On June 1, 2015, the United States Supreme Court in Bank of America, N.A. v. Caulkett, 575 U.S. ____ (2015), unanimously held that a Chapter 7 debtor cannot strip off wholly “underwater” liens secured by the debtor’s property. In Caulkett, the debtor’s property was subject to two liens when the bankruptcy case was commenced. Since the obligation owed on the first lien exceeded the value of the property, the second lien was underwater and therefore had no value.

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