Mortgage Corporation of the South v. Judith Lacy Bozeman ( 2023 )

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[PUBLISH]
In the
United States Court of Appeals
For the Eleventh Circuit
____________________
No. 21-10987
____________________
In Re: JUDITH LACY BOZEMAN,
Debtor.
___________________________________________________
MORTGAGE CORPORATION OF THE SOUTH,
Plaintiff-Appellant,
versus
JUDITH LACY BOZEMAN,
Defendant-Appellee,
SABRINA L. MCKINNEY,
Interested Party-Appellee.
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2 Opinion of the Court 21-10987
____________________
Appeal from the United States District Court
for the Middle District of Alabama
D.C. Docket Nos. 2:20-cv-00403-RAH,
Bkcy No. 2:16-bk-32469-WRS
____________________
Before ROSENBAUM and TJOFLAT, Circuit Judges, and MOODY,*
District Judge.
ROSENBAUM, Circuit Judge:
Section 1322(b)(2) of Title 11 is known as the Bankruptcy
Code’s “antimodification” provision. Tanner v. FirstPlus Fin., Inc.,
(In re Tanner), 217 F.3d 1357, 1359 (11th Cir. 2000). Under it, with-
out the lender’s express approval or an applicable statutory excep-
tion, bankruptcy plans cannot modify the rights of home-mortgage
lenders as they relate to mortgages on a debtor’s principal resi-
dence secured by that residence.
Despite the antimodification provision, Debtor-Appellee Ju-
dith Lacy Bozeman’s confirmed bankruptcy plan purported to
modify the rights of Plaintiff-Appellant Creditor Mortgage Corpo-
ration of the South’s (“MCS”) mortgage on Bozeman’s resi-
dence. In fact, her plan purported to eradicate all remaining
* The Honorable James S. Moody, Jr., United States District Judge for the Mid-
dle District of Florida, sitting by designation.
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21-10987 Opinion of the Court 3
outstanding payments on her mortgage, beyond MCS’s claims for
past-due arrearages. Then, after Bozeman paid off the debts iden-
tified under her bankruptcy plan, Bozeman sought to have MCS’s
lien on her home (which had guaranteed her payments on the out-
standing loan balance) dissolved. Noting that the bankruptcy court
had confirmed Bozeman’s Plan without objection and that 11
U.S.C. § 1327 (the “finality” provision) renders confirmed plans fi-
nal, the bankruptcy court granted Bozeman’s motion, and the dis-
trict court affirmed.
This case requires us to determine which provision wins—
antimodification or finality—when the two clash in the scenario
this case presents. We declare the antimodification provision the
victor.
Under Supreme Court and Eleventh Circuit precedent, we
read the antimodification provision as an ironclad “do not touch”
instruction for the rights of holders of homestead mortgages. So a
bankruptcy plan cannot modify the rights of a mortgage lender
whose claim is secured by the debtor’s principal residence by
providing for release 1 of the homestead-mortgagee’s lien before
the mortgagee has recovered the full amount it is owed. For this
reason, we reverse the bankruptcy court’s order discharging MCS’s
lien on Bozeman’s home and the district court’s order affirming it.
1 A “release” of a lien “discharge[s] a [lien] upon full payment by the borrower”
and “show[s] that the borrower has full equity in the property.” Release of
Mortgage, Black’s Law Dictionary (11th ed. 2019).
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4 Opinion of the Court 21-10987
I.
In 2015, Judith Bozeman mortgaged her home to MCS for a
$14,000 loan. In exchange for the mortgage loan, Bozeman agreed
to pay MCS back, plus 19.7% annual interest, over nine years. And
as collateral, Bozeman agreed to give MCS a security interest in her
home. That allowed MCS to foreclose on Bozeman’s home and
recoup the balance of Bozeman’s debt to MCS if Bozeman failed to
pay back the money she borrowed.
Unfortunately, in 2016, Bozeman’s financial situation took a
turn for the worse. On September 7, she filed for Chapter 13 bank-
ruptcy—a legal action that allows an income-earning debtor to
hold onto her property while she pays her creditors back over a
three-to-five-year period. Harris v. Viegelahn, 575 U.S. 510, 514
(2015) (citing 11 U.S.C. §§ 1306(b), 1322, 1327(b)).
A week after Bozeman filed for bankruptcy, on September
16, MCS filed a proof of claim.2 See 11 U.S.C. § 501. In that proof
of claim, MCS asserted Bozeman owed $6,817.42 in arrears on the
2015 mortgage loan. 3 The proof of claim listed the value of MCS’s
claim several times, each time with “Arrearage only” handwritten
beside it. In other words, the proof of claim did not include the
2 A proof of claim is a legal form a creditor fills out to make a claim for pay-
ment out of bankruptcy funds in a bankruptcy case. See Bankruptcy Form
410.
3 “Arrears” refer to “unpaid or overdue debt[s].” Arrear, Black’s Law Diction-
ary (11th ed. 2019)
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21-10987 Opinion of the Court 5
amount outstanding on Bozeman’s loan after payment of the ar-
rearages.
A few days after MCS filed its claim, Bozeman filed a pro-
posed payment plan. And two months later, Bozeman filed an
amended plan (for convenience, our further reference in this opin-
ion to the amended plan uses the term “Plan”).4 In the Plan, Bo-
zeman acknowledged a debt to MCS, secured by her home, in the
amount of $17,393.04, plus 7.568% in interest. She also listed a se-
cured car loan and unspecified unsecured debt, each owed to unre-
lated creditors. Bozeman’s Plan proposed 58 monthly payments of
$503.00 to the bankruptcy Trustee, $454.00 of which would go to
MCS (seemingly adding up to a total of $26,332.00 (58 months x
$454.00 per monthly payment) for MCS).
Bozeman’s Plan included a lien-retention provision that
guaranteed secured creditors’ retention of their liens until
4 When someone files a Chapter 13 bankruptcy petition, a disinterested trus-
tee is appointed to administer the case. 11 U.S.C. § 1302. Among other things,
the trustee evaluates the case, collects payments from the debtor, and distrib-
utes those payments to the creditors. Id. § 1302(b). On November 17, the
trustee here (“Trustee”) filed an objection to confirmation of the initial plan.
Among other reasons, the Trustee objected because the proposed plan did not
satisfy the required commitment period (the period for which the plan pro-
vides for a debtor to make payments). To justify a shorter commitment pe-
riod, the Trustee requested that Bozeman include full payments to all unse-
cured creditors through the plan. Id. See 11 U.S.C. § 1325(b)(4). Bozeman
then filed her amended Plan, which included 100% payments to her unsecured
creditors.
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6 Opinion of the Court 21-10987
“completion of all payments under [the] [P]lan.” Still, though, Bo-
zeman’s Plan advised that “[c]reditors must file a proof of claim to
be paid.” And it expressly proposed that once her Plan was con-
firmed, “the creditor’s claim shall be paid its specified monthly
[P]lan payments on the terms and conditions” provided for by the
[P]lan “as required under § 1325(a)(5).” 5
The form on which Bozeman submitted her Plan identified
several possible ways she could pay her creditors. Among others,
one provision was titled, “curing defaults” under § 1322(b)(5). This
avenue would have allowed Bozeman to remedy debts for which
she had fallen behind. A plan that uses this mechanism, known as
a cure-and-maintain plan, allows a homeowner “to stave off fore-
closure and catch up [her] mortgage within a reasonable amount
of time.” In re Muhammad, 536 B.R. 469, 471 n.1 (Bankr. M.D. Ala.
