In a recent judgment, the Belgian Court of Cassation ruled that a secured creditor must renew the registration of its mortgage even after the opening of bankruptcy proceedings. Aside from its obvious significance for real estate security, the Court’s ruling may have wider implications for secured creditors and could potentially be interpreted to apply to other forms of security, including the registered movable assets pledge. Secured creditors should see this as a reminder to ensure that perfection requirements continue to be met, be it before or after insolvency.

In January 2020, we analyzed a split among the Circuit Courts regarding whether a non-debtor holding a debtor’s property on the petition date has an affirmative obligation under section 362(a)(3) of the Bankruptcy Code to return that property to the debtor immediately following the filing of the bankruptcy petition.