On Wednesday, September 2, 2015, University of Alberta Faculty of Law, Professor Tamara Buckwold gave a presentation to the CBA Creditor-Debtor Law Section. The topic of the presentation was "Distributing a Surplus in Mortgage Foreclosure Proceedings: The Rights of Writ Holders and the Status of the Principal Residence Exemption".
During the presentation, she discussed the statutory rules and the case law dealing with the distribution of surplus funds generated by mortgage foreclosure proceedings where the funds are claimed by one or more subordinate writ holders. The substantive and procedural problems arising in this context are particularly difficult when the mortgagor may be entitled to a principal residence exemption. The Civil Enforcement Act provides mandatory rules that should (in theory) govern the outcome, but they are difficult to apply and are often not acknowledged or followed in practice. The solutions offered by the courts will be reviewed and discussed.
Professor Tamara Buckwold began her academic career as a member of the faculty of the College of Law at the University of Saskatchewan. She joined the University of Alberta Faculty of Law in 2005.
Professor Buckwold teaches and publishes in the areas of commercial law and contracts. She is active in law reform and was co-author of the reports that led to the comprehensive reform of Saskatchewan judgment enforcement law through enactment of the Enforcement of Money Judgments Act. She has also been involved in several projects of the Uniform Law Conference of Canada's Commercial Law Strategy and led the Conference's project on reform of the law of fraudulent conveyances and preferences, culminating in the Uniform Reviewable Transactions Act with commentary. She has lectured at the national civil law seminars of the National Judicial Institute and in various other continuing legal education programs. Professor Buckwold is Chair of the Board of the Legal Education Society of Alberta. Her primary teaching areas are Contracts, Secured Financing and Judgment Enforcement Law.