2015) (citing 11 U.S.C. § 1322(b)(5)). It is designed to remedy ar-
rearages when the full balance of the debt will become due after
the Chapter 13 plan ends. Though MCS’s loan to Bozeman—with
its $6,817.42 in arrearages and its balance due after the Plan
ended—would have fit the bill for the “curing defaults” provision,
Bozeman did not list any debts under that section.
Rather, she provided for her debt to MCS under the section
titled, “secured claims paid through the [P]lan.” This provision
5 Section 1325(a)(5) outlines requirements for Chapter 13 plans that provide
for the payment of secured claims.
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21-10987 Opinion of the Court 7
advised that creditors’ claims were to be paid under “the terms and
conditions listed below as required under § 1325(a)(5).”
The bankruptcy court later described Bozeman’s Plan as a
full-payment plan, meaning that (unlike a cure-and-maintain plan)
it provided for payment of the full balance of the identified debts
within the life of the Chapter 13 plan. 6 Put simply, under a full-
payment plan, Bozeman’s entire debt to MCS (including both the
arrearages and any remaining balance) would be considered fully
paid when Bozeman completed payments on her Plan.
MCS did not object to Bozeman’s Plan. Nor did it initially
file an amended claim.7
On January 9, 2017, the bankruptcy court held a confirma-
tion hearing. The Trustee filed a summary of the confirmed Plan.
That summary reiterated that Bozeman would make 58 monthly
payments of $503.00 to the Trustee. And it listed MCS as the only
secured creditor. In addition, the summary identified the value of
the collateral supporting MCS’s claim as $17,180.00, with an inter-
est rate of 7.57%, and monthly payments of $454.00. The Trustee
6 The district court referred to this type of plan as a full-balance plan. These
terms are interchangeable, so for the sake of simplicity, we use the term “full-
payment plan.”
7 In May 2019, two-and-a-half years after MCS filed its initial claim, MCS filed
two amended proofs of claim. The bankruptcy court rejected those claims as
untimely filed. MCS has not appealed that decision.
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8 Opinion of the Court 21-10987
transmitted a copy of the Plan to MCS, and on January 14, 2017,
the bankruptcy court confirmed the Plan.
Just over a year later, in March 2018, MCS moved to dismiss
the bankruptcy proceeding because Bozeman fell behind on her
Plan payments. MCS and Bozeman negotiated a resolution, and
MCS withdrew its motion to dismiss.
With the Plan back on track, a little more than a year later,
on May 13, 2019, the Trustee filed notice that Bozeman had com-
pleted her payments under her Plan. The “Notice of Final Cure
Payment” said that Bozeman had successfully paid $6,817.42 to the
Trustee under the Plan. According to the Trustee, this figure con-
stituted the “[e]ntire mortgage debt” owed MCS. So the Notice of
Final Cure Payment declared that Bozeman had paid her “prepeti-
tion arrearage” balance of $6,817.42 in full and that she had no re-
maining payments under the Plan.
The next day, MCS objected. Although Bozeman had paid
the full amount “required to cure the default on the arrearage
claim,” MCS explained, she had paid nothing towards the remain-
ing $15,032.73 balance due on her mortgage. So on June 12, MCS
moved to lift the automatic stay on enforcement proceedings so it
could seek to foreclose on Bozeman’s home. 8
8 When a bankruptcy case is filed, other litigation against the debtor is auto-
matically stayed. See 11 U.S.C. § 362.
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21-10987 Opinion of the Court 9
Three months later, on September 12, 2019, Bozeman
moved to release the lien MCS held on her property. She argued
that at the outset of the bankruptcy proceeding, she proposed to
pay her entire debt to MCS. And, she continued, she had paid MCS
everything it had asked for in its original proof of claim. Having
paid MCS’s original claim, Bozeman asserted, she satisfied the lien
MCS held against her property, so the court should treat the lien as
satisfied and released.
MCS objected to Bozeman’s motion to discharge the bank-
ruptcy and release the lien. It raised a series of arguments.
First, MCS contended that Bozeman had not complied with
the straightforward terms of the Plan. The Plan acknowledged a
$17,180.00 debt and required 58 consecutive payments. That debt
had not been paid, and not all 58 payments had been made.
Second, MCS asserted that the Plan was illegal at the outset.
Under the antimodification provision, MCS argued, a plan cannot
modify the rights of a holder of “a claim secured only by a security
interest in real property that is the debtor’s principal residence.”
That, MCS asserted, described its lien here. So, MCS reasoned, the
bankruptcy court was not free to modify the terms of its mortgage
claim by approving Bozeman’s Plan to the extent that it purported
to extinguish the mortgage five years short of its maturity date and
“cram[] down the interest rate.”
Relatedly, MCS noted that 11 U.S.C. § 1322(c)(2) excuses
compliance with the antimodification provision when “the last
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10 Opinion of the Court 21-10987
payment on the original payment schedule for a claim [that is se-
cured only by a security interest in real property that is the debtor’s
principal residence but that] is due before the date on which the
final payment under the plan is due.” (emphasis added). But, MCS
argued, that provision did not except MCS’s claim from the anti-
modification provision because, under the original payment sched-
ule for Bozeman’s mortgage, the last payment was due three years
after the Plan was scheduled to be completed.
Third, MCS contended that longstanding principles of bank-
ruptcy law prohibit invalidation of a secured lien through bank-
ruptcy. As MCS saw things, a lien, particularly a mortgage lien,
“survives” a confirmed Chapter 13 plan, and the general rule is that
liens “pass through” bankruptcy unaffected. According to MCS,
bankruptcy can extinguish an in personam claim against a debtor,
but it does not eliminate an in rem claim against the debtor’s prop-
erty.
Finally, MCS argued that our decision in In re Bateman
squarely controlled the case. There, we held that “a secured cred-
itor’s claim for mortgage arrearage survives the confirmed plan to
the extent it is not satisfied in full by payments under the plan, or
otherwise satisfied.” Universal Am. Mortg. Co. v. Bateman (In re
Bateman), 331 F.3d 821, 822 (11th Cir. 2003). Were that not the
case, we explained, we “would deny the effect of 11 U.S.C.
§ 1322(b)(2), which, in effect, prohibits modifications of secured
claims for mortgages on a debtor’s principal residence.” Id.In response, Bozeman made four primary points.
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21-10987 Opinion of the Court 11
First, she said that MCS got what it had bargained for. As
Bozeman saw things, MCS had asked for $6,817.42 plus interest,
and that’s exactly what it received. Bozeman pointed out that MCS
could have amended its claim before the claim submission dead-
line, but it failed to do so. Nor did it offer any “excuse either for its
initial failure or for sleeping on its rights until the Plan had con-
cluded,” Bozeman asserted.
