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Debt Recharacterization Under State Law

By James M. Wilton (Ropes & Gray, LLP)

The majority federal law test for recharacterization of insider debt in bankruptcy establishes a multi-factor test drawn from federal tax cases. The test is problematic and has been rejected by Fifth and Ninth Circuit Courts of Appeals in favor of a state law rule of decision. The U.S. Treasury, in fact, has moved away from use of multi-factor tests even in tax cases because they are unworkable and produce “inconsistent and unpredictable results.”

In an article published this month in The Business Lawyer, I predict that the U.S. Supreme Court will resolve the circuit split over debt recharacterization in favor of a state law rule of decision. The article is intended for transactional lawyers interested in structuring transactions to minimize debt recharacterization risk and for bankruptcy litigators interested in understanding the arguments both for and against application of a federal or a state law rule of decision. For the circuits that have endorsed a state law rule of decision for debt recharacterization, the article examines the appropriate test for determining choice of law and surveys the substantive state law of debt recharacterization in thirteen jurisdictions, including New York and Delaware.

The article concludes that debt recharacterization under state law allows equity sponsors and other corporate insiders to provide credit support to distressed businesses, with greater assurance that loans will be enforceable both under state law and in bankruptcy court.

The full article is available here.1


  1. ©2019. Published in The Business Lawyer, Vol. 74, Winter 2018-2019, by the American Bar Association. Reproduced with permission. All rights reserved. This information or any portion thereof may not be copied or disseminated in any form or by any means or stored in an electronic database or retrieval system without the express written consent of the American Bar Association or the copyright holder.

Written by:
Editor
Published on:
March 5, 2019

Categories: Bankruptcy Administration and Jurisdiction, Bankruptcy Roundtable Updates, Jurisprudence, Supreme CourtTags: Choice of Law, Debt Recharacterization, James M. Wilton, State Law

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