Bankruptcy & Spousal Support to help Virginia's families

This week the Virginia General Assembly considered HB 2015 which would allow for expansion of bankruptcy relief when it comes to spousal support.

 

Regent Law Professor Scott Pryor testified before the General Assembly on this matter, and his ideas effectively work to protect destitute families from the ravages of breakdown, particularly when that breakdown intersects with family financial failure leading to bankruptcy.  Posted on his blog PryorThoughts (at http://pryorthoughts.blogspot.com/) are some of his remarks in this regard:  

 

"Virginia's exemption laws are notoriously parsimonious. Since biblical times, all legal-political orders have provided that some of a debtor's assets are free from seizure by creditors. (For an analysis of the biblical evidence for exemption laws, read my five-part(!) series here, here, here, here, and here.) 
In America, each state sets its own exemptions. Some, likely putatively-conservative Texas, are extraordinarily generous, permitting debtors of substantial means to thumb their noses at folks they don't wish to pay. Others, like Virginia, permit the destitute to keep very little in the face of unpaid debts.
HB 2015 would expand--very slightly--what folks in Virginia may keep. Most significantly, spousal support would be free from collection by creditors. As the law now stand, creditors may in effect garnish support due a divorced spouse. Hardly a family-friendly state of affairs. …
Virginia exemptions laws will remain at the low end of such matters even with these changes. Unlike the laws of Texas and Florida, these exemptions will not let deadbeats game the system, Instead, they will permit the poorest among us to keep a modicum of what is needed to continue to function and support themselves and their families."

Read this post in its entirety at http://pryorthoughts.blogspot.com/2015/01/potential-good-news-for-Virginia.html.  Families enduring breakdown can appreciate the assistance this piece of legislation will offer them, while not hindering their opportunities for family restoration.  To learn more of the possibilities of restoring a family, even one enduring financial hardship, download and read "Understanding Realistic Reconciliation in an Age of Divorce," at  http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1949256 .