Second, Bozeman argued she would be unfairly prejudiced
if the bankruptcy court did not discharge her debt to MCS. This
was so, Bozeman explained, because Bozeman had to pay her un-
secured creditors in full with what was left after she paid the arrear-
ages claim, since MCS had failed “to amend its proof of claim to
accurately represent what was owed . . . .”
Third, Bozeman acknowledged the discrepancy between
the debt she outlined in her plan (the $17,180.00, with an interest
rate of 7.57%) and the debt MCS claimed in its proof of claim
($6,817.42). But in her view, MCS’s smaller claim superseded the
Plan’s estimation of the amount of her debt to MCS.
And fourth, Bozeman argued that the Supreme Court’s de-
cision in United Student Aid Funds, Inc. v. Espinosa, 559 U.S. 260(2010), foreclosed MCS’s challenge to the Plan based on the alleged
improper confirmation of the Plan. To the extent this Court’s de-
cision in Bateman conflicted with Espinosa, Bozeman suggested
that Espinosa controlled.
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12 Opinion of the Court 21-10987
Following an evidentiary hearing, the bankruptcy court
granted Bozeman’s motions to discharge her from bankruptcy and
to deem MCS’s lien satisfied. MCS filed a notice of appeal with the
district court. In that notice (and later in its briefing before us),
MCS limited its appeal to the bankruptcy court’s decision to deem
the lien satisfied. The district court affirmed.
We now consider MCS’s appeal.
II.
We “sit[] as a second court of review.” Yerian v. Webber (In
re Yerian), 927 F.3d 1223, 1227 (11th Cir. 2019) (quotation omitted).
In that role, we “examine[] independently the factual and legal de-
terminations of the bankruptcy court and employ[] the same stand-
ards of review as the district court.” Id. When, as here, the district
court affirms the bankruptcy court’s order, we review the bank-
ruptcy court’s decision. Brown v. Gore (In re Brown), 742 F.3d
1309, 1315 (11th Cir. 2014). In so doing, we review the bankruptcy
court’s legal conclusions de novo and its factual findings for clear
error. Id.III.
The only question we address in this appeal is whether Bo-
zeman’s payoff of her Plan entitled her to satisfaction of MCS’s lien
on her home. Our prior precedent requires us to conclude it did
not. We divide our analysis into two parts. In Section A, we ex-
plain why the Plan modified MCS’s rights in violation of the Bank-
ruptcy Code’s antimodification provision, so our precedent
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21-10987 Opinion of the Court 13
requires us to conclude the Plan was not a legal one. Section B
shows why, despite the preclusive effect of the confirmed plan, the
bankruptcy court should not have released MCS’s lien.
A. The antimodification provision prohibited the Plan from
modifying MCS’s rights as a homestead mortgagee.
We divide our discussion into three parts. In Section 1, we
show why the antimodification provision’s text and our precedent
require us to conclude that the Plan unlawfully purported to mod-
ify MCS’s rights as a homestead mortgagee. Section 2 explains how
Bozeman improperly used a full-payment plan and why that im-
proper use cannot modify MCS’s rights as a homestead mortgagee.
And in Section 3, we reject Bozeman’s argument that the Supreme
Court abrogated our precedent that requires us to conclude that
Bozeman’s Plan did not modify MCS’s rights as a homestead mort-
gagee.
1. The statutory text and our prior precedent require us
to conclude that, to the extent the Plan purported to
modify MCS’s rights as a homestead mortgagee, the
Plan was not legal under the Bankruptcy Code.
Because this case requires us to consider what the Bank-
ruptcy Code requires, we begin with the statutory text. See Hey-
man v. Cooper, 31 F.4th 1315, 1318 (11th Cir. 2022) (“As in every
statutory-interpretation case, we start with the text—and, if we find
it clear, we end there as well.”) (citation and quotation marks omit-
ted). In construing the terms of the statute, we give them their
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14 Opinion of the Court 21-10987
“ordinary public meaning.” Bostock v. Clayton Cnty., 140 S. Ct.
1731, 1738 (2020). Our task requires us to look not only to the stat-
utory language at issue but also to the “language and design of the
statute as a whole.” K Mart Corp. v. Cartier, Inc., 486 U.S. 281, 291
(1988); see also Antonin Scalia & Bryan A. Garner, Reading Law
167 (2012) (noting that the “whole-text canon . . . calls on the judi-
cial interpreter to consider the entire text, in view of its structure
and of the physical and logical relation of its many parts”).
The antimodification provision states, as relevant here, that
a bankruptcy “plan may—(2) modify the rights of holders of se-
cured claims, other than a claim secured only by a security interest
in real property that is the debtor’s principal residence.” 11 U.S.C.
§ 1322(b)(2) (emphasis added). In other words, a plan may not
“modify the rights of holders of . . . a claim secured only by a secu-
rity interest in real property that is the debtor’s principal resi-
dence.” By its plain language, then, this provision prohibits bank-
ruptcy plans from modifying the rights of the holder of a claim se-
cured by only a security interest in real property that is the debtor’s
principal residence—rights like MCS’s at issue here.
Still, other parts of § 1322 limit this prohibition on modifica-
tion of homestead mortgage loans. “[N]otwithstanding”
§ 1322(b)(2), § 1322(b)(5) authorizes bankruptcy plans to “provide
for the curing of any default within a reasonable time and mainte-
nance of payments while the case is pending on any unsecured
claim or secured claim on which the last payment is due after the
date on which the final payment under the plan is due.” 11 U.S.C.
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21-10987 Opinion of the Court 15
§ 1322(b)(5) (emphasis added). So for situations when a debtor’s
outstanding mortgage secured by her principal home is not due to
be paid off until after the plan expires, and her payments on that
mortgage are in arrears—like Bozeman’s situation—a plan may al-
low the debtor to catch up on her arrearages, while maintaining
her monthly payments, and avoid foreclosure. By design, under a
plan like that—a cure-and-maintain plan—after the debtor is dis-
charged from bankruptcy, the debtor must continue to make the
payments remaining on the original payment schedule for the
mortgage. We refer to § 1322(b)(5) as the “cure-and-maintain ex-
ception.”
By its terms, then, the cure-and-maintain exception author-
izes only two things with respect to a principal-residence-backed
mortgage when the last payment is due after the plan ends: (1)
modification of the rights of the mortgage-holder only as those
rights relate to collection of arrears on the debt and (2) mainte-
nance of current payments on the mortgage loan. Id. It does not
contemplate modification of the mortgage holder’s rights to re-
ceive payments remaining on the mortgage after the completion of
the plan. See id.
In contrast—and again “[n]otwithstanding subsection (b)(2)
and applicable nonbankruptcy law,” § 1322(c)(2)’s text reflects that
it deals solely with cases when “the last payment on the original
payment schedule for a claim secured only by a security interest in
real property that is the debtor’s principal residence is due before
the date on which the final payment under the plan is due.” 11
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16 Opinion of the Court 21-10987
U.S.C. § 1322(c)(2) (emphasis added). We refer to this exception as
the “short-term exception.” Under the short-term exception, “the
plan may provide for the payment of the claim as modified pursu-
ant to section 1325(a)(5) of this title.” Id.Because Bozeman’s case does not involve a mortgage where
the last payment on the original payment schedule was due before
the date on which the final payment under the plan is due, we do
not discuss the requirements of the short-term exception further.
