other creditors whose collection efforts are stayed by the filing of the bankruptcy petition.

A 20-year study by the American Bankruptcy Institute of bankruptcy filers in Utah, found that 10.7 percent of debtors in the study had filed bankruptcy multiple times, and thus may have been abusing the bankruptcy system and 20.3 percent of those serial debtors who filed Chapter 7 bankruptcy cases, did not receive a discharge, and ultimately had their cases dismissed. Additionally, only 2.9 percent of repeat Chapter 13 filers completed their payment plan. With almost 800,000 bankruptcy filings in the year 2017, serial bankruptcy filers present a massive problem to the judiciary, attorneys and creditors.

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