Debtors' Exemption Rights under the Bankruptcy Reform Act

cited as COMMISSION REPORT].9. Often, in fact, creditors have little interest in the debtor's estate because it contains so few assets.Therefore, the beneficiary of a denial of exemptions is frequently the trustee.See Bankruptcy Act Revision: Hearings on HR. 31 & 32 Before the Subcomm.on Civil & Constitutional Rights ofthe House Committee on the Judiciary, 94th Cong., 1st & 2d Sess., p t .2, 767, 773, 786-88 (1975-1976) (statement of Professor Shuchman) [hereinafter cited as House Hearings].[Vol.58 18.This does not apply to tort judgment creditors who have had no opportunity to evaluate their debtors' creditworthiness.I have elsewhere recommended that tort judgment creditors' claims be exceptions to the exemption laws for this reason.See Vukowich, The Bankruptcy Commission'r Proposals Regarding Bankrupts' Exemption Rights, 63 CALIF.L. REV.1439, 1474-77 (1975).19.This is not true of tort judgment creditors and small contract creditors.