It is enough to observe that the short-term exception does not au-
thorize an exception to the antimodification provision’s prohibi-
tion on modifications of a homestead-backed mortgage loan when
the original payment schedule contemplates the final payment af-
ter the plan period expires.
In sum, then, in § 1322, Congress three times expressly or
implicitly protected from modification the rights of homestead-
mortgage lenders as they concern those lenders’ secured interests
in the debtor’s principal residence, when the final original payment
schedule does not expire before the plan period ends. We have
explained that the Code makes these protections because “favora-
ble treatment of residential mortgagees was intended to encourage
the flow of capital into the home lending market.” Universal Am.
Mortg. Co. v. Bateman (In re Bateman), 331 F.3d 821, 826 (11th Cir.
2003) (quoting Nobelman v. Am. Savs. Bank, 508 U.S. 324, 332
(1993) (Stevens, J., concurring) (quotation marks omitted)).
On the other side of the equation, to protect debtors in a
relationship with a homestead-mortgagee, the Bankruptcy Code
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21-10987 Opinion of the Court 17
checks “[t]he lender’s power to enforce its rights—and, in particu-
lar, its right to foreclose on the property in the event of default”—
through the Code’s automatic-stay provision. Id. (quoting Nobel-
man, 508 U.S. at 330 (quotation marks omitted)).
Consistent with the concern for encouraging homestead
mortgages, the Supreme Court has emphasized that, by its terms,
§ 1322(b)(2) protects “the rights” of homestead-mortgagees, as op-
posed to “claims.” Nobelman, 508 U.S. at 328. Towards that end,
the Court has explained, § 1322(b)(2) “does not state that a plan
may modify ‘claims’ or that the plan may not modify ‘a claim se-
cured only by’ a home mortgage. Rather, it focuses on the modifi-
cation of the ‘rights of holders’ of such claims.” Id.
The Bankruptcy Code does not define the term “rights.” Id.
at 329. But the Supreme Court has instructed courts to look to
state law to determine the rights a homestead mortgagee possesses
under § 1322(b)(2). Id. (citations omitted). Here, MCS’s rights are
“reflected in the relevant mortgage instruments, which are en-
forceable under [Alabama] law.” Id.
MCS and Bozeman signed a promissory note and mortgage
that granted MCS a security interest in Bozeman’s property. Those
instruments gave MCS the right to foreclose on Bozeman’s prop-
erty if Bozeman defaulted on her obligation to make payments to
MCS in the agreed-upon amounts. Under the promissory note, Bo-
zeman needed to pay MCS the $14,000 she borrowed plus 19.70%
in interest annually. The note proposed 108 monthly payments of
$277.67 unless Bozeman exercised her right to pay off her balance
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18 Opinion of the Court 21-10987
early. And under Alabama law, Bozeman’s debt could not be sat-
isfied “until there [was] no outstanding indebtedness or other obli-
gations secured by the mortgage[.]” Ala. Code § 35-10-26. “These
are the rights that were ‘bargained for by the mortgagor and the
mortgagee,’ and are rights protected from modification by
§ 1322(b)(2).” Nobelman, 508 U.S. at 329–30 (quoting Dewsnup v.
Timm, 502 U.S. 410, 417 (1992)).
We have also recognized as much. In In re Dukes, we said
that “[a] creditor’s rights ‘protected from modification by §
1322(b)(2)’ are the rights under the original loan instruments as de-
fined by state law.” Dukes v. Suncoast Credit Union (In re Dukes),
909 F.3d 1306, 1331 (11th Cir. 2018) (quoting Nobelman, 508 U.S.
at 329–30).
Despite these rights that the parties bargained for and Ala-
bama law protected, the bankruptcy court deemed MCS’s lien in
Bozeman’s residence to be satisfied and released. It did so even
though Bozeman paid MCS only the $6,817.42 in arrearages and
has yet to pay the remaining balance. But both Supreme Court and
our precedent require us to conclude that declaring a homestead-
mortgagee’s lien satisfied before the debt the lien secures is paid in
full constitutes an impermissible modification of the homestead-
mortgagee’s rights under the antimodification provision.
We begin with Nobelman. There, the Supreme Court con-
sidered the debtors’ attempt to void the portion of their creditor’s
lien that exceeded the value of the partially underwater home the
lien secured. Nobelman, 508 U.S. at 325–26. The debtors relied on
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21-10987 Opinion of the Court 19
11 U.S.C. § 506(a) to argue that the homestead mortgagee’s claim
was secured up to only the current value of the home, and the re-
mainder of the claim was unsecured. Id. at 328. They asserted that
the antimodification provision protects only “holders of secured
claims,” and the creditor held a secured claim only to the extent of
the home’s value. Id.
The Supreme Court disagreed. The Court concluded that
the debtors’ argument “fail[ed] to take adequate account of
§ 1322(b)(2)’s focus on ‘rights.’” Id. at 328. The antimodification
provision did not prohibit the modification of “claims”; rather, it
prohibited the modification of “‘the rights of holders’ of such
claims,” the Court explained. Id. And state law and the underlying
mortgage instruments revealed that the creditor possessed the
right to, among other things, retain its lien until its debt was paid
off. Id. at 329. So, the Court held, bifurcating the creditor’s claim,
and thus partially stripping its lien, would constitute a modification
of its rights in violation of the antimodification provision. Id. at 331.
Here, the problem is worse than that. The bankruptcy
court’s order did not just release MCS’s lien in part; it released it in
full. Even though MCS had a secured interest in Bozeman’s home,
MCS has received payment for only the arrearages that were in-
cluded in its claim. So release of MCS’s lien would cause the re-
mainder of its interest to simply evaporate, regardless of its sub-
stantive rights under the terms of the mortgage and Alabama law.
Because Bozeman obtained the release before she repaid MCS un-
der the terms of the contract, we must conclude that the order
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20 Opinion of the Court 21-10987
granting the release unlawfully modified MCS’s rights as a secured
homestead-mortgagee. 9
Our decisions in Bateman and Dukes further compel this re-
sult. In Bateman, the debtor’s plan provided for only partial pay-
ment in arrears to her primary-residence mortgage creditor (a plan
that the bankruptcy court confirmed without objection). 331 F.3d
at 822–23. We held that the bankruptcy court could not discharge
the debtor from the full amount of the arrears she in fact owed. Id.
at 834. We rooted our decision “within the context of the special
treatment afforded mortgage lenders” under the antimodification
provision. Id. at 825 n.4. As we explained, the debtor’s “plan is
prohibited from reducing the mortgagee’s secured claim.” Id. at
826. In other words, we reasoned that even though the debtor’s
plan had been confirmed, the antimodification provision prohib-
ited modifications to the mortgagee’s rights that the debtor’s pri-
mary residence secured. As a result, we concluded that the credi-
tor’s “secured claim for arrearage survive[d] the [p]lan and [the
creditor] retain[ed] its rights under the mortgage until [its] claim
[was] satisfied in full.” Id. at 834. Allowing the confirmed plan to
extinguish the mortgagee’s rights “would deny the effect of” the
antimodification provision, we said. Id. at 822.
