This study compares the insolvency regimes currently in place or likely to be adopted in the foreseeable future in various countries worldwide.

Since the adoption of the EU Regulation on Insolvency Proceedings in 2000 and its recast in 2015, it has become clear that lawyers engaged in consumer insolvency proceedings are increasingly expected to have a basic understanding of foreign insolvency proceedings, as well as knowledge of the foreign country's court and legal system, legislation and judicial practice. Written by 50 highly qualified insolvency experts from 30 European countries, A Guide to Consumer Insolvency Proceedings in Europe provides the necessary information in the largest, most up-to-date and comprehensive book on this topic. Assisting the readers in their navigation through the differences, similarities, and peculiarities of insolvency proceedings in all Member States of the European Union, Switzerland and Russia, this book is a unique guide to insolvency proceedings across Europe. With contributions by both academics and practitioners, it provides truly multinational coverage of the economic, legal, social, political, and demographic issues in consumer insolvency. Illustrating the numerous practices across Europe, this book allows the reader to evaluate each aspect both on its own merits, as well as in comparison to the approaches applied in other European jurisdictions. This book will be an invaluable tool for insolvency practitioners, judges, lawyers, creditors and debtors throughout Europe, especially those participating in cross-border proceedings.

This book provides a comparative appraisal of global developments in the area of consumer bankruptcy and overindebtedness.

This book explores the rapidly evolving law of individual insolvency. As consumer borrowing and spending play a greater and greater role in fueling worldwide economic growth, more and more countries are dealing with the casualties of the "democratization of credit" and the "open credit economy." This book explores the struggles that led to the implementation and continuous revision of consumer insolvency law throughout much of Europe in the 1990s and early 2000s. Drawing on both primary sources of formal law and empirical studies of the law in action, this book offers an overview of how the law of consumer "overindebtedness" has played out in the last two decades in the United States and Europe and where it appears to be headed today. While the focus here is on law and practice, the questions for discussion at the end of each chapter might spawn deeper theoretical and policy explorations of the ambivalent relationship of societies to their financially overextended consumers and the ambiguous state of contract law in the consumer context in the 21st century. Chapter 1 sets the stage by introducing the challenges and methodology of a comparative approach to this area of the law. Chapter 2 explores the varying form and role of "credit counseling" and pre-bankruptcy negotiation with creditors in the various systems presented. Chapters 3 and 4 compare and contrast the form and function of the formal consumer insolvency systems in the United States, France, Germany, Austria, England & Wales, the Netherlands, Sweden, Belgium, and Luxembourg. This book is designed for use either in a comparative law course, using consumer insolvency systems to illustrate many of the challenges of comparative law analysis, or in a basic bankruptcy course, using a variety of European approaches and their development over time to enlighten and challenge students' appreciation of the operation of the U.S. system. This book is part of the Comparative Law Series, edited by Michael L. Corrado, Arch T. Allen Distinguished Professor of Law, UNC School of Law. "Each chapter is punctuated with thoughtful discussion questions that will spark debate about the merits of various countries' solutions to the problem of consumer debt." -- Harvard Law Review "Throughout the book Kilborn employs the welcoming tone of a seasoned and passionate educator, with a touch of humor, at the same time appealing to the sense of certainty that law students so often crave...Kilborn is to be congratulated." -- The Law and Politics Book Review

Written by IMF's Legal Department, this book outlines the key issues involved in designing and implementing orderly and effective insolvency procedures, which play a critical role in fostering growth and competitiveness and may also assist in the prevention and resolution of financial crises. The book draws on lessons learned from firsthand experience by some of the IMF's 182 member countries. It includes an analysis of the major policy choices that countries need to address when designing an insolvency system, a discussion of the advantages and disadvantages of these choices, and a number of specific recommendations.

Corporate law and corporate governance have been at the forefront of regulatory activities across the world for several decades now, and are subject to increasing public attention following the Global Financial Crisis of 2008. The Oxford Handbook of Corporate Law and Governance provides the global framework necessary to understand the aims and methods of legal research in this field. Written by leading scholars from around the world, the Handbook contains a rich variety of chapters that provide a comparative and functional overview of corporate governance. It opens with the central theoretical approaches and methodologies in corporate law scholarship in Part I, before examining core substantive topics in corporate law, including shareholder rights, takeovers and restructuring, and minority rights in Part II. Part III focuses on new challenges in the field, including conflicts between Western and Asian corporate governance environments, the rise of foreign ownership, and emerging markets. Enforcement issues are covered in Part IV, and Part V takes a broader approach, examining those areas of law and finance that are interwoven with corporate governance, including insolvency, taxation, and securities law as well as financial regulation. The Handbook is a comprehensive, interdisciplinary resource placing corporate law and governance in its wider context, and is essential reading for scholars, practitioners, and policymakers in the field.

Excessive household debt has allowed for economic growth, but this model has become increasingly unstable. Spooner examines bankruptcy law as a potential solution.

The European debt crisis in the early to mid 2010s brought to the fore the issue of household debt distress: in the countries affected, widespread over-indebdtedness resulted in serious financial and social challenges. The crisis was primarily a mortgage debt crisis, but in several cases, the legal response was based on the introduction of personal insolvency procedures. This paper examines the challenges in designing and implementing legal reforms in this area to promote a better understanding of the main considerations in resolving personal insolvency and distressed mortgage debt in the context of crises. Lessons from the European crisis may prove valuable when dealing with the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine on household debt distress.

After a long period of prosperity and steady economic growth, the world's leading economies are now in crisis, and although there will be debate about its origins, the scale and seriousness of the crisis is in no doubt. There is also no doubt that excessive amounts of consumer credit, allied to a weak understanding of how globalised credit markets might react to a crisis, have played a significant part. This book, which is primarily about credit, debt and the trouble they have led to, is written by authors who have specialised in researching into over-indebtedness, that is, situations in which an individual's debt burden has become overwhelming. For these authors the plight of individuals is a primary concern, but the wider issue is how credit is used and how it changes societies. The essays in this volume, addressing topics which are fundamental to our understanding of the current crisis, range widely across the whole sector of consumer finance, including mortgages, 'credit-binges', the regulation of consumer lending, insolvency, repayment plans, debt counselling and much more besides. The conclusions drawn from the book are equally wide-ranging, but above all the lesson learned from these essays is that the financialisation of contemporary life ensures that issues of the appropriate role of credit remain of critical importance in society.

As the radical reforms contained in the Enterprise Act 2002 have come fully on-stream, Personal Insolvency Law has become a major focus of attention. At the same time, all evidence points to increasing levels of personal debt with the consequential rise in bankruptcies. Personal Insolvency Law, Regulation and Policy therefore provides a timely evaluation of the current state of English law in this important area. The volume presents a critical analysis of the regimes of bankruptcy and individual voluntary arrangement in the context of current policy goals. It examines the impact of the Insolvency Act 2000 and the Enterprise Act 2002, and discusses the treatment of bankruptcy within the global economy. The book will be a valuable guide for students and academics engaged in the study of this increasingly important branch of private law. The study will also be of value to practitioners and policy makers.