The Uniform Voidable Transactions Act (UVTA) was recently adopted by the Uniform Law Commission (Commission) as the successor to the Uniform Fraudulent Transfer Act (UFTA). UFTA was itself an update of its predecessor, the Uniform Fraudulent Conveyance Act (UFCA). UFCA was revised to conform the Act to the Bankruptcy Reform Act of 1978. UVTA resolves several “narrowly-defined issues.” UVTA Prefatory Note 5 (2014).
The prevailing purposes for the UVTA amendments appear to be codification of a choice of law rule and to ameliorate divergent interpretations of the Act among the courts. The divergence has led to varying outcomes of similar claims under UFTA (which failed to create the uniformity desired). See UVTA. §4, cmt. 10 (2014). The changes also bring the uniform act into compliance with the UCC and Bankruptcy Code. UVTA offers some welcome clarity to an all too often misunderstood body of law.
The alterations to UFTA include a few definitional changes that modernize the Act. Updates also include a codified choice of law rule, an exception for UCC Article 9 security interests, the elimination of the separate insolvency definition for partnerships, clarity as to which party carries the burden of proof, and a defined evidentiary standard for seeking a remedy under the Act. Furthermore, the Commission updated and added comments to influence the application of UVTA, as adopted by the States. Some of the comments are worth noting, and (if adopted by the courts) the comments have the potential to change the avoidance analysis in some jurisdictions.