9 Bateman and Dukes, which we will discuss further, foreclose the Trustee’s
suggestion that the term “modification” refers to only the bifurcation of a se-
cured claim into a secured and unsecured portion. In both cases, we con-
cluded that discharging liability for unpaid debts constituted a modification of
rights under § 1322(b)(2). And neither case involved bifurcating claims.
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21-10987 Opinion of the Court 21
Also in Bateman, we cited with approval the Fifth Circuit’s
decision in Simmons v. Savell (In re Simmons), 765 F.2d 547 (5th
Cir. 1985). There, the debtor’s plan had inaccurately characterized
the creditor’s claim. 765 F.2d at 549. The Fifth Circuit rejected the
debtor’s argument that the inaccurate characterization effectively
“lift[ed] the construction lien from the homestead and vest[ed] the
interest of the property in the debtor ‘free and clear of any claim or
interest of any creditor.’” Bateman, 331 F.3d at 831 (quoting Sim-
mons, 765 F.2d at 555). Instead, the Fifth Circuit held the creditor’s
lien on the debtor’s homestead “remained unimpaired by the order
of confirmation.” Id. (quoting Simmons, 765 F.2d at 559). So we
explained in Bateman that, under Simmons, “a lien on a mortgage
survives the § 1327 res judicata effect of a confirmed plan.” Id.
We reached a similar conclusion in Dukes. There, we held
that even if the debtor’s plan “provided for” her mortgage, we
could not discharge the debt she owed because doing so would vi-
olate the antimodification provision. Dukes, 909 F.3d at 1320. As
we explained, “a discharge of a debtor’s obligations under his resi-
dential mortgage would dramatically modify the rights of the
holder of that mortgage.” Id. The debtor argued that discharge was
not a modification because the creditor could still foreclose on the
property, even if it could not seek a deficiency judgment against
the debtor. Id. at 1320–21. We rejected that argument. In so do-
ing, we reasoned that “[r]emoval of the [creditor’s] right to pursue
in personam liability against [d]ebtor” would “strip[] the [creditor]
of a right provided by the original loan instrument.” Id. at 1321.
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22 Opinion of the Court 21-10987
The proposed discharge therefore “would necessarily modify the
[creditor’s] rights” in violation of the antimodification provision.
Id.
The reasoning in Dukes applies with additional force here.
Releasing a mortgagee’s lien would modify its rights even more
dramatically than discharging the debtor’s obligations under the
mortgage. After all, regardless of whether a mortgagee can seek in
personam relief against a debtor, a mortgagee that retains its lien
can use that lien “to collect future obligations” through an in rem
proceeding against the property. Dukes, 909 F.3d at 1322. But if
MCS’s lien is released here, MCS would have no mechanism to col-
lect the remaining balance.
The Code’s protections for the rights of primary-residential
mortgage holders forbid that result. So they prohibit releasing a
lien before the terms of the primary-residential mortgage are satis-
fied. Indeed, the Supreme Court has long recognized the protec-
tion bankruptcy law offers against the invalidation of a creditor’s
lien. See Dewsnup, 502 U.S. at 418–19 (“[N]o provision of the pre-
Code statute permitted involuntary reduction of the amount of a
creditor’s lien for any reason other than payment on the debt.”)
(citing Long v. Bullard, 117 U.S. 617, 620–621 (1886)). 10
10 This is not to say that the modern Bankruptcy Code completely lacks the
authority to strip or void liens or that liens always survive bankruptcy. See,
e.g., Wells Fargo Bank, N.A. v. Scantling (In re Scantling), 754 F.3d 1323, 1325
(11th Cir. 2014) (holding that the Bankruptcy Code authorizes “a debtor [to]
‘strip off’ a wholly unsecured junior mortgage in a Chapter 20 case.”). In fact,
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21-10987 Opinion of the Court 23
Bozeman resists the conclusion that releasing MCS’s lien vi-
olates the antimodification provision. She asserts that her Plan con-
templated paying MCS’s entire claim, so her payments through the
Plan amounted to early payment of the full balance owed to MCS,
and they satisfy the full scope of her obligations. But Bozeman’s
position does not square with controlling legal authority. Both the
text of the statute and Nobelman instruct that the critical inquiry
for the antimodification provision involves the “rights of holders.”
Nobelman, 508 U.S. at 328 (quoting 11 U.S.C. § 1322(b)(2)).
So while it’s true that the sole timely proof of claim that
MCS filed during the bankruptcy proceeding sought only $6,817.42
in arrears, nothing about that claim (or the absence of any addi-
tional claim) changed the fact that MCS was entitled under the
terms of the mortgage and Alabama law to receive full payment on
the balance of its loan. In fact, our precedent is clear that a secured
creditor is not required to file a claim at all, as “it will always be
able to look to the underlying collateral to satisfy its lien.” Bate-
man, 331 F.3d at 827. So we are not persuaded that MCS’s arrear-
ages-only claim changed the nature of its rights. Even though Bo-
zeman paid MCS’s full arrearages claim through the Plan, MCS re-
tains the right to receive the entire balance. The Code precludes
in Dewsnup, the Supreme Court recognized historical precedent for modify-
ing a creditor’s lien in “reorganization proceedings.” Dewsnup, 502 U.S. at
418–19. But we are talking here about a primary-residential mortgage holder’s
lien, which, as we’ve noted, is a right subject to the antimodification provision.
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24 Opinion of the Court 21-10987
the Plan from modifying the amount that MCS was entitled to un-
der the primary residential mortgage.
2. Bozeman’s full-payment Plan cannot modify MCS’s
rights.
Bozeman insists that Bateman and Dukes have no bearing
on the outcome here because they both concerned cure-and-main-
tain plans whereas Bozeman proceeded under a full-payment plan.
We disagree. In fact, Bozeman’s use of a full-payment plan further
confirms that a release of MCS’s lien is improper. To explain why,
we begin with the text and then discuss Bateman and Dukes specif-
ically.
Chapter 13 permits debtors to structure their plans as a cure-
and-maintain plan or a full-payment plan. As we’ve noted, a cure-
and-maintain plan allows a debtor to pay off her arrearages and
make separate monthly payments on her mortgage so she can
avoid foreclosure. Green Tree Acceptance, Inc. v. Hoggle (In re
Hoggle), 12 F.3d 1008, 1010 (11th Cir. 1994). In a full-payment
plan, by contrast, a debtor can combine the arrearages she owes
with the full outstanding balance of the loan to create a single
monthly payment. See 11 U.S.C. § 1325(a)(5)(B). That way, after
the debtor has made all her payments under the plan, she will have
paid off the entire loan and satisfied the full amount of her obliga-
tion.
Here, Bozeman unambiguously elected to structure her
Plan as a full-payment plan. And the Code supports her right to do
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21-10987 Opinion of the Court 25
so, as cure-and-maintain plans are a permissible, but not manda-
tory, mechanism to structure long-term debt. In re Chappell, 984
F.2d 775, 780 (7th Cir. 1993). 11 But whatever the structure of her
plan, the antimodification provision forbids modification of MCS’s
substantive rights. 11 U.S.C. § 1322(b)(2). Therefore, absent an
exception to the antimodification provision, Bozeman’s Plan could
not modify MCS’s right to receive the full loan balance before
MCS’s lien is released.
And here, no exception authorized Bozeman’s Plan’s at-
tempt to modify MCS’s right to receive the remaining balance on
the primary-residential mortgage before MCS’s lien could be re-
leased. Bozeman has identified no permissible exception, and the
text of the Bankruptcy Code and precedent preclude our finding
any.
That is so because Nobelman suggests that we must find any
exception to the antimodification provision in the Code’s text. In
Nobelman, for example, the Supreme Court “recognize[d] two in-
stances in which the antimodification provision of § 1322(b)(2)
does not apply.” Dukes, 909 F.3d at 1321. One includes
§ 1322(b)(5)’s authorization of cure-and-maintain plans, which are
“expressly exempted from the antimodification provision.” Id. (cit-
ing Nobelman, 508 U.S. at 330). Another is § 362’s automatic-stay
provision, which “does not alter future rights or obligations.” Id.
11 “[T]he most common use by far” of cure-and-maintain plans “is to cure de-
faults on residential mortgages.” 8 Collier on Bankruptcy ¶ 1322.09[2].
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26 Opinion of the Court 21-10987
(citing Nobelman, 508 U.S. at 330). In other words, Congress has
seen fit to create certain exceptions to the antimodification provi-
sion. But absent such a directive in the Code, the antimodification
provision applies with full force. 12
Turning to the situation in Bozeman’s case, we must con-
clude that no statutory exception spares a full-payment plan from
the antimodification provision. Without an exception that the text
authorizes, the antimodification provision controls. And it dictates
that full-payment plans may not modify homestead-mortgage
holders’ rights. So while Bozeman did have the option to structure
her Plan as a full-payment plan instead of a cure-and-maintain plan,
she could not use that full-payment plan to release MCS’s lien be-
fore MCS had received the entire benefit of its bargain.
As we’ve explained, our decisions in Bateman and Dukes
confirm the protections that the antimodification provision re-
quires be afforded to mortgage-holders’ rights.
As an initial matter, neither Bateman nor Dukes purports to
cabin its reasoning to cases involving cure-and-maintain plans. And
both cases held that the underlying bankruptcy plans would im-
properly modify the secured creditors’ rights if the liens were re-
leased before the entire balances were paid. Bateman, 331 F.3d at
12 We have also recognized an additional express exception to the antimodifi-
cation provision in § 1322(c)’s short-term exception. Am. Gen. Fin., Inc. v.
Paschen (In re Paschen), 296 F.3d 1203, 1207 (11th Cir. 2002). But as we ex-
plained earlier, see supra at 15–16, § 1322(c) does not apply here.
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21-10987 Opinion of the Court 27
832; Dukes, 909 F.3d at 1320. If that is true in the context of cure-
and-maintain plans, it must also be true in the context of full-pay-
ment plans. After all, no statutory basis authorizes full-payment
plans to provide fewer protections to homestead mortgage hold-
ers’ rights than cure-and-maintain plans offer. 13 Nor are we aware
of any statutory basis upon which full-payment plans can impose
any modification on mortgage holder’s rights without their express
agreement.
The Trustee argues that the factual distinction between
cure-and-maintain plans and full-payment plans is “critical” be-
cause mortgage liens will always survive a cure-and-maintain plan,
but a full-payment plan is designed to discharge all debts provided
for in the plan. This misses the point. That a full-payment plan is
designed to discharge all debts provided for in the plan does not
change the fact that the antimodification provision precludes the
modification of the homestead mortgage holder’s rights. Nor does
our decision prevent a debtor from using a full-payment plan to
pay off her full mortgage balance, discharge her debt, and satisfy
the corresponding lien. But to do so, the debtor must, in fact, use
her full-payment plan to pay the full balance she owes.
13 If anything, full-payment plans provide more protections to homestead
mortgagees’ rights than cure-and-maintain plans since cure-and-maintain
plans arise under § 1322(b)(5), which is “expressly exempted from the anti-
modification provision.” Dukes, 909 F.3d at 1321.
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28 Opinion of the Court 21-10987
Bozeman seemingly knew this—her Plan proposed paying
MCS $17,393.04 plus interest. But because of MCS’s arrearages-
only claim, Bozeman sought to satisfy the full scope of her obliga-
tion by paying only those arrearages and ignoring the remaining
balance owed to MCS. But this maneuver purports to modify
MCS’s right to receive full payment before its lien is released, so
the antimodification provision forbids it. If Bozeman had, in fact,
used her full-payment plan to pay off the full balance she owed,
releasing MCS’s lien at this stage would be entirely appropriate.
In sum, Bozeman’s use of a full-payment plan instead of a
cure-and-maintain plan does not alter our conclusion that her Plan
purports to improperly modify MCS’s rights in violation of
§ 1322(b)(2).
3. Espinosa did not abrogate Bateman.
Bozeman also argues that Bateman should not control here
because, in her view, the Supreme Court’s decision in United Stu-
dent Aid Funds, Inc. v. Espinosa, 559 U.S. 260 (2010), “displaced the
rationale in Bateman, to the extent that when a creditor has notice
that a plan proposes to modify the rights of a creditor and the cred-
itor fails to object to confirmation or timely appeal, the confirmed
plan remains enforceable and binding on the creditor.” Appellee’s
Br. at 10 (citing Espinosa, 559 U.S. at 275). We disagree.
In Espinosa, a debtor sought to discharge the interest that
had accrued on his student-loan debt. He did so even though he
did not show “undue hardship” in an adversary proceeding—a
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21-10987 Opinion of the Court 29
showing required to discharge certain student-loan debts. 559 U.S.
at 263–64 (citing 11 U.S.C. §§ 523(a)(8), 1328; Fed. R. Bankr. P.
7001(6)). The student-loan creditor received notice of the plan but
did not object based on the debtor’s failure to show undue hardship
or initiate an adversary proceeding. Id. at 265. And the bankruptcy
court confirmed the debtor’s plan. Id. After the debtor completed
payments on the principal he owed, the court discharged the ac-
crued interest due the creditor. Id. at 265–66. Six years after the
debt had been discharged (and ten years after the initial confirma-
tion), the student-loan creditor filed a motion under Federal Rule
of Civil Procedure 60(b)(4) seeking to set aside as void the bank-
ruptcy court’s order confirming the plan. Id. at 266.
The Supreme Court held the bankruptcy court’s confirma-
tion order was not “void” under Rule 60(b)(4). It explained that
“[a] judgment is not void . . . simply because it is or may have been
erroneous,” and a Rule 60(b)(4) motion “is not a substitute for a
timely appeal.” Id. at 270 (citations omitted). Instead, Espinosa
held that Rule 60(b)(4) applies only when an error that affects juris-
diction or that affects due process by depriving parties of notice oc-
curs. Id. at 271.
As we explain below, Espinosa has no bearing on the release
of a lien after a confirmed plan erroneously modifies a homestead-
mortgagee’s rights. And we do not read Espinosa as having abro-
gated Bateman for five reasons.
First, the Supreme Court expressly limited Espinosa’s hold-
ing to collateral challenges to confirmed Chapter 13 plans under
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30 Opinion of the Court 21-10987
Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 60(b)(4). Espinosa, 559 U.S. at 269
n.8 (“We express no view on the terms upon which other provi-
sions of the Bankruptcy Rules may entitle a debtor or creditor to
postjudgment relief.”). 14 Bozeman’s case does not arise in the con-
text of a Rule 60(b)(4) motion, and that is an important difference
for two reasons: (1) as we’ve noted, Espinosa expressly does not
apply outside the Rule 60(b)(4) context; and (2) the practical differ-
ence between the procedural posture of a Rule 60(b)(4) motion and
the situation in Bateman renders Espinosa’s reasoning inapplicable
to the Bateman situation.
We explain what we mean by this second reason in our sec-
ond point: Bateman emerged in a significantly different procedural
posture than Espinosa. In Espinosa, the creditor brought its Rule
60(b)(4) motion challenging the discharge order ten years after the
debtor’s plan had been confirmed and six years after his debt had
been discharged. Espinosa, 559 U.S. at 265–66. In Bateman, by
contrast, the creditor brought its challenge after plan confirmation
but before the underlying debt had been discharged. See Bateman,
331 F.3d at 823. So though the challenge was collateral in one sense
14 In In re Le Centre on Fourth, LLC, we applied Espinosa to a bankruptcy
dispute emerging outside the Rule 60(b) context. See Jackson v. LeCentre on
Fourth, LLC (In re Le Centre on Fourth, LLC), 17 F.4th 1326, 1334 (11th Cir.
2021). But in Le Centre, we relied on Espinosa for its holding concerning the
notice due a creditor to satisfy due process. Id. (discussing Espinosa, 559 U.S.
at 272). We did not consider or address Espinosa’s impact, if any, on the anti-
modification provision.
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21-10987 Opinion of the Court 31
(as it related to the lawfulness of the plan), it was not in another (as
it related to the amount of the debt to be discharged upon comple-
tion of the plan). The same is true here: though MCS did not object
to Bozeman’s plan before confirmation, it timely objected to and
appealed the bankruptcy court’s decision to release its lien. And
unlike the creditor in Espinosa, MCS did not bring its challenge
years after the fact under Rule 60(b)(4).
Third, a fair reading of Espinosa confirms that the Court was
primarily concerned with the meaning of a “void” judgment under
Rule 60(b)(4). The Court held that a judgment is “void” under that
provision “only in the rare instance where a judgment is premised
either on a certain type of jurisdictional error or on a violation of
due process that deprives a party of notice or the opportunity to be
heard.” 559 U.S. at 271. Espinosa went on to explain that neither
such circumstance applied in that case, and it rejected the creditor’s
arguments urging the Court to “expand the universe of judgment
defects that support Rule 60(b)(4) relief.” Id. at 273. Even though
the Court agreed with the creditor that the bankruptcy court made
a legal error, the Court held that the error did not “render [the
bankruptcy court’s] subsequent confirmation order void for pur-
poses of Rule 60(b)(4).” Id. at 274. So at every opportunity, Espi-
nosa discussed its holding in the context of Rule 60(b)(4) and the
meaning of “void.” In short, the opinion did not purport to decide
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32 Opinion of the Court 21-10987
more than the appropriate scope of Rule 60(b)(4) and the meaning
of “void” when it discussed the effect of a confirmed plan.15
Fourth, our decision in Bateman did not rest on the premise
that the plan there was unlawfully confirmed, and therefore, ripe
for collateral attack. In fact, we specifically rejected that sugges-
tion. See Bateman, 331 F.3d at 825 n.4 (“[W]hether the [p]lan was
confirmed in violation of § 1322 or § 1325 is irrelevant to the dispo-
sition of this case, because the res judicata effect of § 1327 prohibits
the collateral attack of a confirmed plan.”) (citation omitted). We
went as far as to address and reject the creditor’s argument “that
because the [p]lan did not meet the requisites of § 1325 . . . the
[p]lan cannot be afforded res judicata effect under § 1327.” Id. at
829. We even acknowledged that the “[p]lan was improperly con-
firmed because it conflicted with § 1322’s mandatory provisions,”
and noted that “[h]ad [the creditor] objected to or appealed from
the [p]lan’s confirmation, it would have prevailed without ques-
tion, given the facts presented to us.” Id. at 830. Still, we held that
because the creditor “did not do so,” it remained bound by § 1327.
Id. In this sense, Bateman and Espinosa are at peace with each
other (and with our decision here) in their recognition that
15 Following its discussion of Rule 60(b)(4), Espinosa also considered the stat-
utory requirements for confirming a plan that discharges student-loan debt.
559 U.S. at 276–78 (discussing 11 U.S.C. §§ 523(a)(8), 1328(a)(2)). Neither this
case nor Bateman involves § 523(a)(8) or § 1328(a)(2), so we do not address
Espinosa’s impact on the interpretation of those provisions.
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21-10987 Opinion of the Court 33
confirmed bankruptcy plans are immune from collateral attack,
even if they were erroneously confirmed.
Fifth, our decision in Dukes reaffirmed our holding in Bate-
man to prohibit discharge of homestead-mortgage debt if doing so
would modify a creditor’s rights in violation of the antimodifica-
tion provision—even though the plan erroneously provided for the
discharge. Dukes, 909 F.3d at 1321 (citing Bateman, 331 F.3d at
822); see also Hope v. Acorn Fin., Inc., 731 F.3d 1189, 1194 (11th
Cir. 2013) (relying on Bateman after Espinosa). Because we de-
cided Dukes after the Supreme Court issued Espinosa, even if we
thought Espinosa compelled a different outcome, we would still be
bound by Dukes. See Keohane v. Fla. Dep’t of Corr. Sec’y, 981 F.3d
994, 1005 (11th Cir. 2020) (Rosenbaum, J., dissenting from the de-
nial of rehearing en banc) (“[W]e have held that the prior-precedent
rule binds later panels even when the prior panel’s decision failed
to mention controlling Supreme Court precedent and reached a
holding in conflict with that precedent.”) (citing Smith v. GTE
Corp., 236 F.3d 1292, 1302–03 (11th Cir. 2001)).
At bottom, we are convinced that our decision in Bateman
remains intact after the Supreme Court’s decision in Espinosa. And
as we explained earlier, Bateman requires us to conclude that re-
leasing MCS’s lien would improperly modify its rights and there-
fore violate § 1322(b)(2).
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34 Opinion of the Court 21-10987
B. The finality provision does not override the antimodifica-
tion provision to allow for the release of MCS’s lien after the
bankruptcy court’s confirmation of Bozeman’s unlawful
Plan.
MCS’s challenge also raises the question of whether the res
judicata effect of the confirmation order requires release of MCS’s
lien. We hold it does not.
The Bankruptcy Code makes clear that confirmation of a
plan carries real weight. Specifically, the Code mandates that “[t]he
provisions of a confirmed plan bind the debtor and each creditor,
whether or not the claim of such creditor is provided for by the
plan, and whether or not such creditor has objected to, has ac-
cepted, or has rejected the plan.” 11 U.S.C. § 1327(a). The upshot
of this provision is “[c]onfirmation has preclusive effect, foreclosing
relitigation of any issue actually litigated by the parties and any is-
sue necessarily determined by the confirmation order.” Bullard v.
Blue Hills Bank, 575 U.S. 496, 502 (2015) (citation omitted).
We have also explained that “[p]reclusion under § 1327 is
somewhat harsher than common law preclusion” and that a con-
firmed plan “is given the same effect as any district court’s final
judgment on the merits.” Bateman, 331 F.3d at 830; Wallis v. Jus-
tice Oaks II, Ltd. (In re Justice Oaks II, Ltd.), 898 F.2d 1544, 1550
(11th Cir. 1990). A confirmed plan has this effect “even if the plan
does not, by its terms, comply with the Bankruptcy Code.” Hope,
731 F.3d at 1194.
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21-10987 Opinion of the Court 35
As we have explained, the Plan at issue here violated the an-
timodification provision. So it should not have been confirmed.
As a reminder, the Plan impermissibly allowed Bozeman to pay
only MCS’s arrearages claim and ignore the remaining balance Bo-
zeman owed on her mortgage. But despite this error, because of
the Code’s finality provision, Bozeman’s Plan retains preclusive ef-
fect and is therefore valid and enforceable.
We explored the importance of finality of confirmed plans
in Bateman. There, although the creditor failed to object to a le-
gally erroneous plan, it later filed a motion to dismiss the bank-
ruptcy proceeding because the plan never should have been con-
firmed. 331 F.3d at 833. Though we agreed the plan should not
have been confirmed, we rejected the argument that the bank-
ruptcy proceeding should be dismissed for that reason. Id. We
noted that the creditor had several opportunities to raise its objec-
tions to the plan before the plan was confirmed and obtained pre-
clusive effect. Id. And we expressed concern that the prejudice
associated with unwinding the plan “would far exceed the possible
benefit.” Id.For largely the same reasons, MCS cannot now complain
about infirmities with the Plan. MCS had ample opportunity to
participate in the underlying proceeding and file a timely amended
claim with the full balance it was owed. MCS also could have ob-
jected to the Plan’s confirmation and argued that the Plan imper-
missibly modified its rights. And MCS should have noticed, far ear-
lier than it did, that Bozeman’s Plan was structured as a full-
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36 Opinion of the Court 21-10987
payment plan rather than a cure-and-maintain plan. Not only did
the Plan, by its own terms, indicate that it was a full-payment plan,
but also MCS received only one monthly payment from Bozeman
(as it would under a full-payment plan) rather than two monthly
payments (as it would under a cure-and-maintain plan). Plus, the
amount of that monthly payment did not equal the $454.00
monthly payment that the Plan seemingly noted MCS was due.
But MCS’s errors do not change the fact that the Code still
affords special protections to homestead-mortgage holders’ rights.
So even though our cases have recognized the importance of final-
ity, they have also said time and again that secured liens survive
bankruptcy proceedings. Holloway v. John Hancock Mut. Life Ins.
Co. (In re Holloway), 81 F.3d 1062, 1063 n.1 (11th Cir. 1996) (“[D]is-
charges in bankruptcy do not affect liability in rem. Thus, liens on
property remain enforceable after discharge unless avoidable un-
der the Bankruptcy Code.”). In Bateman, for example, we held that
the creditor’s secured lien “is unaffected by the Plan and survives
the bankruptcy unimpaired.” 331 F.3d at 832. This conclusion
flowed naturally from the overarching principle that “a secured
creditor need not do anything during the course of the bankruptcy
proceeding because it will always be able to look to the underlying
collateral to satisfy its lien.” 16 Id. at 827.
16 We relied on the lien’s survival to demonstrate that the creditor will not
face significant prejudice from the erroneously confirmed plan, nor will the
debtor receive an unwarranted windfall. Bateman, 331 F.3d at 833.
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21-10987 Opinion of the Court 37
We also reached a similar conclusion in In re Thomas, in
which we held the creditor retained its lien on a mobile home even
though the debtor’s interest was discharged through bankruptcy.
Southtrust Bank of Ala., N.A. v. Thomas (In re Thomas), 883 F.2d
991, 997 (11th Cir. 1990). And in Dukes, we suggested in dicta that,
because of the antimodification provision, a creditor’s mortgage
would “pass[] through the bankruptcy unaffected even though no
proof of claim was filed.” 909 F.3d at 1322; see also SEC v. Wells
Fargo Bank, N.A., 848 F.3d 1339, 1344 (11th Cir. 2017) (“In the
bankruptcy context, a secured creditor’s lien remains intact
through the bankruptcy, regardless of whether the creditor files a
proof of claim.”).
Under our case law, then, we must hold that MCS’s lien sur-
vived Bozeman’s bankruptcy. Based on the terms of the mortgage
and Alabama law, MCS had the substantive right to collect the full
balance it lent to Bozeman as well as the right to hold its lien on
the property as collateral until the debt had been paid. And under
the antimodification provision, Bozeman’s Plan could not legally
modify those rights.
Although MCS did not timely object to the Plan’s confirma-
tion or appeal the discharge of Bozeman’s debt, MCS did oppose
Bozeman’s motion to release its lien, and it timely appealed the
bankruptcy court’s order granting her motion. And because releas-
ing MCS’s lien before MCS receives full payment would impermis-
sibly modify MCS’s rights, MCS’s lien must survive the bankruptcy
proceeding. While the finality provision confirms that it is too late
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38 Opinion of the Court 21-10987
to alter the Plan, it is not too late for MCS to invoke the Code’s
special protection for homestead mortgagees.
Our decision here follows directly from Bateman. In that
case, we acknowledged that the creditor should have raised its chal-
lenges earlier and that, if it had, the erroneous plan would not have
been confirmed. 331 F.3d at 833. And the creditor’s failure carried
consequences, as we rejected the creditor’s motion to dismiss the
debtor’s plan, holding that the plan remained valid and enforcea-
ble. Id. Still, though, we held that the creditor’s secured claim
could not be satisfied until the debtor paid the entire claim amount
because “to permit otherwise would deny the effect of 11 U.S.C.
§ 1322(b)(2), which, in effect, prohibits modifications of secured
claims for mortgages on a debtor’s principal residence.” Id. at 822.
The same is true here. MCS should have raised its chal-
lenges earlier, and it could have prevented confirmation of Bo-
zeman’s Plan. But we cannot hold that MCS’s lien on the property
can be deemed satisfied because the antimodification provision
protects MCS’s right to receive full recovery, regardless, and MCS
has raised a timely challenge to the order releasing its lien. 17
IV.
We hold that release of MCS’s lien before its loan had been
repaid in full violates § 1322(b)(2)’s antimodification clause. Until
17 Our opinion expressly does not consider a case in which a creditor belatedly
seeks relief from an order releasing its lien.
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21-10987 Opinion of the Court 39
MCS is paid in full, its lien remains intact, and the Bankruptcy
Code’s finality provision does not change that fact.18
REVERSED AND REMANDED.
18 Because MCS did not appeal the bankruptcy court’s decision to discharge
Bozeman from bankruptcy, we do not consider or disturb that decision.